Cook

A cook prepares and cooks food in commercial kitchens such as restaurants, cafes, hotels, aged care facilities, schools, or hospitals. They work from recipes and kitchen briefs to produce consistent, safe meals that meet food quality, portion, and presentation standards. The role requires knowledge of food safety, cooking techniques, and kitchen equipment operation.

Prepare ingredients by washing, peeling, chopping, and portioning vegetables, proteins, and other components according to mise en place requirements. Operate commercial cooking equipment including ovens, grills, fryers, steamers, and induction cooktops to cook food to specified temperatures and doneness levels. Follow recipes and kitchen briefs to plate and present dishes according to established plating standards and portion sizes. Monitor cooking times and temperatures using thermometers and sensory assessment to ensure food is cooked safely and meets quality standards. Maintain food safety and hygiene standards by following FSANZ (Food Standards Australia New Zealand) guidelines including proper storage, cross-contamination prevention, and temperature control. Store prepared and cooked food in appropriate containers and locations at correct temperatures to maintain food safety and prevent spoilage. Clean and sanitise cooking equipment, utensils, and work surfaces using approved chemical products and following workplace hygiene protocols. Receive and check delivered food supplies for quality and correct items, reporting discrepancies to kitchen supervisors.

The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

The pay is modest and won't grow much without moving into management or opening your own place. You're on your feet for 8 to 10 hour shifts in hot kitchens doing repetitive prep work. Evening, weekend, and public holiday shifts are standard. Burnout is real, and unless you're working somewhere fancy, wages plateau quickly.

Regional areas have fewer opportunities outside tourist towns. Hospitals, schools, and aged care homes in any city offer steadier work than restaurants. Remote work doesn't exist in this role.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 3514, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Adaptability and Flexibilitycore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Basic Arithmetic and Numerical Accuracycore
• Health Terminology Literacycore
• Inventory Trackingcore
• Multitaskingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Quality Assurance and Checkingcore
• Team Collaborationcore
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Workflow Prioritisationcore
• Workload Self-Managementcore
• Check deliveries on receipt
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
• Incident Reporting
• Process Improvement Identification
• Risk Identification
• Stock Counting and Stocktake
• Supplier Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

What Cook workers move into, from ten years of tax records.

Last updated: 30 October 2026