← Hospitality and personal services

ANZSCO 3514Skill level 4Hospitality and personal services

Cook

Prepare and cook food in cafes, pubs, clubs and institutional kitchens.

Salary

Cited figures from Job Outlook and QILT. ExamExplained does not publish predictive earnings or projections.

FigureAUDSource
Full-time weekly earnings$1250Job Outlook (2025-06-01)

How far does this stretch in each city?

What a cook actually does

Cooks work in busy mid-volume kitchens at cafes, pubs, clubs, schools, hospitals, aged-care homes and mine-site camps. The day usually starts before service with prep work: chopping vegetables, portioning meat, preparing soups, sauces and sides, and setting up the line. Cafes peak at breakfast and lunch and most cooks finish by mid afternoon. Pubs and clubs run a longer day with a lunch service and a heavier evening service that often pushes past 9pm. Institutional cooks in hospitals, aged care and schools work a more regular daytime roster cooking high volumes from set menus on tight cost-per-meal budgets. Most cooks work 35-45 hours a week across rotating shifts that include weekends and public holidays. The Restaurant Industry Award 2020 or Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 sets minimum hourly rates, weekend and public holiday penalties and overtime. The work is physical: on your feet through the shift, lifting stockpots and trays, and managing the heat of grills, deep fryers and combi ovens.

Typical tasks

  • Prep ingredients to service standard.
  • Cook menu items consistently.
  • Maintain hygiene to AS 4674 and Food Standards Code.

Skills you'll use

  • Knife skills and basic cooking techniques (saute, grill, deep fry, roast)
  • Following a recipe and a portion control sheet exactly
  • Food safety, allergens and hygiene to the Food Standards Code
  • Time management across multiple orders during a rush
  • Stock rotation, FIFO and reading expiry dates
  • Working as part of a small kitchen team
  • Keeping a clean section through service

How to become one

  1. 1Finish Year 10 at minimum; literacy and numeracy is enough to start in many kitchens
  2. 2Get a casual or part-time kitchen-hand job in a cafe or pub to test if you like the work
  3. 3Enrol in a Certificate III in Commercial Cookery at TAFE, either as an apprentice or as a full-time student
  4. 4Complete the Food Safety Supervisor unit if you want to step into a head cook role
  5. 5Build experience across breakfast, lunch and dinner services in different venue types
  6. 6Consider stepping across to a chef apprenticeship if you want to lead a kitchen and own menu costing

Where you can work

  • Cafes and breakfast venues
  • Suburban and country pubs
  • RSL and sporting clubs
  • Hospital and aged-care kitchens
  • School and university canteens
  • Remote mine-site and offshore camps
  • Function and event caterers
  • Quick-service restaurant chains

Career progression

Typical stages and salary bands. Salary figures are sourced from Job Outlook, QILT or industry bodies; brackets are 25th-75th percentile not absolute floors or ceilings.

  1. Trainee cook
    0-2 years
    Typical roles: Kitchen hand, Trainee cook, Breakfast cook
    Salary band: $50,000 - $60,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  2. Qualified cook
    2-5 years
    Typical roles: Line cook, Short-order cook, Cafe cook
    Salary band: $60,000 - $72,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  3. Head cook
    5+ years
    Typical roles: Head cook, Cafe head cook, Institutional kitchen lead
    Salary band: $70,000 - $85,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)

Is this for you?

You might love this if

  • You like getting through a high volume of food without fuss
  • You can work fast without cutting corners on safety or quality
  • You're physically fit and don't mind being on your feet for a full shift
  • You can take direction from a head chef or kitchen manager
  • You're reliable and turn up on time for every shift

This might not suit you if

  • You want a desk job or a strict office routine
  • You can't handle heat, noise or working under pressure
  • You want every weekend and public holiday off
  • You hate cleaning down a greasy kitchen at the end of a long shift

Three ways in

Uni, TAFE and trade routes for cook. Not every career has all three; we only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.

University

Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.

No direct undergraduate pathway. Consider postgraduate study after a related bachelor degree.

TAFE / VET

Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.

Apprenticeship trade

Earn while you learn through an Australian Apprenticeship.

Not an apprenticeship trade.

Sources

ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Job Outlook directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.