Cooks, Short Order
Prepare and cook to order a variety of foods that require only a short preparation time. May take orders from customers and serve patrons at counters or tables.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Time Management
- Speaking
- Coordination
- Service Orientation
- Critical Thinking
- Monitoring
Key knowledge
- Food Production
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Production and Processing
- Communications and Media
- Chemistry
- Public Safety and Security
- Foreign Language
What the work involves
- Clean food preparation equipment, work areas, and counters or tables.
- Plan work on orders so that items served together are finished at the same time.
- Grill, cook, and fry foods such as french fries, eggs, and pancakes.
- Take orders from customers and cook foods requiring short preparation times, according to customer requirements.
- Complete orders from steam tables, placing food on plates and serving customers at tables or counters.
- Restock kitchen supplies, rotate food, and stamp the time and date on food in coolers.
- Perform food preparation tasks, such as making sandwiches, carving meats, making soups or salads, baking breads or desserts, and brewing coffee or tea.
- Perform general cleaning activities in kitchen and dining areas.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (66.4% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (49.5%)
- On-the-job training
- None or short demonstration (43.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Cooks, Short Order is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 90% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 84% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 75% of occupations compared | — |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 53% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 74% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 94% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 77% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 95% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 10.24%
- Occasional contact with others: 19.39%
- Contact with others about half the time: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Contact with others most of the time: 0.43%
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 6.53%
- Important: 22.2%
- Very important: 21.24%
- Extremely important: 6.9%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.27%
- Fairly important: 18.71%
- Important: 5.22%
- Very important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Extremely important: 35.27%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 5.58%
- Limited freedom: 24.93%
- Some freedom: 22.47%
- A lot of freedom: 47.02%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 4.51%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 26.62%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 3.51%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 43.46%
- Every day: 21.9%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 26.92%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 23.47%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 8.46%
- Every day: 0.11%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 18.9%
- Once a year or more but not every month: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a month or more but not every week: 6.94%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 22.21%
- Every day: 0.73%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly serious: 21.06%
- Serious: 27.72%
- Very serious: 3.19%
- Extremely serious: 0%
n = 23, Incumbent 08/2025
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O*NET-SOC 35-2015.00 · SOC 35-2015 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8