Resume guide · Updated October 2026
Line Cook Resume Example and Writing Guide
Short answer
A line cook resume should name the stations you have worked (grill, sauté, fry, garde manger), the kitchen type and volume, such as covers per night, and your food handler or ServSafe card. Add bullets on ticket times, prep, sanitation and inventory, the equipment you use, and your availability for nights, weekends and holidays.
| Median pay (May 2025) | $37,390 per year ($17.98 per hour) |
|---|---|
| Job outlook, 2025-35 | Much faster than average (7% or higher) |
| Number of jobs | 1,417,500 |
Source: O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor), 35-2014.00 Cooks, Restaurant, checked 27 October 2026.
Line Cook resume example
Below is a full line cook resume for Marcus Bell, a fictional line Cook, Grill and Sauté in Denver, CO. Keep the section order, then replace each line with your own work and results.
Marcus Bell
Line Cook, Grill and Sauté
Denver, CO · marcus.bell@example.com · (555) 012-6640
Summary
Line cook with 4 years on grill and sauté in scratch kitchens doing 180 to 260 covers a night. Keeps ticket times near 11 minutes on a full board, breaks down and portions proteins to spec and runs opening prep lists. ServSafe Food Handler certified; available nights, weekends and holidays.
Experience
Line Cook, Grill and Sauté, Copper Pine Kitchen & Bar
Apr 2023 to present
Denver, CO
- Run the grill station on a 9-cook line serving 220 to 260 covers on Friday and Saturday nights, holding average ticket times at 11 minutes.
- Break down and portion 120 lb of beef, chicken and salmon a week to the chef's spec, keeping trim waste under 4% on the weekly yield sheet.
- Trained 5 new cooks on grill temperatures, plating guides and the station opening and closing checklist.
- Log cooler and hot-holding temperatures every 2 hours; the kitchen passed 2 health inspections with no critical violations.
Line Cook, Mesa Verde Cantina
Aug 2021 to Mar 2023
Aurora, CO
- Worked fry, flat-top and expo on a 6-cook line in a 140-seat restaurant and covered any station during call-outs.
- Made salsas, braises and sauces from scratch in batch for 300+ covers a day using standardized recipes.
- Received and rotated deliveries first in, first out (FIFO) and labeled all prep with date and use-by.
Prep Cook, Ridgeline University Dining Services
Sep 2020 to Jul 2021
Boulder, CO
- Prepped vegetables, proteins and sauces for a dining hall serving 1,500 meals a day.
- Ran the dish machine and three-compartment sink on short-staffed shifts, testing sanitizer concentration with strips.
- Followed allergen procedures for a dedicated gluten-free station.
Availability
- Nights, weekends and holidays
- Open to doubles during peak season
Education
Certificate in Culinary Arts, Foothills Community College · Evening program: knife skills, stocks and sauces, food cost basics
2022
High school diploma, Lakewood High School
2020
Certifications
ServSafe Food Handler (National Restaurant Association) · ServSafe Allergens (National Restaurant Association)
Skills
Grill and sauté · Knife skills · Protein butchery and portioning · Stocks and sauces · Prep lists and par levels · FIFO and labeling · Temperature logs · Allergen handling · Expo and ticket management
Line Cook resume summary examples
3 line cook summaries, one each for prep cook moving to the line, experienced line cook and lead line cook. Pick the closest and rewrite it with your own title, years and one real result.
Prep cook with 1 year of scratch prep for a 120-seat bistro, ready to move to the line. Fast, consistent knife work, keeps a clean station and follows recipes to the gram. ServSafe Food Handler certified; available nights and weekends.
Line cook with 5 years on grill, sauté and fry in high-volume casual dining with 300+ covers on weekends. Keeps the station stocked through a full rush, hits plating specs and can cover any station on the line. Trains new hires on setup and closing.
Lead line cook with 7 years in fine dining and hotel banquets. Runs the pass on the chef's nights off, writes prep lists for a 10-cook team, places produce and protein orders and helps hold food cost to target. ServSafe Manager certified.
Line Cook resume objective examples
Use an objective instead of a summary for no restaurant experience and culinary student situations: one or two sentences on what you bring and the line cook job you want.
Reliable, fast learner seeking a prep or line cook job, bringing 2 years on a fast-food grill, a ServSafe Food Handler card and full availability for nights, weekends and holidays.
Culinary arts student with 400 hours of kitchen lab training looking for a line cook role where I can learn sauté and grill under an experienced sous chef.
Line Cook resume bullet points
Bullets grouped by line work and speed, prep and food quality, food safety and sanitation and teamwork and leadership. The numbers are illustrations; put in your own.
Line work and speed
- Worked sauté on a 7-cook line averaging 240 covers a night, running up to 14 pans at once during the 7 to 9 p.m. push.
- Kept average ticket times under 12 minutes during weekend brunch rushes of 350 covers.
- Cross-trained on grill, fry and garde manger so the kitchen could run short on call-out nights.
Prep and food quality
- Finished a 60-item opening prep list before 4 p.m. service every shift.
- Made stocks, mother sauces and dressings from scratch in 20-quart batches using standardized recipes.
- Portioned proteins on a scale to the chef's spec, cutting over-portioning cost by about $900 a month on the food cost report.
Food safety and sanitation
- Recorded cooler, freezer and hot-holding temperatures every 2 hours on the kitchen's HACCP logs.
- Labeled and dated all prep and rotated stock FIFO, bringing weekly spoilage on the waste sheet from 9 lb to 3 lb.
- Handled allergy tickets with separate boards, pans and gloves, with no allergen incidents in 3 years on the line.
- Deep-cleaned hood filters, fryers and the flat-top on the weekly closing schedule.
Teamwork and leadership
- Trained 6 new line cooks on station setup, plating guides and closing checklists.
- Ran expo on the chef's nights off, calling tickets for a 5-cook line and checking every plate before it left the pass.
- Counted inventory every Sunday and helped place produce and dairy orders with 2 vendors.
Skills for a line cook resume
16 skills employers list in line cook postings. Include the ones the posting asks for and that your bullets prove.
| Type | Skills |
|---|---|
| Hard skills | Grill, sauté, fry and flat-top cooking, Knife skills (dice, julienne, chiffonade), Protein butchery and portioning, Stocks, sauces and soups from scratch, Prep lists and par levels, Plating to spec, Food safety and temperature control, FIFO rotation and labeling, Allergen handling, Receiving and inventory counts |
| Soft skills | Speed under pressure, Taking direction on a busy line, Clear call-backs ("heard," "behind," "corner"), Reliability and punctuality, Teamwork, Stamina for 8 to 10 hour shifts |
| Tools and software | Charbroiler and salamander, Flat-top griddle, Deep fryers, Combi and convection ovens, Immersion circulator (sous vide), Mandoline and meat slicer, Kitchen display system (KDS), Toast and Square ticket printers |
Certifications for a line cook resume
| Credential | Issued by | When it matters |
|---|---|---|
| ServSafe Food Handler | National Restaurant Association (ServSafe) | Basic food safety credential. Some states and counties require a food handler card soon after hire, so list it with the expiration date. |
| ServSafe Manager | National Restaurant Association (ServSafe) | Food protection manager certification. Add it if you are aiming for lead cook or sous chef, since health codes in many areas call for a certified manager on site. |
| Local food handler card | Your state or county health department, or an approved training provider | Where a local card is required, list the jurisdiction (for example, the county name) and the expiration date. |
What should a line cook resume include?
The BLS describes how restaurant kitchens work: teams of restaurant cooks, "sometimes called assistant cooks or line cooks, work at assigned stations." A chef reading your resume wants to know which of those stations you can run on your first night, so put them in your headline and summary.
After stations, give the kitchen type and volume. A 40-seat cafe, a 300-cover steakhouse and a hotel banquet kitchen are different jobs, and the numbers tell the chef which one you are ready for.
- Stations: grill, sauté, fry, flat-top, garde manger, pantry, expo
- Kitchen type: scratch, high-volume casual, fine dining, banquet, hotel, institutional
- Volume: covers per night, seats, or meals per day
- Food safety: ServSafe or local food handler card with expiration date
- Availability: nights, weekends, holidays, doubles
How do you write a line cook resume description that sounds like a real kitchen?
Use the words chefs use: covers, tickets, stations, pars, mise en place, 86, expo, the pass. "Responsible for cooking food" could describe anyone; "ran sauté on a 7-cook line at 240 covers a night" tells a chef you have lived through a Saturday.
Each job description on your resume should have 3 or 4 bullets: what station you ran and at what volume, one prep or quality bullet, one food safety or cleaning bullet, and one about training or teamwork. That mix shows you are more than fast.
What skills should a cook resume list?
Split your skills into cooking methods (grill, sauté, braise, fry), prep skills (knife cuts, butchery, sauces), food safety (temperature control, allergens, FIFO) and equipment. Equipment matters more than most cooks think: a kitchen with a combi oven or a wood-fired grill wants to know you have used one.
Soft skills belong in your bullets, not in a list of adjectives. Training new cooks, covering stations during call-outs and running expo all show teamwork and reliability better than the words themselves.
How do you write a cook resume with no experience?
The BLS notes that cooks typically do not need formal education; most learn on the job. Start with what you have: fast-food grill work, dishwashing, catering help, a school culinary program or cooking at a family restaurant all count as kitchen experience.
Get a food handler card before you apply, list full availability, and say you are ready for a stage (a short unpaid or paid trial shift). Many chefs decide after watching you work for a few hours, so the resume just needs to earn that trial.
Which line cook resume template and length work best?
One page, one column, plain headings. Chefs often read applications on a phone between services or on a printout at the pass, so skip graphics and photos.
Bring a printed copy to the stage or interview. If you went to culinary school, list it under education; if you did not, list your food safety cards there and let your experience carry the page.
ATS keywords for a line cook resume
Terms that show up in line cook job postings. Mirror the exact wording of the posting you apply to, but only for work you have done.
- Line Cook
- cook
- prep cook
- grill
- sauté
- fry station
- food preparation
- food safety
- ServSafe
- knife skills
- mise en place
- sanitation
- FIFO
- portion control
- high-volume kitchen
- inventory
- plating
- teamwork
Mistakes to avoid on a line cook resume
- Not naming your stations. "Cooked food" tells a chef nothing; "grill and sauté on a 7-cook line" tells them where to put you on day one.
- Leaving out volume. Give covers per night, seats or meals per day so the chef can judge whether you can handle their rush.
- Burying availability. Kitchens schedule around nights, weekends and holidays. If your availability is open, put it in the summary.
- An expired food handler card. Renew it or remove it; managers and health inspectors check the dates.
- Fancy layouts. Two columns, icons and photos are hard to read on a phone. One page and one column.
Frequently asked questions
What should I put on a line cook resume?
Your stations, the kitchen type and volume, 3 or 4 bullets per job covering speed, prep, food safety and teamwork, your equipment, a food handler or ServSafe card, and your availability for nights, weekends and holidays.
How do I describe line cook duties on a resume?
Name the station and the volume, then add prep, sanitation and training. For example: "Ran grill on a 9-cook line at 220 to 260 covers a night, keeping average ticket times at 11 minutes."
What skills should I list on a cook resume?
Cooking methods (grill, sauté, fry), knife skills, butchery, sauce and stock work, plating to spec, food safety and temperature control, FIFO, allergen handling and the equipment you have used, such as combi ovens or charbroilers.
How do I write a cook resume with no experience?
List any kitchen-adjacent work (fast food, dish, catering, school culinary programs), get a food handler card, show full availability and offer to do a stage. Chefs often hire entry-level cooks after a trial shift.
How much do line cooks make?
O*NET, using BLS data, reports a median wage of $37,390 per year ($17.98 per hour) for restaurant cooks in 2025. Pay varies a lot by city, restaurant type and station.
Do I need culinary school to be a line cook?
No. The BLS says cooks typically do not need formal education and most learn on the job. Culinary school can speed up your move to sauté or a lead role, but experience and a stage matter more to most chefs.
Should I put fast-food experience on a line cook resume?
Yes. Fast-food grill and fry work shows speed, food safety habits and the ability to work a rush. Describe it in kitchen terms: station, volume and the procedures you followed.
Related guides
Sources, checked 27 October 2026
We opened every page below on that date. Pay, rules and requirements change, so check the source before you rely on a detail.
- O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor): 35-2014.00 Cooks, Restaurant (median wages, employment, projected growth, tasks (BLS 2025 data))
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Occupational Outlook Handbook: Cooks (line cooks and stations, education and training)
- National Restaurant Association: ServSafe Food Handler (food handler program and provider)