WHAT DOES A COOK DO?

Published: Jun 3, 2025 - The Cook prepares and serves nutritionally balanced and visually appealing meals on time, considering dietary needs and seasonal ingredients. This role involves maintaining high hygiene standards by following HACCP and COSHH regulations, ensuring proper storage, cleaning, and food safety practices. The cook also coordinates with staff and customers on menu planning, monitors inventory, and manages food stock ordering and documentation.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Cook

1. Cook Role Purpose

  • Food Preparation: Prepare all food items in a sanitary and timely manner
  • Recipe Adherence: Follow recipe specifications
  • Equipment Operation: Operate standard kitchen equipment safely and efficiently
  • Sanitation and Maintenance: Clean and maintain stations and equipment while practicing good safety and sanitation
  • Kitchen Organization: Assist with maintaining an organized kitchen
  • Restocking: Restock items throughout the shift

2. Cook Essential Functions

  • Food Handling Awareness: Understand the importance of proper food-handling techniques and the hazards of improper food handling
  • Meal Scheduling: Comply with meal schedules and make a prep list per menu
  • Recipe Compliance and Decision Making: Follow standard recipes, but make independent decisions in line with current experience
  • Food Estimation and Portion Control: Estimate quantities of food required and apportion servings while monitoring portion-controlled guidelines for individual residents
  • Supervision: Responsible for the supervision of other food service employees in the absence of the Executive Chef

3. Cook General Responsibilities

  • Food Preparation and Service: Assists with food preparation, cooking, and service, food handling, food sales, and cleaning in the Center’s café.
  • Shift Leadership: Serves as shift lead when the Food Service Operations Manager and Cook II are unavailable.
  • Food Production and Kitchen Organization: Prepares a full range of quality foods in the kitchen and on the line for the current day and preps for future, keeping the kitchen and server clean, sanitized, and organized.
  • Quality and Customer Service: Ensures quality, safe, and timely food production and presentation, and efficient and effective customer service
  • Receiving and Storing Orders: Receives and stores food and drink orders.
  • Direct Customer Service: Directly provides customer service, including preparing and serving food, cooking to order, and busing tables.
  • Equipment and Café Maintenance: Maintains good condition, cleanliness, and sanitation of equipment and café environment.
  • Cleaning Assistance: Assists with completing daily, weekly, and other cleaning.

4. Cook Key Accountabilities

  • Ingredient Retrieval: Obtain food ingredients and supplies from storage areas for daily operations.
  • Production Planning: Review production schedule to determine food requirements, including variety and quantity of food for preparation, and to assemble supplies and equipment needed for daily cooking activities.
  • Food Preparation: Prepare and season a wide variety of foods such as vegetables, fruits, meats, soups, salads, and cereals in accordance with prescribed recipes.
  • Cooking Techniques: Slice, grind, and cook meats and vegetables using a full range of cooking methods
  • Food Quality Testing: Test foods for quality and complete production sheets.
  • Safe Food Handling: Demonstrate, understand, and practice safe food handling techniques, including dating/labeling, time/temperature measurements, and correcting critical control issues.
  • Issue Resolution: Correct issues with food/equipment as quickly and appropriately to provide all customers with a quality product.

5. Cook Roles and Details

  • Meal Preparation and Service: Ensure that all meals and beverages are prepared, cooked, and served promptly, so that customers can dine at agreed-upon times.
  • Menu Planning: Plan menus to provide nutritionally balanced, varied, and attractively presented meals for customers and staff, providing for any specific dietary requirements and taking note of customers' preferences and making the best use of seasonal foods.
  • Menu Coordination: Liaise with the Care Team and customers in the provision of suitable menus, encouraging customers' participation in the selection of menus in consultation with the Deputy Manager/Service Manager.
  • Risk Assessment Awareness: Maintain an awareness of individual customer risk assessments relating to specific catering support needs, for example, dysphagia.
  • Cleaning Program Management: Ensure that a regular cleaning programme of kitchen, dining, and storage areas is followed in line with environmental health regulations and following COSHH requirements, assisting other catering staff with cleaning and washing up.
  • HACCP Compliance: Ensure that follow HACCP system guidelines on the storage, preparation, and serving of food are clear and followed by the Catering Team.
  • Food Storage Management: Ensure all foodstuffs are stored appropriately, check, monitor, and accurately record storage temperatures.
  • Stock Control and Ordering: Check food stocks and order stores, and supervise the receipt and storage of foodstuffs and stock records (Invoices are to be checked and forwarded to the Service administrators for processing)
Relevant Information
What Does An Executive Chef Do?
What Does A Head Chef Do?