Line Cook Resume Template & Examples
A chef or kitchen manager reads a cook's resume looking for one answer: which station can you hold on a full Saturday? They check the kind of kitchen you came from, the stations you worked — grill, sauté, fry, garde manger, prep — how many covers the kitchen did, and whether you keep food safe, with a food handler card where the state requires one. Then they look for signs you can be trusted with prep lists, temperatures and the walk-in.
Key Skills: Grill & sauté stations · Prep & knife skills · Ticket times on the line · Food safety & temps · Recipe & plating specs · Inventory & rotation (FIFO) · Opening & closing · Allergen handling
Resume Writing Tips
Name the kitchen and the station
A 300-cover chain kitchen, a scratch bistro, a hotel banquet kitchen and a hospital tray line are different worlds. Under each employer, add one line: "Scratch American bistro, 180–250 covers on Saturdays · grill and sauté". Chefs hire for a specific gap on the line, so the station is the first thing they want to see.
Use kitchen numbers
Covers per night, tickets per hour at peak, ticket times, plates off your station, prep yield, food cost and waste are the numbers chefs think in. "Ran the grill for 200+ covers on Saturdays, holding ticket times under 14 minutes" reads as real experience. Keep the numbers to what you actually saw on the tickets and prep sheets.
Show prep and back-of-house work
Prep lists, stocks and sauces made from scratch, butchery, portioning, labeling and dating, FIFO rotation, temperature logs, deep cleaning — these show you keep a kitchen running between rushes. List the ones you owned. If you wrote prep lists, placed orders or trained new cooks, give it its own bullet.
Food safety and certifications up top
Put your food handler card (with state and expiry) and any ServSafe Manager or equivalent certification in a short line near the top. Add allergen training if you have it. Food safety is not a soft skill in a kitchen — health inspections affect the whole restaurant, and chefs want cooks who take temps and labels seriously.
Show growth along the line
Dishwasher to prep, prep to line, line to lead or sous — this path is normal and chefs respect it. Keep each step visible with dates. Older or short jobs can go in one line ("Earlier: prep and fry cook at 2 restaurants in Austin, 2016–2018"), so the page stays at one.
Licences and requirements
Food handler card
Rules are set by states. In California, food handlers must get a food handler card from an ANSI-accredited program within 30 days of hire, valid for three years (Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties have their own programs). In Oregon, food service workers need a card within 30 days of starting work. Texas requires accredited food handler training for food employees. List your card with its state and expiry.
Resume summary examples
- Hard-working kitchen starter looking for a prep or dishwasher job with a path to the line. Six months of culinary classes at a community college, a year in fast food at 100+ orders an hour, and a current food handler card.
- Line cook with 4 years on grill, fry and sauté in busy casual restaurants, 150–200 covers a night. Fast and clean on the line, keeps ticket times down, and preps from scratch from a daily list.
- Lead line cook with 9 years in scratch kitchens and hotel banquets. Runs the line on weekends, writes prep lists and orders, trains new cooks, and holds ServSafe Manager certification.
Strong Resume Bullets
- Ran the grill station for 180–250 covers on Saturday nights, holding ticket times under 14 minutes.
- Prepped stocks, sauces and 40 lb of proteins a day from scratch from a prep list I wrote each morning.
- Cut food waste on my station by about 15% in 4 months by portioning to spec and rotating FIFO.
- Kept temperature and cooling logs for the line every shift, with no critical violations in 3 health inspections.
- Cooked and plated for banquets of up to 200 guests, 2–3 events a week.
- Trained 5 new prep and line cooks on recipes, knife work and plating specs.
- Opened the kitchen 3 days a week: deliveries checked in, walk-in organized, line set before 10 am.
Frequently Asked Questions
Lead with any job that shows speed and stamina: dishwasher, fast food, catering helper, cafeteria. Mention culinary classes, a food handler card and what you can already do — knife cuts, following recipes, cleaning to standard. Apply for prep cook or dishwasher roles in kitchens you want to grow in; most line cooks started there.
Use the title you actually held, and show the stations under it. If you were hired as prep but covered the line on busy nights, say so in a bullet: "Covered fry and sauté on weekends". Chefs read stations more than titles.
A food handler card in states that require one — California requires it within 30 days of hire, Texas requires accredited training for food employees. ServSafe Manager or an equivalent food protection manager certification is a plus for lead and sous roles. List each with its expiry.
Yes, in Education, with the program and year. If you have more than a few years on the line, keep it short and let your kitchen experience lead.
One page. The last three or four kitchens with stations and two to four bullets, then certifications and skills.
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