Free Access No Registration Updated: 2026-06-01

Chef / Cook Career Market Report 2026

8,625 active jobs. 662 companies. Median salary $37K. Data from Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby, SmartRecruiters, Workable, and 14 additional ATS sources. Last computed: 2026-06-01.

8,625
Active Job Openings
662
Companies Hiring
$37K
Median Salary (US)
83%
With Salary Data

About This Report

The Chef / Cook market data on this page is updated daily from 800,000+ active job postings across 20 ATS platforms.

Greenhouse Lever Workday Ashby SmartRecruiters Workable + 14 more ATS sources

Salary: Extracted via NLP. Only USD $5K-$3M included. Skills: Named entity recognition, noise-filtered (generic soft skills excluded). Experience: Inferred from title + description. Coverage: 83% of positions include salary data.

Key Findings

Median salary: $37K in the US

Middle 50% of salaries range from $33K to $67K.

Culinary is the most-demanded skill at 36%

Food Safety demand rose +16.4pp — fastest-growing skill

Greeneking leads hiring with 1,235 open positions

Biggest salary jump: Junior → Mid-Level (+$29K, +67%)

Salary increase: +$29K · Sample: Junior → Mid-Level

AI automation risk: medium-high (score 70/100)

Score: 70/100 · AI/LLM demand: 0% of postings

Week-over-week changes reflect dataset expansion, not market surge

Recent growth in tracked postings is from adding new data sources, not a one-week hiring boom. Interpret trend data with this in mind.

Salary by Experience Level

LevelJobsP25MedianP90
Junior97$39K$43K$70K
Manager35$30K$61K$86K
Senior33$37K$38K$65K
Mid-Level31$43K$72K$135K
Lead21$32K$42K$60K
Entry-Level3$41K$41K$46K
Staff3$35K$40K$50K

What jumps out

Junior → Mid-Level: +$29K (67%) — the biggest single-step increase. The salary curve is back-loaded: the largest raises come at transitions where scope changes from executing tasks to owning outcomes, or from owning outcomes to shaping architecture across teams.

Salary by Country

CountryJobsMedianCurrency
United States570$37KUSD
United Kingdom89$31KGBP
Canada46$43KUSD
Australia14$56KUSD

Work Mode

ModeShare
On-Site1.5%
Remote0.3%
Hybrid0.1%

~80% of postings do not specify work mode. Figures show only positions where it is explicitly stated.

Top Skills in Demand

Culinary
36%
Food Safety
35%
Scheduling
16%
Customer Service
8%
Swift
4%
Inventory Management
3%
Animation
3%
Nutrition
2%
Go
2%
AI/LLM
2%

Skills on the Rise

Food Safety ↑+16.4ppScheduling ↑+12.7ppCulinary ↑+9.5pp

Declining in Demand

Mental Health ↓-29.4ppActing ↓-9.8ppSustainability ↓-8.8ppAttention to Detail ↓-8.1ppJournalism ↓-5.8pp

Top Companies Hiring

CompanyOpeningsShare
Greeneking1,23514.3%
Accorhotel7158.3%
Panerabread5846.8%
Asmglobal2332.7%
Guzmanygomez2282.6%
Wshgroup2252.6%
Pfchangs1972.3%
Diginnother1792.1%

Top Countries by Job Volume

CountryJobs
United States2,391
United Kingdom1,653
France823
Canada386
Australia327
Greece134
Italy74
India70

Education Requirements

LevelSharePositions
Associate Degree51.6%2,580
Master's Degree1.5%74
Bachelor's Degree0.9%45
High School / GED0.1%6
MBA0.1%4
PhD / Doctorate0.1%3

Certifications

All certifications below 1% threshold. Certifications carry minimal weight in this profession's hiring decisions.

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