Pay Scale for a Culinary Arts Assistant

Culinary assistants often perform much of the cooking in restaurants.

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Culinary arts assistants are often the backbone of a successful restaurant. Restaurants commonly rely on assistants to handle the responsibilities of stocking, preparing and cooking the food. Without their work, many restaurants would not be able to operate. The income of a culinary arts assistant varies according to factors such as the actual position held, the scope of the responsibility and the size and location of the restaurant.

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Restaurants are normally run under the direction of an executive or head chef. Working under the executive chef is a sous chef, who commonly functions as the second-in-command of the kitchen. In larger restaurants, much of the day-to-day food production may actually be overseen by the sous chef, rather than the executive chef. Reporting to the sous chefs are the assistant chefs, line cooks and preparers. Assistants may be assigned one specific food type to work on, such as vegetables, pastas, soups or desserts, or one area of responsibility such as grilling, baking or sautéing.

Assistant Chefs and Cooks

The average annual salary for a sous chef was $41,135, according to a 2010 survey conducted by Star Chefs. Sous chefs with up to one year of experience earned $25,000, while sous chefs with over 30 years of experience earned $125,000. Pastry chef salaries were slightly higher, averaging $47,024 annually nationwide. A pastry chef with one year of experience averaged $28,233, while those with over 30 years of experience averaged $125,000. Cooks earned an average mean annual wage of $23,260, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Line cooks that responded to the Star Chefs survey reported average wages of $28,485 per year.

Chefs

The average mean annual wage for a chef was $44,780 in 2008, according to the BLS. The highest-earning chefs earned more than $70,960 per year, while chefs in the 10th percentile made $23,260 or less. Executive chefs earned an average annual salary of $74,891, according to the Star Chefs survey.

Location

Cooks in Hawaii, Nevada, New York, Connecticut and the District of Columbia had the highest average salaries, with annual earnings above $28,000, according to the BLS. Sous chefs in New York averaged $52,667 per year; and they earned $45,250 in California and $44,200 in Texas, according to Star Chefs. Pastry chefs earned $52,816 in New York, $58,000 in California, and $42,050 per year in Texas.

References"Star Chefs"; 2010 StarChefs.com Chef Salary Report; Francoise Villeneuve and Laura Curtis; May 2011Bureau of Labor Statistics: Cooks, RestaurantBureau of Labor Statistics: Chefs and Head CooksCommunity College of Rhode Island: Culinary Arts Assistant CertificateFood and Beverage Underground: Sous Chef Job DescriptionPhoto Credit Todd Warnock/Lifesize/Getty ImagesRead Next:

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