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Food Service Resume Examples to Help You Succeed

Food service covers a variety of skills, including customer service. Here's a food service resume example and tips to help you create a top resume.

Ho Lin Profile
By Ho Lin 5 minute read

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Create a professional food service resume with these tips

Food service is an umbrella term that covers a variety of jobs. From the worker who works behind a fast-food counter all day to a world-renowned chef whose skills are heavily desired, “food service” covers any service that involves creating and delivering food. Here’s what you need to know about writing a food service resume that gets you the job you’re looking for.

Jobs that can use food service resumes

When you’re looking to work in the food service industry there are a variety of different food service roles to choose from:

  • General food service worker
  • Chef
  • Sous chef
  • Food service manager
  • Cash register manager
  • Restaurant manager
  • Host/Hostess
  • Server

While each of these individual titles will focus on different skills and qualifications, the structure of a resume for jobs in this field will be similar.

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How to write your food service resume

When recruiters or hiring managers are looking at your resume, they want to see a solid skills section and relevant experience in the industry. Here’s how you can emphasize these qualifications for your food service job.

Resume summary or objective

 

Think of this section as a summation of your resume, where you will display your most impressive work experience, best skills and major achievements. It’s easier to write this section after you complete writing the remaining sections of your resume. That way, you can review your information and create a powerful objective or summary from your best resume highlights.

Skills

Your skills section should be robust, even if you’re looking for an entry-level job. Here are a few food service skills to consider in your resume writing process:

Note how many of these are soft skills. When you work in the food service industry, you’ll find that you need to communicate with customers, team members and managers, all while providing excellent customer service. This can be a hectic work environment, and it’s important to show that you have the intangible skills to manage it.

Work experience

Previous work experience is important to hiring managers in the food service industry. However, even if you are light on work experience, you can still put together a strong work history section. Your work history should expand on the qualifications you stated in your resume summary/objective section. Showcase your career progression and highlight your most significant achievements with specific examples and their outcomes.

Education

Many food service jobs only require a high school diploma or GED equivalent. However, higher-level jobs will require a college education. Include any relevant culinary education, certifications or professional training you’ve received. Do not list your GPA in your education section, however, you can list academic honors like cum laude. 

Certifications

The most well-known certification for a food service job is the food safety license or food handler’s license. This certification shows that you understand safe food handling. If you don’t have this when you apply for a job, then the company may help you during the onboarding process.

More resume examples you can use

ResumeHelp has many resume examples across the food and culinary industries that can give you a great start to building your own perfect resume. Whether you’re aiming for a food service manager or server job, you can find food service resume examples that can help. When you’re ready to get started, use the resume builder, which provides expert job-specific advice to create your resume.

3 top tips for your food service resume

1

Include as much relevant work experience as you have.

This includes any part-time, full-time, internships or volunteer work experience.

2

Look at the job description to see what skills are required for the position.

Be sure to include those skills in your resume, as long as they match your own.

3

Don’t submit your resume before reviewing it a few times.

A food service worker resume should look as professional as any other resume.

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FAQ: Food service resume examples

Have questions? We’re here to help.

Yes. When you submit your resume, even if it’s for an entry-level job, it’s typically best to include a cover letter. Just as with a resume, when you have the right examples to work from, a cover letter can only take a few minutes to write. Here are some great examples of cover letters you can use for reference when writing your food service cover letter.

There are many food service jobs that are considered entry level. On your resume, list whatever experience you do have, like part-time summer jobs, volunteer positions and internships.

Yes. Your best bet is to look through the job description for resume keywords – skills and other qualifications listed in the job description. These keywords will reflect what the hiring manager is looking for in their perfect job applicant. By including those keywords in your resume, the recruiter will be more likely to see you as the right candidate for the job.

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Ho Lin Profile
WRITTEN BY Ho Lin

Ho Lin is a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) and editor with two decades of experience in content strategy, creation, and development. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University and his background includes experience aiding military veterans as they transition to civilian careers.

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