Occupation
Kitchen helper
Kitchen helpers do the preparation and cleaning work that keeps a kitchen running: washing dishes, prepping ingredients, receiving deliveries, and clearing waste. It is physical, wet, and fast during service, and it is the most common way people get their first kitchen job. Many cooks and chefs start here.
Also known as: Kitchen porter · Dishwasher · Food preparation assistant · Kitchen hand
Occupation content
Part of Hospitality, travel and tourism
What the work involves
- Wash dishes, pots, and utensils and keep clean stock moving back to the line.
- Peel, wash, portion, and store ingredients as directed by the cooks.
- Receive deliveries, check them against the order, and rotate stock in storage.
- Clean floors, surfaces, extraction filters, and equipment to the kitchen's schedule.
- Handle waste, recycling, and grease disposal safely.
- Report shortages, breakages, and equipment faults to the chef or supervisor.
How people commonly enter
- Direct entry with on-the-job training, usually with no prior experience required.
- A short food handling or workplace safety course where the employer or jurisdiction expects one.
- A first step into kitchen work leading toward line cook or apprenticeship routes.
Typical training: Short course or on-the-job training
Licensing: Not typically licensed
Typical work context
Physically active · Fast paced · Team based · Shift work
Related interests
Realistic (hands-on) · Conventional (organizing)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Hospitality, travel and tourism.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- Canada Job Bank — career planning and occupation search (kitchen helpers) · Canada
Link checked
- US BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Food Preparation Workers · United States
Link checked
- O*NET OnLine — occupation quick search: dishwashers and food preparation workers · International
Link checked
Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Hospitality, travel and tourism in Canada, not a figure for Kitchen helper. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Hospitality, travel and tourism family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Hospitality, travel and tourism: education pathways
Some roles in Hospitality, travel and tourism may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Hospitality, travel and tourism: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Kitchen helper”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)