63200 Cooks

What this occupation covers

Cooks prepare and cook a wide variety of foods. They are employed in restaurants, hotels, hospitals and other health care institutions, central food commissaries, educational institutions and other establishments. Cooks are also employed aboard ships and at construction and logging campsites. Apprentices are also included in this unit group.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 9 main duties for this code.

• Prepare and cook complete meals or individual dishes and foods
• Prepare and cook special meals for patients as instructed by dietitian or chef
• Schedule and supervise kitchen helpers
• Oversee kitchen operations
• Maintain inventory and records of food, supplies and equipment
• May set up and oversee buffets
• May clean kitchen and work area
• May plan menus, determine size of food portions, estimate food requirements and costs, and monitor and order supplies
• May hire and train kitchen staff.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 9 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 62200 Chefs
• 65201 Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations

Excluded from this code

• Chefs (See 62200 Chefs)
• Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations (See 65201 Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

apprentice cook · assistant cook · banquet cook · breakfast cook · broiler cook · cafeteria cook · camp cook · caterer cook · construction camp cook · cook · cook - Canadian Armed Forces · diet kitchen cook · dietary cook · domestic cook · ethnic food cook · first cook · fishing and merchant vessel cook · grill cook · hospital cook · institutional cook · journeyman/woman cook · kosher foods cook · licensed cook · line cook

Employment requirements

• Completion of secondary school is usually required.
• Completion of a three-year apprenticeship program for cooks or completion of college or other program in cooking or food safety or several years of commercial cooking experience may be required.
• Trade certification is available, but voluntary, in all provinces and territories.
• Red Seal endorsement is also available to qualified cooks upon successful completion of the interprovincial Red Seal examination.