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Cooks

How to become a School and Institutional Cook

Also called: University canteen cook, School lunch centre cook, School cook, Hospital cook, Staff canteen cook

Cooks meals in the kitchens of catering facilities such as schools, hospitals and staff canteens, following set menus.

Main tasks

Workers in this job say high school is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

No particular education or qualification is required to start. New graduates are often referred by cooking schools and similar colleges. Mid-career hiring is mostly through Hello Work (public employment service) and job advertisements. There are also many part-time and casual jobs. Institutional cooks provide meals regularly to the same large groups of people, so a strong sense of hygiene is most important. You also serve anything from a few meals to more than 1,000, so you need to operate the right tools and machines accurately for each. In workplace canteens you can learn the whole job in about a year, but hospital and aged care catering, which needs special cooking, takes about three years of experience. Some go on to gain qualifications as a licensed cook, specialist cook or dietitian and become head cook or manager of a catering facility. A related qualification is the 'cooking skills' certificate under the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's ginou kentei (national trade skills test).

Ways in

Pay · Job openings · AI and this job

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Questions people ask

How do I become a School and Institutional Cook?

No particular education or qualification is required to start. New graduates are often referred by cooking schools and similar colleges. Mid-career hiring is mostly through Hello Work (public employment service) and job advertisements. There are also many part-time and casual jobs. Institutional cooks provide meals regularly to the same large groups of people, so a strong sense of hygiene is most important. You also serve anything from a few meals to more than 1,000, so you need to operate the right tools and machines accurately for each. In workplace canteens you can learn the whole job in about a year, but hospital and aged care catering, which needs special cooking, takes about three years of experience. Some go on to gain qualifications as a licensed cook, specialist cook or dietitian and become head cook or manager of a catering facility. A related qualification is the 'cooking skills' certificate under the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's ginou kentei (national trade skills test).

How much does a School and Institutional Cook earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥3,790,800 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Food and drink preparatory workers, which covers several jobs.

Do you need a degree to become a School and Institutional Cook?

Usually not. In this job's census occupation group, only 10% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: Vocational college (専門学校) course: Cooking.

Will AI change the work of a School and Institutional Cook?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026