Ring up orders and take payment
Tap each item the customer picks into the cash register, then take their payment.
Career profile
Fast Food and Counter Worker
Fast food and counter workers take orders, make food and hand meals to customers.
Can you get one order right while the next customer is already waiting? Every meal you hand over shows what your effort produced.
A day in the life
Put the whole order together
Make the sandwich, pour the drink, and pack everything in a bag the customer can carry out.
Flag unavailable items to the cooks
Tell the cooks when something runs out, then explain to the customer what that changes in their order.
Wipe down and refill the counter
Wipe and clean the counter where you hand out food, and refill cups, napkins and food supplies.
Quick facts
Learn on the job
United States · 2025–2035
$15.00/hour
United States · May 2025
5.8% projected growth
United States · 2025–2035
Quick orientation
Preparation, pay & outlook
Preparation
Learn on the jobTypically no formal educational credential or previous experience; short-term workplace training.
Pay
$15.00/hourNational median for fast food and counter workers in May 2025.
Outlook
5.8% projected growthEmployment growth projected for 2025–2035, with about 827,400 openings annually.
Fit, tradeoffs & changing tools
You might like this if…
- You enjoy brief conversations with many different people.
- You like getting a familiar sequence right, even when interrupted.
Things to weigh
- Standing and repeated motions can wear you out; some customers are impatient or rude.
- Evening, weekend and holiday shifts can compete with school and social plans.
Where AI may help
At some quick-service restaurants, customers enter orders through touchscreens or phone apps, reducing manual order entry.
What people still lead
You still assemble meals and talk through order problems with customers and coworkers.
What we can’t predict yet
Even food handoff can be automated: a Texas test restaurant used a conveyor. How widely such systems spread—and how much they change staffing—remains uncertain.
Pay in context
Earnings
Compare the hourly rate and the hours you can expect to work.
The national midpoint
The May 2025 median was $15.00 an hour, equivalent to $31,200 for 2,080 paid hours. Part-time schedules mean actual yearly earnings can be lower.
The national spread
In May 2025, the 10th-percentile wage was $10.98 an hour and the 90th-percentile wage was $20.51. These are wage percentiles, not starting and experienced pay rates.
Workplace pay differs
May 2023 hourly averages were $14.24 in restaurants and other eating places, $16.01 in food and beverage retailers, and $16.17 in elementary and secondary schools. These are historical averages, not current offers.
Openings include replacement hiring
About 827,400 openings a year are projected for 2025–2035. These include replacing workers who leave the occupation, alongside employment growth of 5.8%.
Getting started
Join a crew and learn there
- What the route involves
- Apply for an entry crew job and learn service and food safety alongside experienced workers.
- What it can lead to
- You build the skills to handle your station during regular service.
Bring food-service experience to a cafeteria
- What the route involves
- Use previous preparation, serving, cashiering and cleaning work to meet experience requirements for some school food-service jobs.
- What it can lead to
- That experience can qualify you for roles preparing and serving school meals.
- What to check
- Experience requirements differ by employer; school cafeteria work is not uniformly entry-level.
You can usually enter through employment rather than a college program.
After entry
Career paths
This starts where the entry routes leave off: early work, growing capability, and advancement or specialization.
Get steady at one station
Build accuracy with orders, payments and cleanup.
Learn more of the shift
Add food preparation, restocking and handling customer concerns.
Move toward supervision
With experience, you may advance into a supervisory or food service manager role.
Where you can work
Quick-service restaurants
Orders may arrive from the counter, drive-through and phone apps. You help keep meals moving to the right pickup point.
- Indoors
- Shift work
- Physical demands
School cafeterias
You prepare and serve set portions. Some jobs offer weekday daytime shifts, but school breaks can bring unpaid gaps.
- Indoors
- Physical demands
Try it
See whether the job clicks before you commit to the path.
Make a paper menu with four items. Ask a friend to give you three pretend takeout orders, including one change. Write tickets and assemble each order with labeled slips of paper. Notice whether tracking details while talking feels satisfying or draining.
Sources
- O*NET OnLine. Fast Food and Counter Workers — 35-3023.00. Accessed 2026-10-02.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food and Beverage Serving and Related Workers. Accessed 2026-10-02.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational projections and worker characteristics, 2025–2035. Accessed 2026-10-02.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2023 — Fast Food and Counter Workers. Accessed 2026-10-02.
- McDonald’s Corporation. McDonald’s Announces New Targets For Development, Loyalty Membership, And Cloud Technology. Accessed 2026-10-02.
- McDonald’s Corporation. 5 Things to Know About McDonald’s New Test Restaurant in Texas. Accessed 2026-10-02.
- Compass Group. Food Service Worker — Chartwells K12, Pulaski County Special School District. Accessed 2026-10-02.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, national estimates. Accessed 2026-09-29.