Best programs to become a first-line supervisor
5 college programs and 526 schools train First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $44,080 median wage, 1,223,240 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
5 college programs at 526 schools train first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers, graduating 18,372 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Culinary Arts/Chef Training. The job pays a median of $44,080 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers
Directly supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in preparing and serving food.
Best programs to study to become a first-line supervisor
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 12.0503 | 11,808 | 64.3% | 353 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 2 | CIP 12.0500 | 4,439 | 24.2% | 153 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 3 | CIP 12.0504 | 1,663 | 9.1% | 115 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
| 4 | CIP 19.0505 | 333 | 1.8% | 30 | $32,286 | $25,275 |
| 5 | CIP 12.0507 | 129 | 0.7% | 9 | $25,404 | $13,000 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
What first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $46,980 | 130,190 | 0.91× | 59 | 2,315 |
| Colorado | $50,550 | 25,510 | 1.13× | 9 | 2,165 |
| Texas | $36,480 | 137,930 | 1.25× | 31 | 1,564 |
| New York | $47,190 | 65,580 | 0.86× | 25 | 1,545 |
| Florida | $44,470 | 91,500 | 1.17× | 48 | 1,358 |
| Illinois | $39,470 | 41,030 | 0.86× | 20 | 744 |
| North Carolina | $45,010 | 39,750 | 1.02× | 28 | 743 |
| Louisiana | $35,800 | 16,680 | 1.10× | 10 | 598 |
| Oklahoma | $35,420 | 18,900 | 1.41× | 14 | 455 |
| Georgia | $38,600 | 48,420 | 1.26× | 17 | 399 |
| Arizona | $40,550 | 21,450 | 0.84× | 10 | 387 |
| Michigan | $37,940 | 32,890 | 0.95× | 13 | 329 |
| Arkansas | $33,800 | 11,200 | 1.09× | 5 | 313 |
| Virginia | $45,550 | 30,640 | 0.95× | 12 | 313 |
| Rhode Islandlimited | $48,400 | 3,320 | 0.84× | 2 | 283 |
| Ohio | $37,340 | 51,990 | 1.19× | 13 | 276 |
| Wisconsin | $39,670 | 21,240 | 0.92× | 12 | 261 |
| Kentucky | $35,810 | 18,010 | 1.14× | 8 | 251 |
| Utah | $38,750 | 13,670 | 1.00× | 8 | 232 |
| South Carolina | $38,520 | 20,120 | 1.11× | 8 | 228 |
| Tennessee | $40,500 | 29,100 | 1.13× | 7 | 213 |
| Pennsylvania | $43,050 | 35,560 | 0.75× | 19 | 212 |
| Washington | $59,400 | 20,700 | 0.74× | 14 | 201 |
| Maryland | $42,450 | 20,150 | 0.93× | 7 | 198 |
| Mississippi | $36,530 | 10,480 | 1.15× | 11 | 197 |
| New Jersey | $48,420 | 27,750 | 0.82× | 11 | 179 |
| Hawaii | $48,880 | 7,330 | 1.49× | 5 | 178 |
| Iowa | $38,760 | 11,400 | 0.93× | 8 | 154 |
| Alabama | $37,110 | 19,180 | 1.15× | 5 | 143 |
| Nevadalimited | $44,030 | 14,230 | 1.17× | 2 | 127 |
| Nebraskamoderate | $39,230 | 7,840 | 0.97× | 4 | 122 |
| New Mexico | $39,310 | 6,540 | 0.95× | 7 | 105 |
| Oregon | $46,950 | 16,880 | 1.09× | 6 | 99 |
| Massachusetts | $46,600 | 23,220 | 0.81× | 7 | 92 |
| Missouri | $37,400 | 21,650 | 0.94× | 8 | 88 |
| Connecticutlimited | $52,940 | 10,770 | 0.81× | 2 | 86 |
| Kansasmoderate | $38,220 | 10,520 | 0.93× | 4 | 78 |
| Minnesota | $45,270 | 20,760 | 0.89× | 5 | 56 |
| Mainemoderate | $47,990 | 3,740 | 0.74× | 4 | 44 |
| Alaskamoderate | $46,570 | 2,390 | 0.93× | 3 | 39 |
| Delawarelimited | $48,120 | 4,030 | 1.06× | 1 | 29 |
| Indianamoderate | $44,880 | 23,500 | 0.93× | 3 | 28 |
| West Virginiamoderate | $33,070 | 6,390 | 1.16× | 4 | 24 |
| Montanalimited | $44,010 | 4,650 | 1.15× | 2 | 17 |
| New Hampshiremoderate | $49,710 | 3,840 | 0.71× | 3 | 14 |
| Idaholimited | $38,190 | 7,440 | 1.10× | 2 | 11 |
| South Dakotalimited | $40,640 | 2,920 | 0.81× | 2 | 8 |
| North Dakotalimited | $44,720 | 2,780 | 0.82× | 1 | 6 |
| Wyominglimited | $36,820 | 2,680 | 1.21× | 1 | 1 |
Skills and knowledge
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Resolve customer complaints regarding food service.
- Train workers in food preparation, and in service, sanitation, and safety procedures.
- Assign duties, responsibilities, and work stations to employees in accordance with work requirements.
- Present bills and accept payments.
- Perform various financial activities, such as cash handling, deposit preparation, and payroll.
- Supervise and participate in kitchen and dining area cleaning activities.
- Recommend measures for improving work procedures and worker performance to increase service quality and enhance job safety.
- Specify food portions and courses, production and time sequences, and workstation and equipment arrangements.
Skills
- Speaking3.9
- Monitoring3.9
- Active Listening3.8
- Reading Comprehension3.3
- Critical Thinking3.1
- Learning Strategies3.1
- Writing3.0
- Mathematics3.0
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service4.1
- Administration and Management3.6
- Food Production3.5
- English Language3.5
- Production and Processing3.3
- Sales and Marketing3.3
Abilities
- Oral Expression4.0
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Problem Sensitivity3.9
- Deductive Reasoning3.8
- Speech Clarity3.6
- Speech Recognition3.5
Core activities
- Getting Information4.4
- Training and Teaching Others4.0
- Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates3.9
- Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards3.9
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships3.9
- Performing for or Working Directly with the Public3.9
How to get in
How to become a First-Line Supervisor
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- Work experience needed
- Less than 5 years
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 5 majors mapped to First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 12.0500Cooking and Related Culinary Arts, General
- 12.0503Culinary Arts/Chef Training
- 12.0504Restaurant, Culinary, and Catering Management/Manager
- 12.0507Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, and Dining Room Management/Manager
- 19.0505Foodservice Systems Administration/Management
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become a First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation?+
High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Culinary Arts/Chef Training, which awarded 11,808 degrees in 2024-25, 64.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this occupation. The largest are Culinary Arts and Related Services, Foods. Together they graduate about 18,372 people a year.
How much do first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers earn?+
The median is $44,080 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $29,940 at the 10th percentile to $65,570 at the 90th. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers growing?+
BLS projects a +6.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 183,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
526 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 5 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Kitchen Manager, Dietary Supervisor, Restaurant Manager, Food Service Supervisor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 35-1012.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024-25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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