Fast Food Resume Sample & Writing Guide (10+ Tips)

You came to the right place to write your fast food resume. But first, picture this—

Hmmm. Energy, check. Enthusiasm, check. Human, check! This job’s perfect for you! 

But hang on a minute. In your Tri-City area, there are thousands of humans. Hundreds of them are enthusiastic and energetic. Dozens of them want this job. For the employer, it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The steaks are high. (Don’t groan yet; there’s more where that came from.) How can we make your resume stand out to land us that interview?

Don’t worry; romaine calm.

We’ll walk through this together, step by step. You’ll soon have a fast food resume sample and cover letter that rises to the top, as cream always does.

This in-depth fast food service resume guide will show you:

• Free resume examples for fast food better than 9 out of 10 others.
• How to write a fast food resume that will land you more interviews.
• Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a fast food resume.
• How to describe your experience on a resume for fast food to get any job you want.

Here's a sample resume for a fast food worker made using our resume builder.

Want to save time and have your resume ready in 5 minutes? Try our resume builder. It’s fast and easy to use. Plus, you’ll get ready-made content to add with one click. See 20+ resume templates and create your resume here.

Use this resume template

Sample resume made with our builder—See more resume samples here.

Not only interested in fast-food positions? See dedicated resume guides for other professions in the food service industry:

• McDonald’s Resume
• Barista Resume
• Starbucks Resume
• Bartender Resume
• Cashier Resume
• Cashier Job Description for a Resume
• Chef Resume
• Sous Chef Resume
• Culinary Resume
• Restaurant Resume
• Server Resume
• Walmart Resume
• Event Planner Resume
• Waitress Resume
• Waiter Resume
• Dietician Resume
• Dietary Aide Resume
• Best Resume Examples 

Sample Fast Food Resume (Text Version)

Now, here's how to write a fast food resume:

1

Pick the Best Format for a Fast Food Resume

Lettuce begin :)

Most of the time, hiring managers like Mr. Kernel in our example won’t read your whole resume. And it gets worse: they take only 7 seconds to scan a resume. That’s just 6 seconds to consider you for an interview. 

The term “fast food resume” takes on a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?

What does this mean for you? You need a good fast food resume format that will grab their attention and not let go. 

A poorly-formatted resume is about as appealing as a burrito with a soggy tortilla. Luckily, it’s not as hopeless as it sounds. Depending on your past work history, there are two main recipes to go about this.

Been in fast food service before? Fantastic! You’ve got an advantage. The reverse-chronological format is best for your experienced fast food resume.

Why is that? Well, this format emphasizes your fast food resume experience and work history. You’ll list your most recent work positions first, and go back through past jobs in reverse-chronological order from there.

As the standard format, it’s the easiest to read and scan - for hiring managers and applicant tracking system (ATS) software alike.

This is important because those little ATS robots read your fast food resume first and make sure you’ve got the goods the hiring manager wants. But more on that later!

But, how can you write a resume for a fast food job with no experience? 

No worries! Instead, start off with listing your education section followed by other sections (e.g., volunteering, hobbies), neatly aligned like the items on the menu board. We’ll talk more about these other sections in just a moment.

Next, save your fast food resume sample as a PDF. The PDF format keeps the layout in shape.

Pro Tip: Check the job posting to make sure PDFs are OK. Some Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can choke on a PDF-formatted fast food resume.

Not quite convinced about the ideal format for your crew or cashier fast food resume? See our guide: 3 Resume Formats: How to Choose the Best One [Examples]

You want to catch their eye. You want to make an impression. Remember that you have 6 seconds? You’ll want to do this all quickly. 

You need a fast food resume objective or a professional resume summary. But which one? Don’t worry! We’ll go over the two now, and you’ll be able to pick the best one.

Fast Food Resume Summary

You’ve been flipping burgers at Wendy’s for some time, and you can do it with your eyes closed and one hand behind your back.

Do you have experience working in fast food? Great! Then you should opt for the resume summary:

• It highlights your related work history.
• It promotes you with a previous achievement.

Here’s an example of an experienced fast food worker resume summary:

Do you see the differences?

Take the “Wrong” one: it’s great that you were able to handle the duties at both the front and the back of the restaurant. However - and no disrespect - but who cares? You’re just listing your regular tasks as if they were accomplishments, which they aren’t.

In the first example, we give evidence of our achievements and experience. This is the better way of how to make a fast food job sound good on a resume.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

Make sure you get your resume right by reading up on how to start a resume, choosing the best font for resume, and our resume dos and don'ts.

Objective for Fast Food Resume 

The closest you’ve come to making fast food is with your childhood Easy Bake Oven.

Don’t have any experience working at fast food establishments? Need to create a resume for fast food crew without experience?

That’s fine. Go with the resume objective:

• It highlights your transferable skills.
• It promotes you with a related achievement.
• It briefly explains the career path change.

Here’s an example of a summary on a sample fast food resume without experience:

See the differences here? McBurger Queen is taking a bigger chance by hiring someone without experience. You’ll need to show them that you have what it takes. In the first one, we used some transferable skills from a high school class. The second one doesn’t show enough to hold the hiring manager’s eye.

Pro Tip: Personalize your cook or cashier fast food resume example by dropping the restaurant’s name into your resume summary or objective. 

Hungry for more advice and examples of a resume summary or resume objective for fast food? Check out our guides: How To Write A Resume Summary: 21 Best Examples You Will See AND +20 Resume Objective Examples - Use Them On Your Resume (Tips)

“I’m lovin’ it.” That’s not only McDonald’s slogan - it’s what we want the hiring manager to say when they look at our fast food cook resume.

To do that, we’ll taco ‘bout your experience in a way which wakes them up like an espresso shot from Dunkin’ Donuts. Here’s how:

Fast food resume with experience:

You’re a pizza dough tossing champion.

Held one or more fast food positions before? Great! You’ve got a head start. Still, pick the best fast food resume responsibilities that match the restaurant’s interests. Complicated?

Nope! It’s as easy as pie. 

Here is a resume-worthy description of fast food experience to consider:

Fast Food Job Description for a Resume

See the differences? The “wrong” example seems fine, at first - we explained our duties and tasks.

However, that’s just it: those were our fast food duties and responsibilities. In the “right” example, we itemized our duties with more detail, and then we included achievement(s) for the win.

Fast food resume with no experience:

The bulk of your fast food experience comes from cooking eggs in the microwave.

Never been a fast food worker before? Relax. We just need to show the big cheese that you’re worth your salt.

See what we did here? At first, working in the paint department didn’t seem anything like a fast food employee. But, we played up those painter resume duties and achievements which translate well into a fast food cook resume - whether they’re Pizza Hut job descriptions or for a Taco Bell resume.

Pro Tip: Take some time to think about your past jobs. Which areas relate best to having strong fast food skills? Pick those for your fast food cashier resume or cook resume.

Need some more ideas on the right achievements to put on examples for fast food resumes? Want more on how to describe work experience on a resume for fast food? Check out this guide: How to Put Achievements on a Resume - Complete Guide (+30 Examples)

The education section - a waste of space, right? You’d better think again. The education section is a valuable part of the perfect fast food resume examples. In the case of those without experience, the education section becomes the most important.

So, how should we put your education on your resume for fast food restaurants?

Here’s how to include your degree on your fast food resume:

2008 BA in Food Engineering
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
3.8 GPA

But what if you are still completing your university degree?

Here’s how to list a degree that is still in progress:

BA in Food Engineering
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Expected Graduation in 2020

And what if all you have is your high school diploma?

Not to worry! 

List your high school, styling it like this: 

Townsend Harris High School, Flushing, NY
Graduated in 2004

If you have completed a degree, it’s better to skip listing your high school.

Pro Tip: On your fast food manager resume, only include your GPA if it is as close to 4.0 as possible. Too low will hurt instead of help. We don’t want that! 

Craving more examples of how to put your education on a resume sample with no experience? Have an educational scenario that is not listed here? Read our guide: How to Put Your Education on a Resume [Tips & Examples]

You’re the greatest thing since sliced bread, but you need to show them. Otherwise, they’ll drop you like a hot potato. How do we do that? 

We need to play up your skills and include the perfect ones for the best fast food resume.

A fast food resume skills section on your resume for fast food without experience is like the spices you add when cooking - important, but only the right ones. Also, not too much and not too little.

How do we add just the right amount to describe your job experience?

First, let’s make a list of some generic hard and soft skills to put on a resume for fast food workers. 

Hard skills are specific abilities and know-how (e.g., Grill Master 5000, food prep duties). Soft resume skills are self-developed, life-learned attributes (e.g., safety consciousness, adaptability). 

What are some skills to put on a resume for fast food? Here’re the basic restaurant resume skills:

Fast Food Resume Skills

• POS Operation
• People Skills
• Deep Fryer
• Time Management
• Grill Master 500 Maintenance & Use
• Communication
• Restaurant Intercom Operation
• Saferty Consciousness
• Customer Service Skills 

But! These are good skills for a resume - for average fast food resume examples. You’re not average, right? 

Neither should your resume for fast food be. To make your resume unique, we can’t just list these generic terms - they look like all you did was google “fast food skills to put on resume,” and then stick whichever results came up.

It’s time to browse the job listing like a menu, but instead of finding the meal we crave, we will underline resume keywords that match the fast food shift manager’s appetite.

Pro Tip: Try this: Type a bunch of your skills into an Excel column, with a number (1-10) of importance and fast food relevance in the adjacent column. Then, trim that fat until you have the best 5 or 6.

Crew Member Job Description for Fast Food Resume:

See the skills on this fast food resume job ad? Let me show you a few examples:

See the differences between the two? In the second one, your laziness is obvious - you googled fast food skills and stuck them in. In the first one, you look like the toy at the bottom of a Happy Meal - just who the fast food shift manager was looking for.

Pro Tip: Does it taste good? Or is it scrumptious? Delectable? Exquisite? Use action verbs and colorful words to make your resume more appetizing to them.

Want more tips for writing the perfect fast food resume skills list? Need more advice on what to put on a resume for skills? What are good skills for a resume? See our guide: +30 Best Examples of What Skills to Put on a Resume (Proven Tips)

Contact info, check. Experience, check. Education, Objective, Skills - check, check, and check. You’ve got the basics, but this is plain ol’ chicken soup. 

Jazz it up. Pizzazz it up. We need to sprinkle in a dash of our secret ingredient: extra resume sections.

Why is that? Extra resume sections make your resume more unique. Everybody puts their name, experience, and so on. This is where you’ll list some relevant things that you’re proud of.

See what’s wrong here? You have every right to be proud of these accomplishments - hell, I know I would be. However, they’re not friendly for work in fast food. 

But which ones are right? I’ll go over some of the most popular additional sections for your resume for fast food now, along with some better, more relevant examples.

Volunteer Experience

Cleaned up road litter with the Adopt-a-Highway program? You are a hero! However, it isn’t a relevant volunteer experience on your fast food resume. Check out some of these examples:

• Volunteered in fast-paced kitchen at local homeless shelter.
• Volunteered at cash register for non-profit fundraiser.

Hobbies & Interests

I honestly, literally love washing dishes. I listen to an audiobook or use that mindless task time to organize my thoughts.

Here’re some other interests and hobbies that would pair well, whether it’s a Subway resume or a McDonald’s resume:

• Volleyball - member of local league for over four years.
• Avid gardener and botanist.

Volleyball and team sports show that you function well on a team, an important trait for the fast environment of the kitchen. The gardening might show that you are knowledgeable about different fruits and veggies. 

Certifications & Awards

Voted “sexiest employee” three weeks in a row? Impressive! But not as relevant as:

• Passed five-year food safety certification.
• Placed second in last year’s Brownie Bakeoff.

Languages

Know another language? That could be very helpful on a fast food resume, and maybe a necessity. Knowing another language is like being able to operate the cash register and the deep fryer.

Don’t turn in a resume with so much blank, white space. Well, you can, but it is like serving a the Jumbo-sized fries with only one packet of ketchup.

Only the customer would just ask for more ketchup, while the hiring manager will simply put your resume aside.

Relevant extra sections on your fast food resume are the answer.

Pro Tip: Salt’s nice on fries, but not too much. Don’t add too many extra sections on your resume for fast food. Add only enough extra sections to fill the rest of the current resume page - not more that it spills over onto a new one. 

Need more examples of hobbies and interests which work well on fast food crew resumes? Still not sure if you even want to add extra sections? Read our guide: 20+ Best Examples of Hobbies & Interests To Put on a Resume (5 Tips)

Would you serve a cheeseburger uncooked? No, right? A resume without its cover letter is the same thing. 

45% of recruiters say they will reject a resume without a cover letter. That’s about HALF. 

You’ve taken your time on your fast food resume measuring the ingredients, adding the spices, and mixing it all together. 

Now we have to cook up a cover letter before serving it all to the fast food general manager.

Here are a few tasty tips to deliver a great cover letter they’ll just eat up:

• Explain why the job excites you.
• Drop names - name the hiring manager and restaurant to personalize it.
• Inform them why they need you for this job.

When your burger is ready, would you want them to call out, “Hey you!”? Of course not. Neither do fast food restaurant managers.

Do like Starbucks and call them by name in the fast food cover letter. Mention something about the restaurant that you relate with. You dropped their name and caught their attention - now seal the deal with this next personalization.

Be witty. Be charming. Be clever. Positively grab their attention - it will mean more than degrees and certifications you list in your fast food worker resume.

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

Create my cover letter now

See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Pro Tip: Research the restaurant online and mention something in particular that stands out to you. This is something a resume can’t include and will really catch their eye!

Did you know that our resume builder software doubles as a cover letter builder, helping you write a professional cover letter for a fast food job description for resumes? Fore more, read our cover letter tips or find out exactly what to include on a cover letter.

“The key to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Truer is this: The key to the fast food interview is through the perfect resume and cover letter.

Using this recipe for a good fast food resume and cover letter, you will have the key to unlocking many doors of opportunity.

• Personalize, Personalize, Personalize. The hiring manager will be taking in dozens of applications. Address them by name in the cover letter. Mention the company in the resume heading. Make yours stand out.
• You want to join them, so make them need you. Spice it up with action verbs and impressive achievements to wow them.
• Double- and triple-check. Spend an extra few minutes making sure that your fast food resume and cover letter are up to par.
• Now. You should have a creative resume for fast food jobs that’s cooked to perfection and served just right. Time to attach the final fast food cover letter and resume to an email and send it off. 

Now, just check out our career glossary, brush up with our interview tips, and practice the STAR method to be ready for your interview!

Chicken fingers crossed! I hope I see you behind the counter the next time I go out to eat :)

Do you have any questions on how to write a fast food restaurant resume? Not sure how to describe skills on resumes for fast food workers? Need help with how to list experience on a resume? Want to complain about all the terrible food puns? Give us a shout in the comments, and we’ll answer your question.