Commercial Cookery Apprentice Hub
A cookery apprenticeship trains you to be a qualified cook, and it is the standard first step to becoming a chef. You work full time in a commercial kitchen, get paid from day one, and study for the Certificate III in Commercial Cookery through TAFE or another training provider. Most apprenticeships run around three years. By the end you can run a section, cook to standard under pressure, and hold your own in any kitchen in the country.
Be clear about what you are signing up for. Kitchens are hot, fast and loud. You will work nights, weekends and public holidays, because that is when people eat out. The first year is mostly prep, cleaning and the simpler sections, and some days will flog you. But cooking is one of the most portable trades there is. Every town, mine site, hospital, hotel and cruise ship needs cooks, and chefs have sat on the national skills shortage list for years.
Thinking about it?
Thinking about getting into Cookery?
How to get in with no experience
Get a job in a kitchen and sign a training contract. That is the heart of it. Many people start as a kitchen hand or do a school-based apprenticeship in Years 10 to 12, then convert to full time. You and your employer register the apprenticeship through an Australian Apprenticeship Support Network provider, you enrol in the SIT30821 Certificate III in Commercial Cookery with a TAFE or RTO, and you spend about three years working four to five days a week and training the rest. You can be employed directly by a venue or through a group training organisation that places you with host kitchens. There are no entry requirements for the qualification, no age limit, and adult apprentices (21 and over) are common in cookery, often career changers.
Who it suits
This trade suits people who genuinely love food and can keep their head when ten things need doing at once. Forget the TV version: most of the job is repetitive prep done well, day after day, and the highlight reel moments only come because the boring work was done first. You need stamina for long shifts on your feet, thick enough skin to take blunt feedback during service, and the discipline to keep your section clean when you are exhausted. It rewards people who like tangible results (a full pass, a clean section, a service survived) and team players, because a kitchen fails or flies together. If you need every weekend free or you wilt under time pressure, look elsewhere. If pressure sharpens you, few trades are more satisfying.
What you can earn
For qualified earnings, use the Australian Government's Jobs and Skills Australia profile for chefs: at May 2025 it lists median full-time earnings of $1,423 per week (about $37 an hour), which sits below the all-occupations median of $1,852. Check the live figure on the profile, because it updates. The base number does not tell the whole story: penalty rates for nights, weekends and public holidays lift real pay, and the ladder moves it most. You typically go from apprentice to commis chef, then chef de partie running a section, then sous chef, then head chef or executive chef, with pay stepping up at each rank. Remote, mining and high-end venues pay more again. Apprentice pay is set by your award, year and age: check it with the Fair Work Pay Calculator rather than trusting any figure on a website.
Job outlook
Demand for cooks and chefs is about as reliable as it gets. Chefs are in national shortage on Jobs and Skills Australia's Occupation Shortage List, as they have been year after year, and the chefs occupation profile shows around 133,400 people employed with continuing employment growth. Hospitality venues in nearly every state report trouble finding qualified chefs, and the shortage extends from city restaurants to regional pubs, mines and aged care. The flip side of the shortage is honest too: turnover in the industry is high because the hours wear people down. That is exactly why a qualified chef who is reliable and stays can pick their venue, negotiate, and find work in any town in Australia and most countries overseas.
Earnings and outlook are a guide only and change over time. Sources: Jobs and Skills Australia: Chefs occupation profile (opens in a new tab), Jobs and Skills Australia: Occupation Shortage List (opens in a new tab), training.gov.au: SIT30821 Certificate III in Commercial Cookery (opens in a new tab), Fair Work Pay Calculator (opens in a new tab)
Start with these
What apprentices actually do
- •Prepare and cook menu items across all the main methods: grilling, roasting, braising, frying, poaching and baking
- •Do the daily prep (mise en place) that makes fast service possible: stocks, sauces, portioning, vegetables
- •Work a section during service and plate dishes to the venue's standard, at speed
- •Receive, check, store and rotate stock, and keep food safety records
- •Follow hygiene and food safety rules every single day, because one slip can make people sick
- •Clean as they go and break down the kitchen at the end of shift
- •Help plan and cost recipes and menus as they get more senior
Same trade, different worlds
Same trade, very different day depending on the kind of work your employer does.
Cafes and restaurants
The classic path. Everything from a local cafe doing breakfast and lunch to fine dining restaurants running long dinner services. This is where most apprentices start and where you learn to handle real service pressure.
- •Cafes run mostly days, which means better hours but a brutal breakfast and brunch rush
- •Restaurants mean nights and weekends, with split shifts common (work lunch, break in the afternoon, back for dinner)
- •Smaller kitchens give you more variety earlier because there are fewer cooks to share the work
- •Fine dining teaches precision and technique but the pressure and hours are the toughest in the industry
- •Most venues here fall under the Restaurant Industry Award
Hotels, pubs and clubs
Big kitchens with proper structure. Hotels often run several outlets at once: a restaurant, room service, functions and a bistro. Pubs and clubs turn out high volumes of familiar food, fast.
- •Larger brigades mean clearer training structure and a defined ladder to climb
- •Hotels expose you to volume cooking, buffets and banquets as well as a la carte
- •Pub and club kitchens are great for speed and consistency, and rosters can be steadier than restaurants
- •Bigger employers often take on several apprentices at a time and have dedicated head chefs used to training
- •Hotels and pubs generally sit under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award, while registered clubs have their own arrangements
Catering and institutional kitchens
Hospitals, aged care, schools, event caterers, airline catering, mine site camps and defence. Less glamour, more structure. This side of the industry is huge and always hiring.
- •Hours are often the best in the trade: many hospital and aged care kitchens run day shifts
- •Cook-chill and large batch production teach planning, food safety and consistency at scale
- •Event and function catering is feast or famine: massive days around events, quiet in between
- •Mine site and remote camp kitchens pay well and roster on a fly-in fly-out basis once you are qualified
- •Special dietary requirements (allergies, texture-modified meals) are a serious skill here, not an afterthought
A day in the life (first year)
- ▹Start by checking the prep list and function sheets, then get your mise en place done before service: sauces, portioning, chopping, stocks
- ▹Take in deliveries, check them, rotate stock and get everything labelled and stored properly
- ▹Service is the main event: dockets come in, you cook your section's dishes to order while the chef calls the pass
- ▹Between rushes you keep prepping, because tomorrow's service starts with today's prep
- ▹Close-down means wrapping and labelling everything, scrubbing benches and equipment, and leaving the section ready for the morning
- ▹On a split shift you might finish lunch at 2.30pm, break, and be back at 5pm for dinner service
First-year expectations
- →Expect a lot of prep: you will chop, peel, portion and pick herbs for hours before you cook anything interesting
- →You will wash dishes and scrub the kitchen, especially early on or when the dishie does not show. Nobody is above the sink
- →You start on the easier sections, usually larder (cold food, salads, desserts) or breakfast, and earn your way onto the grill and saute sections
- →Your knife skills will be slow at first. Speed comes from repetition, not talent, so keep cutting
- →Service will feel overwhelming for months. Getting yelled at for a wrong docket happens. Good kitchens are firm without being abusive, and you should know the difference
- →Turn up on time, keep your section clean and ask questions during prep, not mid-service. Chefs remember the apprentice who wants to learn
Tools you'll need
Common terms
- Mise en place
- French for 'everything in its place'. All the prep done before service so you can cook fast. Often just called 'mise' or 'prep'.
- The pass
- The counter where finished plates go up and dockets are called. The head chef or sous usually runs it and checks every plate.
- Section
- A station in the kitchen responsible for certain dishes, like grill, saute, larder or pastry. Also called a partie.
- Brigade
- The kitchen team and its ranking system, from apprentice and commis up through chef de partie, sous chef and head chef.
- Covers
- The number of customers served in a sitting or a day. 'We did 180 covers' means 180 people ate.
- Docket
- The printed or handwritten order that comes into the kitchen. Also called a chit. Dockets pile up fast when you are in the weeds.
- Service
- The period when the kitchen is cooking orders for customers, like lunch service or dinner service. The busiest, loudest part of the day.
- In the weeds
- Falling behind during service with more dockets than you can handle. Everyone gets there. Yell out early and someone can help.
- 86
- An item that has run out or is off the menu. 'Eighty-six the barramundi' means stop selling it.
- Larder
- The cold section: salads, cold entrees, sometimes desserts. Traditionally called garde manger, and often where apprentices start.
TAFE & study support
You train at TAFE or a private RTO while you work, usually one day a week or one day a fortnight, with some providers running block or workplace-based delivery instead. The Certificate III in Commercial Cookery covers 25 units, from basic cookery methods and knife work through to meat, seafood, pastry, desserts, food safety and recipe costing. Your employer has to release you for training, and you are paid for that time as a full-time apprentice. Most apprentices finish in about three years, and competency-based progression can shorten that if you are ahead.
Licensing & qualifications
The nationally recognised qualification is SIT30821 Certificate III in Commercial Cookery, from the SIT Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Training Package. Cooking is not a licensed trade: training.gov.au confirms no occupational licensing applies to the qualification. Food safety is the exception that matters. You must follow food hygiene law everywhere you work, the qualification includes mandatory food safety units, and many venues will put you through a food handler or food safety supervisor requirement under state rules.
What you'll get paid
Apprentice cook pay is set by the award that covers your venue, usually the Restaurant Industry Award for restaurants and cafes or the Hospitality Industry (General) Award for hotels and pubs, and it depends on your year of apprenticeship, your progress and whether you are an adult apprentice (21 or older when you start). Penalty rates matter more in hospitality than almost any other trade, because nights, weekends and public holidays are your normal working week and they push real take-home pay well above the base rate. Check your exact rate with the Fair Work Pay Calculator at calculate.fairwork.gov.au.
Common questions
Do I need to finish Year 12 to start?
No. There are no entry requirements for the Certificate III in Commercial Cookery itself. Plenty of apprentices start at 16 or 17 after Year 10, and you can also start as an adult at any age. What employers actually look for is reliability and a genuine interest in food.
What is the difference between a cook and a chef?
Finishing your apprenticeship makes you a qualified trade cook. 'Chef' usually means someone with that qualification plus experience running a section or a kitchen. In practice the titles blur, but the Certificate III is the ticket that gets you in the door everywhere.
Will I really work every weekend?
In restaurants, pubs and hotels, mostly yes, because that is when the industry is busy. You get penalty rates for it under your award. If weekends off matter to you, aim for hospital, aged care, corporate or school kitchens, which run closer to business hours.
What are split shifts?
Working the lunch service, taking an unpaid break in the afternoon, then coming back for dinner service. They are common in restaurants. Some people use the break well, others hate the long days. Ask about the roster before you sign on, because venues differ a lot.
Can I do the apprenticeship through a group training organisation?
Yes. A GTO employs you and places you with host kitchens, handling your wages, super and support. If a host venue closes or is a bad fit, the GTO moves you rather than your apprenticeship ending. Direct employment with one venue works well too if the kitchen is stable and the head chef trains properly.
Is kitchen culture as brutal as people say?
It has improved a lot, but it is still high pressure and some kitchens are still toxic. There is a difference between a chef being sharp with you during a slam and being bullied or working constant unpaid hours. If it is the second one, talk to your apprenticeship network provider, your GTO or the Fair Work Ombudsman, and be willing to move kitchens. Good chefs exist and they are worth finding.
What if I want to open my own place one day?
The apprenticeship is a solid base. After the Certificate III, the Certificate IV in Kitchen Management covers costing, rostering and running a kitchen. Work under a few good operators first, learn where the money leaks in a venue, and treat your first head chef job as the real apprenticeship for ownership.
Safety reminders
- ⚠Burns are the everyday hazard: hot pans, oven trays, steam, and fryer oil. Dry towels only (wet towels conduct heat), and treat every handle as hot
- ⚠Cuts come with the trade. A sharp knife is safer than a blunt one, cut away from yourself, and never try to catch a falling knife
- ⚠Floors get wet and greasy. Wear proper non-slip shoes, clean spills straight away and call 'behind' or 'corner' so nobody wears a pot of stock
- ⚠Fatigue is real: long shifts, late finishes and split shifts add up. Tired cooks cut and burn themselves, so protect your sleep on your days off
- ⚠Heat stress in summer services is no joke. Drink water constantly, not just when you are thirsty
- ⚠Manual handling matters: stock deliveries, flour bags and stockpots are heavy. Lift properly and ask for help with the big pots
Sources and official links
Straight from the source. These open in a new tab.
- training.gov.au: SIT30821 Certificate III in Commercial Cookery (opens in a new tab)
- Jobs and Skills Australia: Chefs occupation profile (opens in a new tab)
- Fair Work Ombudsman: Apprentice and trainee pay rates (opens in a new tab)
- Fair Work Ombudsman: Restaurant Award (MA000119) summary (opens in a new tab)
- Fair Work Ombudsman: Hospitality Award (MA000009) summary (opens in a new tab)
- Fair Work Pay Calculator (opens in a new tab)
- Queensland Government: School-based apprenticeships and traineeships (opens in a new tab)
- Training Services NSW: How Group Training Organisations can help (opens in a new tab)
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