Hiring a fast food and counter worker: job description template and interview questions
Everything you need to post a fast food and counter worker job and interview candidates: a template you can copy and edit, interview questions with what a good answer shows, and pay benchmarks from federal data.
Pay data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Job content: O*NET 31.0. Updated 2026-10-26.
Fast Food and Counter Worker job description template
Copy this template and replace the parts in [brackets]. Keep only the responsibilities and requirements that are true for your job.
Fast Food and Counter Worker
Location: [City, State or remote] · Schedule: [Full-time, part-time, shifts] · Pay: [$X to $Y per hour]
We are hiring team members to take orders, prepare food and drinks to our standards, and keep the restaurant clean and safe. No experience is required. We offer flexible shifts and training on every station.
Responsibilities
- Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary.
- Serve customers in eating places that specialize in fast service and inexpensive carry-out food.
- Request and record customer orders, and compute bills, using cash registers, multi-counting machines, or pencil and paper.
- Balance receipts and payments in cash registers.
- Communicate with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints.
- Serve food, beverages, or desserts to customers in such settings as take-out counters of restaurants or lunchrooms, business or industrial establishments, hotel rooms, and cars.
- Monitor and order supplies or food items, and restock as necessary to maintain inventory.
Requirements
- Less than a High School Diploma or equivalent experience
- Active Listening skills
- Monitoring skills
- Speaking skills
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Service Orientation
- Reliable attendance and availability for the scheduled shifts
What we offer
- [Pay range and how often you pay]
- [Benefits, such as health insurance, paid time off or an employee discount]
- [Training and growth, such as promotion paths]
How much to pay a fast food and counter worker
The U.S. median annual wage for fast food and counter workers was $31,200 in May 2025 ($15.00 an hour). Pay differs a lot from state to state.
| Percentile | Hourly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $10.98 | $22,840 |
| 25th | $13.32 | $27,700 |
| Median (50th) | $15.00 | $31,200 |
| 75th | $17.34 | $36,070 |
| 90th | $20.51 | $42,650 |
| Mean | $15.46 | $32,150 |
Fast Food and Counter Worker salary in every state
Fast Food and Counter Worker interview questions
- It is the lunch rush and an order comes out wrong. What do you do?
What to listen for: Apologizing, fixing it fast and keeping the line moving. - Why is food safety important, in your own words?
What to listen for: Understanding that mistakes can make people sick, and taking rules seriously. - Tell me about a time you worked as part of a team.
What to listen for: Helping others, communicating, not just doing their own part. - How do you stay friendly with customers when you are busy?
What to listen for: A simple habit like greeting every customer, even during a rush. - Which shifts and days can you work?
What to listen for: Clear availability. - What would you do if you saw a coworker skip handwashing?
What to listen for: Reminding them or telling the shift lead. - How do you handle doing the same task many times in a row?
What to listen for: Steady focus and pride in consistency. - Have you ever handled money or a register?
What to listen for: Any experience is a plus; honesty is the point.
Skills to look for
- Active Listening
- Monitoring
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Coordination
- Service Orientation
- Judgment and Decision Making
Source: O*NET importance ratings for this occupation.
Hiring fast food and counter workers?
Post the job on Jobder, add an optional video of up to 45 seconds, and review applications one at a time with a yes or a pass. Free signup is open for job seekers and employers.
Hiring kits for related roles
- Server hiring kit
- Line Cook hiring kit
- Bartender hiring kit
- Hotel Front Desk Clerk hiring kit
- Retail Sales Associate hiring kit
- Cashier hiring kit
Fast Food and Counter Worker career guide · Fast Food and Counter Worker salary by state
Sources and methodology
Wage and employment estimates: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, cross-industry estimates for all ownerships. Figures are as published; BLS does not publish some estimates for some states. As defined by BLS, wages include tips, commissions and production bonuses, and exclude overtime pay, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and other premium pay. BLS OEWS
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Jobder has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET Database
Written and maintained by the Jobder team. Last updated 2026-10-26. Questions or corrections: support@jobder.pro.
Frequently asked questions
What should a fast food and counter worker job description include?
A short summary of the role, the main responsibilities, the qualifications you actually require, the schedule, the location and the pay range. Listing pay helps candidates decide quickly, and some states and cities require pay ranges in job postings.
How much should I pay a fast food and counter worker?
The U.S. median annual wage for fast food and counter workers was $31,200 in May 2025 ($15.00 an hour), and the middle half of workers earned between $27,700 and $36,070. Pay varies a lot by state, so check the state table before you set a range.
What are good interview questions for a fast food and counter worker?
Ask about real situations the person will face on the job, and listen for how they think, not only for the right answer. The questions on this page each come with what a strong answer shows.