What is the primary responsibility of a cook in a restaurant setting?

The primary responsibility of a cook in a restaurant setting revolves around food preparation, specifically ensuring that meals are prepared efficiently and meet the restaurant's standards for quality and timing. Supporting ten-minute tickets or less means that cooks must work quickly and effectively to provide freshly prepared items in a timely manner to maintain customer satisfaction. This is particularly crucial in a fast-paced environment where patrons expect their meals to be served without undue delay.

While catering food preparation, maintaining inventory, and cleaning the kitchen are also important tasks in a kitchen, they are typically secondary responsibilities or activities that support the overall operation. Cooks focus primarily on the immediate preparation and cooking of meals based on orders, making speed, consistency, and quality their top priorities.