How to Put a Fast Food Job on a Resume
A year on a drive-thru line is real experience in speed, cash handling, and dealing with people. Here is how to write it so it reads that way.
Fast food work gets written off, including by the people who did it. It is one of the few jobs where you handle money, work a line under time pressure, and manage the public all at once, and every one of those is a thing other employers pay for.
Use the title you actually had
Crew Member, Team Member, Shift Leader, Cashier. Use the real title and put the company name next to it, because a national brand name is recognized instantly and tells a reader something about the pace and the standards you worked to.
Do not invent a fancier title. "Customer Experience Associate" when your name tag said Crew Member reads as padding, and it comes apart the moment someone calls to verify.
Write what you did, not what you were responsible for
Under each job, three or four lines that start with a verb and end with something real. "Ran register and drive-thru during peak lunch rush, averaging 90 orders an hour." "Counted and balanced a $500 drawer at close." "Trained four new crew members on the fryer station."
Numbers are what turn a line into evidence. You do not need exact figures, and a fair estimate you can stand behind in an interview is enough.
Name the skills the next job is buying
Cash handling, food safety, working a timed line, de-escalating an upset customer, opening or closing alone, cross-training on every station. A warehouse cares that you work fast and follow a process. A clinic front desk cares that you stayed calm with a person who was not calm. A retail manager cares that you were trusted with a drawer and keys.
Read the posting first and lead with whichever of those it asks for. The same fast food job supports several different resumes depending on where you are sending it.
Short stays and a stack of them
Turnover is normal in this industry and hiring managers in it know that. If you worked three places in two years, list them all with honest dates. Leaving jobs off to hide the pattern creates gaps that look worse than the pattern did.
If you were promoted, say so, because moving from Crew Member to Shift Leader in eight months is the strongest single line on the page. Write it as two entries under the same employer so the progression is visible.