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Prepare foods or beverages

Work activity · O*NET

Prepare foods or beverages is an intermediate work activity in the O*NET database — a concrete task that recurs across many occupations , grouped under Handling and Moving Objects. 25 occupations report doing it as part of their work.

What it involves

The most common detailed activities O*NET records under this category, ranked by how many occupation tasks map to each.

  • Cook foods
  • Prepare foods for cooking or serving
  • Cut meat products
  • Prepare meat products for sale or consumption
  • Arrange food for serving
  • Cut cooked or raw foods
  • Prepare foods or meals
  • Prepare hot or cold beverages

How AI is applied to this activity

Microsoft's "Working with AI" study mapped real Bing Copilot conversations to O*NET work activities. The figures below are their measurements for this activity — they describe how AI is used today in one assistant's data, not a forecast that the activity will be automated.

AI completes it successfully 87.0% When Copilot attempts this activity, how often it finishes the task
Scope AI handles 29.6% How much of the activity AI carries within a conversation
Positive user feedback 81.3% Share of interactions users rated positively
How often AI is applied here 48th pct Percentile across all measured activities by how often AI performs them

Source: Microsoft "Working with AI" (working-with-ai). A high completion rate means AI can assist the activity in isolation — it does not mean an occupation that performs it is being automated, since every job blends many activities.

Detailed work activities

The more granular units of work O*NET groups under this activity, ordered by how many occupations perform them.

Occupations that perform this activity

Ranked by how many of the occupation's tasks map to this activity.

Occupation Tasks
Food Preparation Workers 13
Cooks, Restaurant 10
Cooks, Fast Food 9
Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers 9
Cooks, Private Household 8
Butchers and Meat Cutters 7
Cooks, Short Order 7
Slaughterers and Meat Packers 7
Fast Food and Counter Workers 6
Waiters and Waitresses 5
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria 4
Baristas 3
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers 3
Bartenders 2
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers 2
Food Servers, Nonrestaurant 2
Personal Care Aides 2
Animal Caretakers 1
Chefs and Head Cooks 1
Childcare Workers 1
Dishwashers 1
Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop 1
Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks 1
Nannies 1
Travel Guides 1
Exposure quadrant: AI task-overlap percentile vs Median pay AI task-overlap (horizontal) versus median pay (vertical), each as a percentile across all scored occupations, for 23 occupations in occupations that perform Prepare foods or beverages.. Overlap measures shared tasks with AI, not automation. Lower overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · higher pay Higher overlap · lower pay Lower overlap · lower pay Dishwashers Slaughterers and Meat Packers Food Preparation Workers Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria Chefs and Head Cooks Waiters and Waitresses Cooks, Private Household AI task-overlap percentile → ↑ Median pay
Occupations that perform Prepare foods or beverages., by AI task-overlap and median pay

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Prepare foods or beverages." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/activities/prepare-foods-or-beverages

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Prepare foods or beverages. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/activities/prepare-foods-or-beverages

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-prepare-foods-or-beverages,
  title  = {Prepare foods or beverages},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/activities/prepare-foods-or-beverages}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.