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Chefs and Head Cooks vs Food Service Managers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Chefs and Head Cooks and Food Service Managers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Chefs and Head Cooks Food Service Managers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$60,990
$65,310
Employment · BLS OEWS
182,320
244,230
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
51st pct
27th pct

At a glance

Dimension Chefs and Head Cooks Food Service Managers
Median pay $60,990 $65,310
Employment 182,320 244,230
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+7.1%) About average (+6.4%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 24,400 42,000
Typical education · O*NET Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 51st pct Low · 27th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 47th pct · 25% of tasks 67th pct · 36% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Automation-leaning (38.9%) Automation-leaning (45.7%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Coordination, Food Production, Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Production and Processing, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Customer and Personal Service, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Time Management, Management of Personnel Resources, Deductive Reasoning, Speech Clarity, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, Near Vision, Speech Recognition, Personnel and Human Resources, Administration and Management, Active Listening, Instructing, Judgment and Decision Making, Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Education and Training, Written Comprehension, Active Learning, Selective Attention, English Language, Learning Strategies, Complex Problem Solving.

Specific to Chefs and Head Cooks

  • Information Ordering
  • Inductive Reasoning
  • Originality
  • Quality Control Analysis
  • Management of Material Resources
  • Fluency of Ideas
  • Category Flexibility
  • Visualization

Specific to Food Service Managers

  • Sales and Marketing
  • Administrative
  • Negotiation
  • Economics and Accounting
  • Writing
  • Persuasion
  • Systems Analysis
  • Systems Evaluation

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Web page creation and editing software , Presentation software , Word processing software , Time accounting software , Analytical or scientific software , Data base user interface and query software , Financial analysis software , Enterprise resource planning ERP software , Desktop publishing software .

Specific to Chefs and Head Cooks

Specific to Food Service Managers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Chefs and Head Cooks or Food Service Managers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

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. "Chefs and Head Cooks vs Food Service Managers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-food-service-managers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Chefs and Head Cooks vs Food Service Managers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-food-service-managers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-food-service-managers,
  title  = {Chefs and Head Cooks vs Food Service Managers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/chefs-and-head-cooks-vs-food-service-managers}
}

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