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Cooks, Restaurant vs Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Cooks, Restaurant and Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria 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.”

Cooks, Restaurant Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$36,830
$36,450
Employment · BLS OEWS
1,452,130
448,260
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
60th pct
19th pct

At a glance

Dimension Cooks, Restaurant Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria
Median pay $36,830 $36,450
Employment 1,452,130 448,260
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+14.9%) About average (+2.0%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 250,700 69,700
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 60th pct Low · 19th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 29th pct · 18% of tasks 29th pct · 18% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index Automation-leaning (49.8%) —
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: Near Vision, Food Production, Manual Dexterity, Problem Sensitivity, English Language, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Time Management, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Time Sharing, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Finger Dexterity, Trunk Strength, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Active Listening, Deductive Reasoning, Category Flexibility, Reading Comprehension, Active Learning, Visualization, Customer and Personal Service, Coordination, Judgment and Decision Making, Written Comprehension, Operations Monitoring, Inductive Reasoning.

Specific to Cooks, Restaurant

  • Perceptual Speed
  • Control Precision
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Far Vision
  • Fluency of Ideas
  • Stamina
  • Extent Flexibility

Specific to Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

  • Mathematics
  • Administration and Management
  • Service Orientation
  • Quality Control Analysis
  • Production and Processing
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Management of Personnel Resources
  • Public Safety and Security

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 , Word processing software , Data base user interface and query software , Point of sale POS software .

Specific to Cooks, Restaurant

Specific to Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Cooks, Restaurant or Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria — 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. "Cooks, Restaurant vs Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria." 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/cooks-restaurant-vs-cooks-institution-and-cafeteria

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Cooks, Restaurant vs Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/cooks-restaurant-vs-cooks-institution-and-cafeteria

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-cooks-restaurant-vs-cooks-institution-and-cafeteria,
  title  = {Cooks, Restaurant vs Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria},
  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/cooks-restaurant-vs-cooks-institution-and-cafeteria}
}

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