Skip to content
Singulariki

Cooks, Restaurant vs Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Cooks, Restaurant and Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders 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 Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$36,830
$40,550
Employment · BLS OEWS
1,452,130
27,660
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
60th pct
28th pct

At a glance

Dimension Cooks, Restaurant Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Median pay $36,830 $40,550
Employment 1,452,130 27,660
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Growing fast (+14.9%) About average (+0.6%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 250,700 4,400
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 · 28th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 29th pct · 18% of tasks 18th pct · 15% 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, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Perceptual Speed, Selective Attention, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Finger Dexterity, Control Precision, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Active Listening, Deductive Reasoning, Category Flexibility, Reading Comprehension, Multilimb Coordination, Coordination, Judgment and Decision Making, Written Comprehension, Operations Monitoring, Inductive Reasoning.

Specific to Cooks, Restaurant

  • Speaking
  • Time Management
  • Time Sharing
  • Trunk Strength
  • Visual Color Discrimination
  • Active Learning
  • Visualization
  • Far Vision

Specific to Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

  • Production and Processing
  • Administration and Management
  • Education and Training
  • Operation and Control
  • Mechanical
  • Reaction Time
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Writing

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: Data base user interface and query software .

Specific to Cooks, Restaurant

Specific to Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Cooks, Restaurant or Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders — 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 Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders." 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-food-cooking-machine-operators-and-tenders

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Cooks, Restaurant vs Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/cooks-restaurant-vs-food-cooking-machine-operators-and-tenders

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-cooks-restaurant-vs-food-cooking-machine-operators-and-tenders,
  title  = {Cooks, Restaurant vs Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders},
  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-food-cooking-machine-operators-and-tenders}
}

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