Skip to content
Singulariki

Cooks, Short Order 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, Short Order 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, Short Order Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$35,620
$40,550
Employment · BLS OEWS
150,420
27,660
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
47th pct
28th pct

At a glance

Dimension Cooks, Short Order Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Median pay $35,620 $40,550
Employment 150,420 27,660
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-5.6%) About average (+0.6%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 20,600 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 · 47th 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 (31.8%) —
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: Food Production, Oral Comprehension, Near Vision, English Language, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Information Ordering, Manual Dexterity, Coordination, Problem Sensitivity, Selective Attention, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Finger Dexterity, Control Precision, Critical Thinking, Monitoring, Oral Expression, Category Flexibility, Speech Clarity, Written Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Speech Recognition, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Inductive Reasoning, Perceptual Speed, Production and Processing, Multilimb Coordination.

Specific to Cooks, Short Order

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Trunk Strength
  • Time Management
  • Speaking
  • Service Orientation
  • Time Sharing
  • Far Vision
  • Extent Flexibility

Specific to Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

  • Operations Monitoring
  • Administration and Management
  • Education and Training
  • Operation and Control
  • Mechanical
  • Reaction Time
  • Writing
  • Quality Control Analysis

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

Specific to Cooks, Short Order

Specific to Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Cooks, Short Order 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, Short Order 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-short-order-vs-food-cooking-machine-operators-and-tenders

APA

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

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-cooks-short-order-vs-food-cooking-machine-operators-and-tenders,
  title  = {Cooks, Short Order 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-short-order-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.