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Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders vs Cooks, Restaurant

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

A factual, source-backed comparison of Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders and Cooks, Restaurant 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.”

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

At a glance

Dimension Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders Cooks, Restaurant
Median pay $40,550 $36,830
Employment 27,660 1,452,130
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+0.6%) Growing fast (+14.9%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 4,400 250,700
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 Low · 28th pct Moderate · 60th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 18th pct · 15% 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: Food Production, Problem Sensitivity, Operations Monitoring, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Near Vision, Reading Comprehension, Monitoring, Information Ordering, Selective Attention, Control Precision, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Manual Dexterity, Finger Dexterity, Coordination, Oral Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, English Language, Judgment and Decision Making, Category Flexibility, Perceptual Speed, Multilimb Coordination.

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

Specific to Cooks, Restaurant

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

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 Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

    Specific to Cooks, Restaurant

    Full profiles

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

    APA

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

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

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