# Chefs and Head Cooks

> Direct and may participate in the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. May plan and price menu items, order supplies, and keep records and accounts.

- **SOC code:** 35-1011.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-35-1011-00
- **Also known as:** Chef, Executive Chef (Ex Chef), Kitchen Manager, Sous Chef, Banquet Chef, Cook, Executive Pastry Chef, Executive Sous Chef
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.
- Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.
- Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.
- Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation.
- Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards.
- Check the quantity and quality of received products.
- Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.
- Estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients.
- Coordinate planning, budgeting, or purchasing for all the food operations within establishments such as clubs, hotels, or restaurant chains.
- Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs.
- Plan, direct, or supervise food preparation or cooking activities of multiple kitchens or restaurants in an establishment such as a restaurant chain, hospital, or hotel.
- Determine how food should be presented and create decorative food displays.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Coordination _(transferable_skill)_
- Food Production _(knowledge)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- Production and Processing _(knowledge)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Information Ordering _(ability)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(transferable_skill)_
- Time Management _(transferable_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Instructing _(Specialized Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Mathematics _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Facebook _(hot technology)_
- Google Sheets _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- ADP eTIME
- Axxya Systems Nutritionist Pro
- Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial
- CostGuard
- Culinary Software Services ChefTec

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 42nd percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 41st percentile (Moderate) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 39th percentile (Moderate) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 51st percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 29th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 7.1% growth (Growing fast); 24.4k annual openings; 197.3k → 211.3k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $60,990; 182,320 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 39% automation, 39% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients. _(2.1% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs. _(0.6% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Plan, direct, or supervise the food preparation or cooking activities of multiple kitchens or restaurants in an establishment such as a restaurant chain, hospital, or hotel. _(0.3% of measured AI use)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients.
- Help me analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs.
- Help me plan, direct, or supervise the food preparation or cooking activities of multiple kitchens or restaurants in an establishment such as a restaurant chain, hospital, or hotel.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-35-1011-00_