# Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

> Prepare and cook large quantities of food for institutions, such as schools, hospitals, or cafeterias.

- **SOC code:** 35-2012.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-35-2012-00
- **Also known as:** Cafeteria Cook, Cook, Dietary Cook, School Cook, Dinner Cook, Food Service Specialist, Food Service Worker, Prep Cook (Preparatory Cook)
- **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 and record food temperatures to ensure food safety.
- Cook foodstuffs according to menus, special dietary or nutritional restrictions, or numbers of portions to be served.
- Rotate and store food supplies.
- Wash pots, pans, dishes, utensils, or other cooking equipment.
- Apportion and serve food to facility residents, employees, or patrons.
- Clean and inspect galley equipment, kitchen appliances, and work areas to ensure cleanliness and functional operation.
- Clean, cut, and cook meat, fish, or poultry.
- Monitor use of government food commodities to ensure that proper procedures are followed.
- Direct activities of one or more workers who assist in preparing and serving meals.
- Plan menus that are varied, nutritionally balanced, and appetizing, taking advantage of foods in season and local availability.
- Monitor menus and spending to ensure that meals are prepared economically.
- Compile and maintain records of food use and expenditures.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Food Production _(knowledge)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- Mathematics _(knowledge)_
- Administration and Management _(knowledge)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Service Orientation _(transferable_skill)_
- Operations Monitoring _(transferable_skill)_
- Quality Control Analysis _(transferable_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Mathematics _(Common Skill)_
- Information Ordering _(Specialized Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Visualization _(Specialized Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Microsoft Word _(Common Skill)_
- Microsoft Excel _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Finger Dexterity _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- GNOME Gnutrition
- IBM Lotus 1-2-3
- Meals Plus
- PCS Revenue Control Systems FASTRAK School Meal Software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 22nd percentile (Low) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 30th percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 25th percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 19th percentile (Low) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 68th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 2.0% growth (About average); 69.7k annual openings; 466.1k → 475.4k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $36,450; 448,260 employed.

## 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-35-2012-00_