# Cooks, Restaurant

> Prepare, season, and cook dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants. May order supplies, keep records and accounts, price items on menu, or plan menu.

- **SOC code:** 35-2014.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-35-2014-00
- **Also known as:** Cook, Grill Cook, Line Cook, Prep Cook (Preparation Cook), Back Line Cook, Banquet Cook, Breakfast Cook, Fry 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):
- Ensure food is stored and cooked at correct temperature by regulating temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, and roasters.
- Inspect and clean food preparation areas, such as equipment, work surfaces, and serving areas, to ensure safe and sanitary food-handling practices.
- Portion, arrange, and garnish food, and serve food to waiters or patrons.
- Ensure freshness of food and ingredients by checking for quality, keeping track of old and new items, and rotating stock.
- Season and cook food according to recipes or personal judgment and experience.
- Coordinate and supervise work of kitchen staff.
- Bake, roast, broil, and steam meats, fish, vegetables, and other foods.
- Weigh, measure, and mix ingredients according to recipes or personal judgment, using various kitchen utensils and equipment.
- Turn or stir foods to ensure even cooking.
- Observe and test foods to determine if they have been cooked sufficiently, using methods such as tasting, smelling, or piercing them with utensils.
- Substitute for or assist other cooks during emergencies or rush periods.
- Wash, peel, cut, and seed fruits and vegetables to prepare them for consumption.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Near Vision _(ability)_
- Food Production _(knowledge)_
- Manual Dexterity _(ability)_
- Problem Sensitivity _(ability)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(essential_skill)_
- Monitoring _(essential_skill)_
- Time Management _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Information Ordering _(ability)_

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

**Tools & technology:**
- Facebook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology)_
- Microsoft Word _(hot technology)_
- Food safety labeling systems
- Menu planning software
- Point of sale POS restaurant software
- Recipe cost control software

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 34th percentile (Moderate) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 27th percentile (Low) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 20th percentile (Low) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 60th percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 91st percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** no — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 14.9% growth (Growing fast); 250.7k annual openings; 1,460.2k → 1,677.2k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $36,830; 1,452,130 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

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

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 50% automation, 37% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** directive.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Plan and price menu items. _(2.9% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Weigh, measure, and mix ingredients according to recipes or personal judgment, using various kitchen utensils and equipment. _(1.6% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Bake, roast, broil, and steam meats, fish, vegetables, and other foods. _(0.8% of measured AI use; directive)_
- Ensure food is stored and cooked at correct temperature by regulating temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, and roasters. _(0.4% of measured AI use; directive)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me plan and price menu items.
- Help me weigh, measure, and mix ingredients according to recipes or personal judgment, using various kitchen utensils and equipment.
- Help me bake, roast, broil, and steam meats, fish, vegetables, and other foods.
- Help me ensure food is stored and cooked at correct temperature by regulating temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, and roasters.

## 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-35-2014-00_