Prepare food items, such as sandwiches, salads, soups, or beverages.

“Prepare food items, such as sandwiches, salads, soups, or beverages.” is a core task performed by Food Servers, Nonrestaurant. Among the occupation's 14 rated tasks, workers place it 2nd by importance (#13 most important). About 88% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Prepare foods or beverages. in Handling and Moving Objects

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T0.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Place food servings on plates or trays according to orders or instructions. · importance 4.8
• Clean or sterilize dishes, kitchen utensils, equipment, or facilities. · importance 4.8
• Monitor food distribution, ensuring that meals are delivered to the correct recipients and that guidelines, such as those for special diets, are followed. · importance 4.8
• Examine trays to ensure that they contain required items. · importance 4.7
• Load trays with accessories, such as eating utensils, napkins, or condiments. · importance 4.6
• Take food orders and relay orders to kitchens or serving counters so they can be filled. · importance 4.5
• Total checks, present them to customers, and accept payment for services. · importance 4.5
• Monitor food preparation or serving techniques to ensure that proper procedures are followed. · importance 4.5
• Remove trays and stack dishes for return to kitchen after meals are finished. · importance 4.5
• Carry food, silverware, or linen on trays or use carts to carry trays. · importance 4.4
• Record amounts and types of special food items served to customers. · importance 4.3
• Stock service stations with items, such as ice, napkins, or straws. · importance 4.3
• Determine where patients or patrons would like to eat their meals and help them get situated. · importance 4.2

See all tasks on the Food Servers, Nonrestaurant page.

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.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-11157,
  title  = {Prepare food items, such as sandwiches, salads, soups, or beverages.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-11157}
}