Direct activities of one or more workers who assist in preparing and serving meals.

“Direct activities of one or more workers who assist in preparing and serving meals.” is a core task performed by Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria. Among the occupation's 17 rated tasks, workers place it 9th by importance (#9 most important). About 74% 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.

• Direct organizational operations, activities, or procedures. in Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates

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: T1.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Monitor and record food temperatures to ensure food safety. · importance 4.7
• Cook foodstuffs according to menus, special dietary or nutritional restrictions, or numbers of portions to be served. · importance 4.7
• Rotate and store food supplies. · importance 4.6
• Wash pots, pans, dishes, utensils, or other cooking equipment. · importance 4.6
• Apportion and serve food to facility residents, employees, or patrons. · importance 4.6
• Clean and inspect galley equipment, kitchen appliances, and work areas to ensure cleanliness and functional operation. · importance 4.6
• Clean, cut, and cook meat, fish, or poultry. · importance 4.5
• Monitor use of government food commodities to ensure that proper procedures are followed. · importance 4.4
• Plan menus that are varied, nutritionally balanced, and appetizing, taking advantage of foods in season and local availability. · importance 4.3
• Monitor menus and spending to ensure that meals are prepared economically. · importance 4.3
• Compile and maintain records of food use and expenditures. · importance 4.3
• Train new employees. · importance 4.3
• Take inventory of supplies and equipment. · importance 4.2
• Requisition food supplies, kitchen equipment, and appliances, based on estimates of future needs. · importance 4.2

See all tasks on the Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria 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-9493,
  title  = {Direct activities of one or more workers who assist in preparing and serving meals.},
  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-9493}
}