Chefs and Head Cooks
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations- O*NET-SOC code
- 35-1011.00
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.
- Data source: BLSPublished: 2026-08
Moderate· relative
LowFour relative bandsVery highGroup-level value
Scale, basis and source
Four relative bands (Low / Moderate / High / Very high)
831 detailed occupations in the BLS Employment Projections table. Assigned per National Employment Matrix (NEM) code, so occupations sharing a NEM code carry the same band
- Data source: AnthropicPublished: 2026-03
0.000
0.000Range of values carried here0.745Scale, basis and source
Observed exposure index, 0–1 as published
Mapped onto O*NET tasks
Published per SOC 2018 occupation; every O*NET occupation with the same SOC 2018 code carries this value
- Data source: ILOPublished: 2025
0.25
0.09Range of values carried here0.70Group-level value
Scale, basis and source
Generative AI exposure index, 0–1 as published
Published per ISCO-08 unit group. Linked to this occupation, wholly or in part, by applying U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to 2018 SOC) as published
What kind of figure this source publishes
The BLS category is a relative rank, not an absolute level, and it is not a first-hand measurement: it groups an occupation's percentile ranks across several published studies into four bands. It is not an employment or wage forecast, not a probability of adoption, and it does not separate automation from augmentation.
Task-level exposure
Exposed tasks only21 rated tasks · 9 tasks with β ≥ 0.5 (42.9%)
β = direct exposure (E1) + 0.5 × exposure when tools are available (E2), per the source repository's definition.
- Source unit: O*NET 27.2 tasks → O*NET 31.0 occupation code
- All rated tasks are in the O*NET 31.0 task list.
- Source
- OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" exposure rubric
- Release
- gh-main-0471612
- License
- MIT License, Copyright (c) 2024 OpenAI
| Task (O*NET 20.1) | Claude.aiRaw / share % |
|---|---|
Estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients.35-1011.00 | 0.004922.2 |
Meet with customers to discuss menus for special occasions, such as weddings, parties, or banquets.35-1011.00 | 0.003716.7 |
Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.35-1011.00 | 0.003415.3 |
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.35-1011.00 | 0.003013.4 |
Coordinate planning, budgeting, or purchasing for all the food operations within establishments such as clubs, hotels, or restaurant chains.35-1011.00 | 0.002812.5 |
Collaborate with other personnel to plan and develop recipes or menus, taking into account such factors as seasonal availability of ingredients or the likely number of customers.35-1011.00 | 0.002712.0 |
Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs.35-1011.00 | 0.00177.9 |
| Not observed on any surface — 14 task(s) — These tasks have no row in the source for this release. The 0 in the share row is a display-stage composition ratio; absence is what the — in the raw row states. | |
Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations. | —0 |
Check the quantity and quality of received products. | —0 |
Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation. | —0 |
Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation. | —0 |
Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards. | —0 |
Determine how food should be presented and create decorative food displays. | —0 |
Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food. | —0 |
Prepare and cook foods of all types, either on a regular basis or for special guests or functions. | —0 |
Determine production schedules and staff requirements necessary to ensure timely delivery of services. | —0 |
Recruit and hire staff, such as cooks and other kitchen workers. | —0 |
Demonstrate new cooking techniques or equipment to staff. | —0 |
Meet with sales representatives to negotiate prices or order supplies. | —0 |
Arrange for equipment purchases or repairs. | —0 |
Record production or operational data on specified forms. | —0 |
Values in this tab are predicted labels, not observations. Eloundou et al. (2023) published two rating regimes — human raters and GPT-4 — and the β shown here is derived from the GPT-4 rater basis alone; the same task can take a different value under the other regime. The unit and the meaning differ from the observed shares (%) in the other tabs, so do not place them on the same axis.
| Task (O*NET 27.2) | βE1 + 0.5 × E2 |
|---|---|
Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs.O*NET Task ID 11138 | 1.0 |
Record production or operational data on specified forms.O*NET Task ID 11146 | 1.0 |
Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation.O*NET Task ID 11131 | 0.5 |
Determine how food should be presented and create decorative food displays.O*NET Task ID 11134 | 0.5 |
Estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients.O*NET Task ID 11136 | 0.5 |
Collaborate with other personnel to plan and develop recipes or menus, taking into account such factors as seasonal availability of ingredients or the likely number of customers.O*NET Task ID 11137 | 0.5 |
Determine production schedules and staff requirements necessary to ensure timely delivery of services.O*NET Task ID 11140 | 0.5 |
Recruit and hire staff, such as cooks and other kitchen workers.O*NET Task ID 11141 | 0.5 |
Coordinate planning, budgeting, or purchasing for all the food operations within establishments such as clubs, hotels, or restaurant chains.O*NET Task ID 11148 | 0.5 |
Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.O*NET Task ID 11128 | 0.0 |
Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.O*NET Task ID 11129 | 0.0 |
Check the quantity and quality of received products.O*NET Task ID 11130 | 0.0 |
Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.O*NET Task ID 11132 | 0.0 |
Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards.O*NET Task ID 11133 | 0.0 |
Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.O*NET Task ID 11135 | 0.0 |
Prepare and cook foods of all types, either on a regular basis or for special guests or functions.O*NET Task ID 11139 | 0.0 |
Meet with customers to discuss menus for special occasions, such as weddings, parties, or banquets.O*NET Task ID 11142 | 0.0 |
Demonstrate new cooking techniques or equipment to staff.O*NET Task ID 11143 | 0.0 |
Meet with sales representatives to negotiate prices or order supplies.O*NET Task ID 11144 | 0.0 |
Arrange for equipment purchases or repairs.O*NET Task ID 11145 | 0.0 |
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.O*NET Task ID 11147 | 0.0 |
β = E1 + 0.5 × E2 · E1 = tasks where direct LLM access alone cuts time by at least 50%, E2 = tasks where software built on top of an LLM cuts time by at least 50%. Values take only 0 / 0.5 / 1.0.
Data sources & licenses — O*NET®, Anthropic Economic Index, Eloundou et al. (2023): see full notices on the Credits page
All O*NET 31.0 task statements (21)
All O*NET 31.0 task statements for this occupation (English, as published; task type core or supplemental). Exposure values are not listed here; they are in the table above, next to each task statement as worded in the O*NET version each source used.
| Task (O*NET 31.0) | Type |
|---|---|
| Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met. | Core |
| Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations. | Core |
| Check the quantity and quality of received products. | Core |
| Order or requisition food or other supplies needed to ensure efficient operation. | Core |
| Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation. | Core |
| Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards. | Core |
| Determine how food should be presented and create decorative food displays. | Core |
| Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food. | Core |
| Estimate amounts and costs of required supplies, such as food and ingredients. | Core |
| Collaborate with other personnel to plan and develop recipes or menus, taking into account such factors as seasonal availability of ingredients or the likely number of customers. | Core |
| Analyze recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs. | Core |
| Prepare and cook foods of all types, either on a regular basis or for special guests or functions. | Core |
| Determine production schedules and staff requirements necessary to ensure timely delivery of services. | Core |
| Recruit and hire staff, such as cooks and other kitchen workers. | Core |
| Meet with customers to discuss menus for special occasions, such as weddings, parties, or banquets. | Core |
| Demonstrate new cooking techniques or equipment to staff. | Core |
| Meet with sales representatives to negotiate prices or order supplies. | Core |
| Arrange for equipment purchases or repairs. | Core |
| Record production or operational data on specified forms. | Core |
| 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. | Core |
| Coordinate planning, budgeting, or purchasing for all the food operations within establishments such as clubs, hotels, or restaurant chains. | Core |
0.10/ 3· Robot exposure index
Scale, basis and source
Each physical task is graded 0–3 by the setting in which robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated could do it (0 none · 1 purpose-built robot settings such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line · 2 structured facilities such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port · 3 unstructured settings such as a private home or a construction site), and the grades are averaged by share of working time
Physical tasks among this occupation's O*NET 29.3 tasks
Anthropic estimated the grades and time shares with Claude Opus 5 using web search, as of 2026.
The robot exposure index is a different measure from the AI exposure figures on this site and cannot be added to or compared with them. It does not measure actual adoption or cost, and 0 also covers occupations with no physical tasks.
Tier of each physical task
Robot environment tiers (E0–E3)
E0 noneDetails
Rated not doable by robots that have been deployed, sold or demonstrated, even in a purpose-built setting
E1 purpose-built robot settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting built around the machine, such as a fenced machine cell or a bottling line
E2 structured facilitiesDetails
Rated doable in a human work facility that an institution keeps to a working standard, such as a hospital pharmacy or a container port
E3 unstructured settingsDetails
Rated doable in a setting that no institution keeps to a working standard, such as a private home or a construction site
Only tasks classified as physical are listed; other tasks have no tier in the source.
| Task (O*NET 29.3) | Robot environment tier |
|---|---|
| Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met. | E1 purpose-built robot settings |
| Check the quantity and quality of received products. | E1 purpose-built robot settings |
| Inspect supplies, equipment, or work areas to ensure conformance to established standards. | E0 none |
| Determine how food should be presented and create decorative food displays. | E0 none |
| Prepare and cook foods of all types, either on a regular basis or for special guests or functions. | E0 none |
| Demonstrate new cooking techniques or equipment to staff. | E0 none |
Occupation information
Employment outlook (BLS)
- Employment, 2025
- 220K
- Projected employment, 2035
- 235K
- Change (2025–35)
- +6.6%
- Median annual wage, 2025
- $62,470
- Typical education needed for entry
- High school diploma or equivalent
Korea classification links (KSCO)
Links from the current release of the Korea Occupation Direct Crosswalk v1.1, made by AI Changing Work. Relation values are read from the O*NET-SOC occupation side.
| KSCO code | KSCO title | Relation | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29701 | 주방장 | Same scope | confirmed |
| 29702 | 요리 연구가 | Overlapping, not the same | confirmed |
| 29709 | 그 외 식문화 관련 전문가 | Related, not a match | reviewed |
Relation and status definitions(kr-direct v1.1)
ILO occupational description
AI Changing Work links the ISCO-08 unit groups below to this occupation by applying the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics crosswalks (2018 SOC to 2010 SOC, 2010 SOC to ISCO-08) as published, without case-by-case selection; each link may be whole or partial.
- ISCO-08 3434Chefs
The definition, tasks and examples below are the ILO's description of that unit group, not of this occupation.
Chefs design menus, create dishes and oversee the planning, organization preparation and cooking of meals in hotels, restaurants and other eating places, on board ships, on passenger trains and in private households.
Tasks
- (a) planning and developing recipes and menus, estimating food and labour costs, and ordering food supplies;
- (b) monitoring quality of dishes at all stages of preparation and presentation;
- (c) discussing food preparation issues with managers, dieticians, kitchen and waiting staff;
- (d) supervising and coordinating the activities of cooks and other workers engaged in food preparation;
- (e) inspecting supplies, equipment, and work areas to ensure conformity to established standards;
- (f) determining how food should be presented, and creating decorative food displays.
- (g) instructing cooks and other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing and presentation of food;
- (h) participating on the recruitment of kitchen staff and monitoring their performance;
- (i) preparing, seasoning and cooking speciality foods and complex dishes;
- (j) explaining and enforcing hygiene and food safety regulations.
Example occupations
Chef · Executive chef · Head chef · Pastry chef · Saucier · Sous-chef
Sources: ILO ISCO-08 — details: Credits
ESCO occupational vocabulary
Each entry below is matched to this occupation in the published ESCO-O*NET Crosswalk (version 1, 2022). The match types are that crosswalk's; the wording is AI Changing Work's.
- head chefESCO 3434.1.1Same scope
Head chefs manage the kitchen to oversee the preparation, cooking and service of food.
- chefESCO 3434.1This occupation is broader
Chefs are culinary professionals with a flair for creativity and innovation to provide a unique gastronomic experience.
- cookESCO 5120.1This occupation is broader
cooks are culinary operatives who are able to prepare and present food, normally in domestic and institutional environments.
- diet cookESCO 5120.1.1This occupation is broader
Diet cooks prepare and present meals according to special dietary or nutrition needs.
- fish cookESCO 5120.1.2This occupation is broader
Fish cooks are responsible for preparing and presenting fish dishes using a variety of techniques. They may also prepare the accompanying sauces and purchase fresh fish for these dishes.
- grill cookESCO 5120.1.3This occupation is broader
Grill cooks prepare and present meat, vegetables and fish using grill equipment such as grills and rotisseries.
- industrial cookESCO 5120.1.4This occupation is broader
Industrial cooks create new food designs and recipes. They prepare, measure and mix ingredients to prepare foodstuff products. They control and regulate temperatures, monitor cooking process, assign specific baking tasks, and direct workers in task performance.
- private chefESCO 3434.1.3Overlapping, not the same
Private chefs comply with food and sanitation rules to prepare meals for their employers. They take into consideration the employer’s intolerances to specific ingredients or their preferences and cook the meals in the employer's home. Private chefs may also be asked to organise small dinner parties or other types of celebrations for special occasions.
Source: European Commission, DG EMPL — ESCO API 2026-08-08 (bridge v1.2.1)
License: CC BY 4.0 (EU Reuse Notice)
ESCO reuse terms and the modification notice are in Credits.
France classification links (ROME)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and ROME 4.0 job profiles, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side. Links marked “provisional” were adopted on the judgments of two judges from the same model family (Claude) alone, or by an operator rule applied to their judgments, so they rest on weaker evidence than confirmed links.
| ROME code | ROME title (French) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| G1601 | Chef / Cheffe de cuisine | Same scopeprovisional |
| D1117 | Chef pâtissier / Cheffe pâtissière | This occupation is broaderprovisional |
| D1112 | Chef charcutier-traiteur / Cheffe charcutière-traiteuse | Related, not a matchprovisional |
| G1609 | Cuisinier / Cuisinière | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: France Travail — Répertoire Opérationnel des Métiers et des Emplois (ROME 4.0), version 61, last updated 15 June 2026 (https://www.data.gouv.fr/datasets/repertoire-operationnel-des-metiers-et-des-emplois-rome). Licence Ouverte 2.0.
ROME codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET-SOC occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a France Travail correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: fr-direct v1)
Spain classification links (CNO-11)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and CNO-11 occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| CNO-11 code | CNO-11 title (Spanish) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 3734 | Chefs | Same scope |
| 5110 | Cocineros asalariados | This occupation is broaderprovisional |
Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), National Classification of Occupations 2011 (CNO-11, Royal Decree 1591/2010) — www.ine.es · Licensed CC BY 4.0. CNO-11 codes and Spanish titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not an INE correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: es-direct v1)
Germany classification links (KldB)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and KldB occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| KldB code | KldB title (German) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 29393 | Aufsichtskräfte - Speisenzubereitung | Same scopeprovisional |
| 29394 | Führungskräfte - Speisenzubereitung | This occupation is broaderprovisional |
| 29302 | Köche/Köchinnen (ohne Spezialisierung) - fachlich ausgerichtete Tätigkeiten | Related, not a matchprovisional |
Source: © Statistik der Bundesagentur für Arbeit — Klassifikation der Berufe 2010 – überarbeitete Fassung 2020, https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de. KldB codes and titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own mapping (eigene Zuordnung) and are not a Bundesagentur für Arbeit correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: de-direct v1)
Japan classification links (JSCO)
AI Changing Work's links between this occupation and JSCO occupations, judged with AI models. Relations are read from this occupation's side.
| JSCO code | JSCO title (Japanese) | Relation |
|---|---|---|
| 391 | 調理人 | This occupation is narrowerprovisional |
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Dec. 2009, MIC Notification No. 555). JSCO codes and Japanese titles are reproduced unchanged; the links to O*NET occupations are AI Changing Work's own judgment and are not a MIC correspondence.
(AI Changing Work link release: jp-direct v1)
Sources, licenses and AI Changing Work's modification and translation notices for this page: Credits & sources