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SOC 35-2014
Cooks (occupational family) is the combined page for the U.S. SOC 35-2010 cook family, covering fast food, institution and cafeteria, private household, restaurant, short order and all other cooks: receiving and preparing ingredients, weighing, cutting and heating according to recipes, orders and food-safety conditions, monitoring temperature and doneness, portioning and plating and coordinating service, then cleaning equipment, storing ingredients and recording inventory; on the Chinese side the Chinese cuisine chef (occupation code 4-03-02-01) and similar entities are checked separately, and the two classifications do not correspond one-to-one.
Model impact index for three equally weighted representative core tasks; not a measured share of working time or a job-loss probability. floor((0+0+75)/3+0.5)=25; fermatmind-ai-impact-v1; 2026-10-18.
The work rhythm is set jointly by orders, the menu, shifts, customer peaks and equipment status; the specific arrangements differ between restaurants, fast food, institutional cafeterias, private households and short-order outlets.The core output is dishes that can be reproduced consistently and serving records, not putting ingredients into a pan or being able to operate a particular machine.
Similar adjacent job titles do not mean the same authorization; when comparing, look first at the work object, output, training requirements and the signature and escalation boundary.
Good to try first: being willing to weigh, cut and prepare, control temperature and clean repeatedly in a hot, humid, noisy kitchen that runs to serving deadlines, and being able to accept long periods of standing, shift work and customer peaks.Software or generative tools can be used as controlled organisational assistance, but generated content must not be treated as an unchecked recipe, allergen judgment or food safety conclusion.
This page explains the U.S. SOC35-2010 cook family, including fast food 35-2011, institution and cafeteria 35-2012, private household 35-2013, restaurant 35-2014, short order 35-2015 and other 35-2019. Preparation, cooking, serving and cleaning and storage are overlapping work surfaces with different degrees of autonomy. There are currently five subcategories with detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15Core/5Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 other cooks page explicitly does not provide that class of O*NET characteristic data, so it cannot be written that all six have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Household menu design, institutional mentoring and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menu work must not be uniformly excluded. Chinese cuisine cook 4-03-02-01 is another classification entity, including cost accounting, innovation and kitchen management content, and cannot be mapped one-to-one to the six U.S. categories; the overall duties of adjacent occupations do not transfer directly.
Career direction comparison
The table below compares the five cook family subcategories with the adjacent chefs and head cooks position across four items: career direction, core work and outputs, key differences, and what choice it suits better; employment size and growth are U.S. O*NET-SOC scopes.
| Career direction | Core work and outputs | Key differences | Which choice suits you better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant Cooks (O*NET-SOC 35-2014.00) | Serve continuously to the menu and orders in a restaurant back kitchen: the dish range is wide and there are many stations, so the person must both reproduce taste to recipe and align serving timing with the plating assistant and the food runner at peak times. | Compared with the other subcategories in the family, restaurant cooks have the widest dish range and the most coordinating stations; employment in 2024 was 1,460,200, the largest subcategory in the family. | Better suited to people willing to coordinate serving in a high-pace, multi-dish environment and able to accept evening and weekend shifts. |
The impact of AI on the occupation
Records consolidation, order summarisation and recipe calculation can serve as tool uses pending verification; traditional sensing and control, kitchen machinery and generative text tools must be considered separately. A 2025 U.S. Lightcast fast food cook job-posting table lists Outlook, Excel and Word, each below 1%; this is a share of job-posting mentions, not a software adoption rate, an AI rate or a list of kitchen order and inventory systems, and it does not represent the whole family or Chinese job postings. This round obtained no family adoption rate, effectiveness or job-displacement causality, and ingredient and food-safety judgements must be checked against actual responsibility. The BLS cook family had 2,705,800 jobs in 2025 and is projected to reach 2,889,000 by 2035, growth of 7%, a published net increase of 183,200 and an average of 393,200 openings per year (including replacements). Growth by segment: restaurants 12%, private households 5%, other 5%, institution and cafeteria 3%, fast food 1% and short order -5%; it is not uniform growth across the six segments, nor a decline in both fast food and short order. Counts and percentages are rounded, and openings are not net increases, current hiring or an individual hiring rate. AI Impact Score 25% is an editorial estimate. Model impact index for three equally weighted representative core tasks; not a measured share of working time or a job-loss probability. floor((0+0+75)/3+0.5)=25; fermatmind-ai-impact-v1; 2026-10-18.The three tasks, ratings and sources are listed in the FermatMind method source record on this page.
FermatMind AI Impact Score estimation method v1
FermatMind / 费马测试 · 2026-10-18
Mainland China salary reference
The U.S. SOC35-2010 is the cook family, and the six O*NET segment codes are listed separately; family and restaurant wages, industries and projections are noted separately, and precise Chinese wages were not obtained.
Catering, institutional catering and private households are task-corresponding settings; no Chinese employment share was obtained. The unit's main activity and employment form determine the relevant background and rules, and there is no one-to-one correspondence with U.S. codes.
Insufficient evidence: no occupation-level mainland China wage distribution corresponding to the cook family (O*NET-SOC 35-2010) was obtained
Precise Chinese cook wages were not obtained; NBS gives annual averages for accommodation and catering of 62,461 yuan for urban non-private units and 55,123 yuan for private units, and a monthly average of 4,208 yuan for migrant workers (2025), which are industry-unit and industry-population background respectively.Also listed are the verified month wage of 4,208 yuan for migrant workers in the accommodation and catering industry (2025, +1.6%) and the annual average for urban unit industries; neither is an occupational wage.
U.S. salary reference
Wages are kept separate under two genuine measures: three tiers show the family at 12.85/17.62/22.84, for the P10 hourly wage, the median and the P90 hourly wage; the percentile table below uniformly uses restaurant 35-2014 annual wages of 28,700/34,010/37,390/44,620/47,900, together with the corresponding hourly wages. The family median annual wage of 36,640 is also retained separately, and these cannot be assembled into a single distribution or extrapolated from individual hours.
| Wage position | Wage reference (annual wage / hourly wage) | Boundaries for converting annual income | How to understand this position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower wage position (10th percentile) | 12.85 dollars/hour (family 10th percentile, May 2025) | Official annual values can be cited; the standard 2,080-hour conversion is not individual hours and cannot be used to infer an individual's actual annual take-home pay | Percentiles are statistical positions, not novice, experienced or management grades; people at the same percentile differ greatly in experience and duties. |
Career fit guide
Fit can be checked against actual task and job conditions: repetitive cutting, standing, temperature control and sanitation, time limits and collaboration; the interests and questionnaires below are observation angles and do not guarantee competence.Compare each item against what you can tolerate.
Worth experiencing further： Editorial self-question: are you willing to repeat weighing, cutting, temperature control and cleaning under time limits, and to accept feedback and on-the-job training; this round has no occupation-specific measurement from preference to success rate, and easier adaptation is not guaranteed.
Check the real conditions first： First check prolonged standing, heat and noise, shift work and holiday schedules, wrist and lower-back load, and whether you are willing to stop and report when allergens or temperature control are abnormal.
Try a small experience first： The fictional records on this page can be used to practise observing preferences; a real kitchen experience requires first confirming that the venue allows it and that training and food-safety conditions are in place, and no one may work a shift without permission.
Work pressure, risks and occupational boundaries
Risks cluster into three types: burns and cuts from heat and knives, injuries from wet and slippery surfaces and from lifting, and food-safety risks from temperature-control failures and cross-contamination; long-term heat, noise and repetitive motion also have cumulative effects.
Task hazards and work context are checked against the O*NET restaurant detail page, and food-safety and health requirements against the 2025 amendment to the Food Safety Law; the Chinese cuisine chef material supports classification grades only, and NIST is voluntary AI governance only. Work context responses are not accident rates or injury rankings.
Typical settings：When using frying equipment, ovens and slicers, excessively high oil temperature, contact between oil and water, improper blade orientation or missing guards can all cause burns and cuts.
Main positions：All back-of-house stations, especially frying, oven and slicing positions
Entering the trade, certificates and career development
Entering the trade usually does not require a formal credential: most cook positions rely on on-the-job training and start from kitchen helper and prep roles; which stations can be run independently, whether temperature-control and hygiene standards are maintained, and whether records can be kept in the required format are more verifiable evidence of preparation than a certificate.
Career outlook and moving to related occupations
Look at three layers: the U.S. family and segment projections, the applicable food-safety rules, and the target employer's actual recruitment; statistics, statutory conditions and announcements cannot substitute for one another.Recruitment information can show only one employer's job demand at one point in time. The three cannot substitute for one another.
United States · Cooks (occupational family) combined family measure (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook)
+7% (2025—2035, much faster than average; employment change +183,200 people)
Overall employment change
The BLS cook family had 2,705,800 jobs in 2025 and is projected to reach 2,889,000 by 2035, growth of 7%, a published net increase of 183,200 and an average of 393,200 openings per year (including replacements). Growth by segment: restaurants 12%, private households 5%, other 5%, institution and cafeteria 3%, fast food 1% and short order -5%; it is not uniform growth across the six segments, nor a decline in both fast food and short order. Counts and percentages are rounded, and openings are not net increases, current hiring or an individual hiring rate.
Receive and prepare ingredients, weigh, cut and heat to recipe and order, monitor temperature and doneness, portion and plate and coordinate service, then clean equipment, store ingredients and record inventory; restaurants, fast food, institution and cafeteria, private households and short order place different emphasis on these.
Head cooks and chefs take on menu design, cost and people management; food service managers are responsible for outlet operations and compliance; general positions in the cook family mainly produce to recipe and order and do not manage people, money or goods.
Choose a real task from this page for a small practice project or a conversation with someone in the field. Use the planning guides to set a date, an output and feedback questions before deciding whether to continue.
Caution needed: if you only want to serve food quickly, avoid repeated hygiene and temperature checks, or are unwilling to stop and report when there is an allergen, foreign object or temperature anomaly, the actual work will be very hard.Fit judgments should combine real task samples, kitchen feedback and qualification checks, and are not replaced by an interest type or a single test.
Low-risk verification: use fictional orders and an ingredient list for a receiving, cutting and preparing, temperature control, portioning and recording exercise; this only judges work preferences and is not the same as qualification, training or hiring.All paper exercises on this page use fictional materials; food safety, equipment operation, allergen handling and health conditions in a real kitchen must be confirmed by trained and authorized personnel under the applicable regulations.
This page treats preparation and cutting, heating and serving, and cleaning, storage and records as three overlapping work surfaces, not as three official subcategories or a uniform operating procedure. There are currently five subcategories with detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15Core/5Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 other cooks page explicitly does not provide that class of O*NET characteristic data, so it cannot be written that all six have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Household menu design, institutional mentoring and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menu work must not be uniformly excluded. Whether the menu, purchasing, special diets and mentoring fall to the cook must be checked against the specific subcategory and unit, not only the station operation.
Preparation and portioning records, and allergen isolation confirmation
Temperature control and production records, and anomaly stop-serving and reporting confirmation
The work object of cooks (the occupational family) is ingredients, recipes and orders, and the output is dishes that can be reproduced consistently and meet food safety and temperature control requirements, together with serving records. This table compares the cook family with adjacent food service positions item by item across seven dimensions: core purpose, main objects and basis, core process, main outputs, responsible party, cooperation and supervision, and conclusion boundary. Adjacent positions all work in food service or food preparation settings, but autonomy over the menu and dishes, whether personnel and cost management is carried, whether there is direct customer contact, and the food safety and temperature control chain of responsibility do not transfer just because the positions are adjacent; when comparing, check the position's actual duties item by item.
| Dimension | Main directions | Directions compared |
|---|---|---|
| Core purpose | Prepare ingredients into safely edible finished dishes to the recipe and order, and reproduce the taste and portion consistently within the serving deadline. | Core purposes of adjacent positions: chefs and head cooks are responsible for menu design, kitchen organisation and production standards; food service managers are responsible for outlet operations, cost and personnel; food preparation workers are responsible for washing, cutting and other upstream preparation; bakers make baked products to recipe; fast food and counter workers take orders, assemble and hand over; dishwashers are responsible for cleaning tableware and premises. |
Check ingredient freshness and storage temperature, weigh, wash, peel, cut and portion to the recipe, handle meat, seafood, vegetables and fruit, and isolate allergen-related ingredients as required.
Choose pan-frying, stir-frying, roasting, steaming, deep-frying and baking and similar methods to heat by order, adjust the temperature of stoves, ovens, grills and steamers, re-check doneness by tasting, smelling and piercing with an implement, and after portioning, plating and garnishing hand over to the food runner or directly to the customer.
Monitor refrigeration, freezing, heating and holding temperatures to food safety requirements, record the key temperature control data, keep the preparation area, stations and serving area clean, clean and sanitise utensils and chopping boards to procedure and store raw and cooked ingredients separately.
Take stock of and requisition ingredients and kitchen supplies, rotate storage on a first-in-first-out basis, record output, waste, temperature control and stock data, and report shortages, losses and anomalies to the supervisor.
At the serving peak align the timing with the plating assistant, the food runner and the front of house, work by station, assist or cover for other cooks, and guide newly hired kitchen helpers and apprentices as arranged by the employer.
Use stoves, deep fryers, slicers and mixers and similar equipment to the employer's safety procedures, wear protective equipment and clean and maintain equipment promptly; when an equipment fault or a gas or electrical anomaly is found, stop using it and notify the supervisor.
Six recurring professional judgments: whether the ingredient receiving and temperature control records are checked; whether cutting, preparing and portioning meet the recipe specification; whether the core temperature and doneness after heating are up to standard; whether allergens and cross-contamination are isolated; whether cleaning, sanitising and storage follow procedure; and whether anomalies are reported to procedure and handed over to the next shift.
Judgment one: are the ingredient receiving and temperature control records checked?
Judgment two: do the cutting, preparing and portioning meet the recipe specification?
Judgment three: are heating and temperature control up to standard?
| Fast Food Cooks (O*NET-SOC 35-2011.00) | Make in batches to order under standardised equipment and a fixed menu, with short processes, a fast pace and high repetition, and some positions also take orders and payment. | More constrained by standardised equipment and serving pace: employment in 2024 was 669,500, and 2024—2034 growth is a decline (-1% or lower), with automation and job consolidation more evident in fast food and counter positions. | Better suited to people who can accept a high degree of repetition, work to standards and want to start fairly quickly. |
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| Institution and Cafeteria Cooks (O*NET-SOC 35-2012.00) | Provide large-volume catering to a fixed population (schools, hospitals, companies, aged care facilities) according to the menu and dietary restrictions, and record food usage and temperature under the system. | Large volume, a fixed client population and relatively regular hours; employment in 2024 was 466,100, 2024—2034 growth is slower than average (1% to 2%), and the page does not mark Bright Outlook. | Better suited to people who value regular hours, batch catering and institutionalised management rather than pursuing dish creativity. |
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| Private Household Cooks (O*NET-SOC 35-2013.00) | Design menus, purchase and cook meals around the needs of a single household or a few employers, balancing dietary restrictions and family tastes, and possibly travelling with the employer. | High autonomy over the menu and purchasing, with the workplace in a private residence; employment in 2024 was 34,200, 2024—2034 growth is faster than average (5% to 6%), and the preparation level is Job Zone 3. | Better suited to people willing to deal directly with a single household, design menus themselves and adapt to family routines. |
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| Short Order Cooks (O*NET-SOC 35-2015.00) | Make short-time dishes to customer orders at a counter or short-order station (fried eggs, burgers, fries, sandwiches and so on) while handling orders, plating and simple payment. | The shortest processes, with customer orders directly determining the order of production; employment in 2024 was 151,100, and 2024—2034 growth is a decline (-1% or lower). | Better suited to people who react quickly, can handle several short orders at once and face customers directly. |
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| Chefs and Head Cooks (O*NET-SOC 35-1011.00, adjacent occupation) | Design menus and production standards, organise the kitchen division of labour, calculate costs and manage kitchen personnel, while still possibly cooking signature dishes personally. | The key difference from this occupation is management responsibility: taking on menu design and cost accounting, personnel scheduling and training, and setting production standards; these duties do not belong to the general positions in the cook family. | Better suited to people who have built production experience, are willing to take on personnel and cost management responsibility and want to lead the menu direction. |
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Conclusion: the family subcategories share the core tasks of ingredient preparation, heating and temperature control, and cleaning and records, but they differ markedly in volume, pace, customer contact, menu autonomy and management responsibility; when choosing, follow the target position's actual tasks and shift pattern rather than the job title alone.
Next step: use the exercise materials on this page or a shift shadowing experience to check the target subcategory's real shift pattern, temperature control and cooperation requirements, and then decide the direction.
Editorial ratings use the existing occupational responsibilities and AI task analysis on this page. They are not adoption rates, measured effects, job-disappearance or personal-unemployment probabilities, or official scores from Stanford or another external institution. No measured time weights or future robot deployment are assumed.
Refers to the extent to which a task can be completed or assisted by existing technology; it does not indicate whether employers actually adopt it, nor does it indicate changes in headcount or wages.
Organisational adoption means the employer actually deploying a tool, which requires checking cost, hygiene, training and process; this round did not obtain the adoption rate for this occupation, and it is not claimed to be necessarily slower than technical capability.
Refers to the actual change in headcount and wages, determined jointly by demand, cost, regulation and the regional labour market; this page has no checkable single-occupation causal data for this occupation.
| Work direction | Task | Current change | Human control points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanitation and safety | Maintain sanitation, health and safety standards in work areas | Sensor logging and alerts are uses pending verification; device range, alarms and on-site coverage must be checked, and they do not represent generative AI or actual adoption. | Confirm whether cleaning and temperature control actually meet the standard, and decide whether to continue serving. |
| Preparation and cutting | Wash ingredients, cut and prepare them, and weigh and portion them according to recipes | Mechanical cutting, portioning and prep forecasting are candidates; accuracy, hygiene and efficiency must be measured in practice, and efficiency gains are not guaranteed. | Judge the condition of ingredients, correct cutting specifications and handle ingredients the equipment cannot process. |
| Heating and seasoning | Season and cook by heating according to recipes or personal experience | Programmed heating is a candidate under traditional control; it cannot guarantee a stable curve or safe doneness for every dish. | Judge heat level and doneness, adjust flavour to order and handle special requests. |
| Judging doneness | Observe and taste food to judge whether it is thoroughly cooked | A temperature probe is a measuring tool, not generative AI; check its calibration, the measurement point and the applicable limits, and sensory checks cannot replace the legally required heating conditions. | Check temperature, time and doneness against the standard applicable to the dish; restaurant tasks include tasting, smelling and piercing, but suspected contamination must not be proven safe by tasting. Discarding, reworking or resuming is checked against the actual procedure and responsibility. |
| Plating and service | Portion, plate and garnish food and hand it to service staff or customers | Number calling and conveyance are candidates; the effect on delivery time and staffing must be measured, and a task list cannot establish a reduction in labour. | Check that orders and dishes match, and handle returned dishes and changed orders. |
| Cleaning and equipment checks | Inspect and clean food preparation areas and equipment to ensure safe and sanitary operation | Equipment self-checks and maintenance reminders are candidates; they cannot replace physical cleaning and applicable verification. | Confirm the actual state of cleaning and protection, and stop using equipment and report it when faults are found. |
| Storage and inventory | Store ingredients at the required temperatures and rotate stock | Inventory expiry alerts are candidates; the physical batch, labels and system synchronisation must be checked, and this does not mean they are deployed. | Check appearance, smell and expiry date, judge whether the item is usable and record what is discarded. |
Below, the sources used on this page are listed one by one, together with what each actually regulates or measures and the limits on their use.
The tasks are divided into three groups below: the parts more easily changed by tools, the parts where people still carry the judgment and responsibility, and the parts where both sides must be checked together.
What AI mainly changesEditorial candidate pending verification: order consolidation, prep demand forecasting, inventory alerts and recipe conversion could be performed automatically by a system, with reports generated. This round obtained no adoption or effectiveness data for this segment.
Still the responsibility of peopleCheck that reports match physical stock, and confirm ingredient condition, batch and whether inventory is usable.
What AI mainly changesEditorial candidate pending verification: programmed fryers and ovens, and serving conveyor and number-calling systems could take over some timing and delivery steps. This round obtained no adoption or effectiveness data for this segment.
Still the responsibility of peopleJudge ingredient condition and doneness, adjust heat, and handle equipment faults and order changes.
What AI mainly changesEditorial candidate pending verification: temperature sensing, logging and alert systems could be designed into recording and warning processes, and the effect must be measured. This round obtained no adoption or effectiveness data for this segment.
Still the responsibility of peopleClean and sanitise according to procedure, isolate allergens, confirm that temperature control is effective and decide whether to stop serving.
The manual checking and escalation steps below are editorial suggestions to be implemented per the unit and applicable rules; NIST is a voluntary governance framework, not a mandatory kitchen operating procedure.
Check the source of order, recipe and inventory data and confirm that nothing has been overwritten or mismatched; input errors are amplified along the whole service chain.
Keep human review for key judgements on allergens, temperature control, doneness and batch consistency, and do not replace on-site confirmation with system prompts.
Record temperature control, cleaning and exception handling according to the employer's system, stating who reviewed them; records must be traceable to a specific shift.
When abnormal temperatures, foreign objects, equipment faults or suspected allergen cross-contamination are found, stop the affected work and report it, and authorised personnel decide whether to discard or resume.
Operation, parameter adjustment and maintenance of tools must be performed by trained and authorised personnel; unverified suggestions must not replace operating procedures.
A system does not bear food-safety responsibility for outcomes, and wrong suggestions go straight into the production step.
Control approach:Treat system output as a draft and verify key items against the original ingredients, equipment and records.
Editorial risk example: omitting key data or distorting records during simplification could weaken compliance verification and traceability; genuine key records should be kept and other valid evidence checked, without concluding that traceability is always impossible.
Control approach:Keep key temperature-control and cleaning records, and state how values were obtained and who reviewed them.
Misjudging allergens directly endangers customer health.
Control approach:Allergens are determined by ingredient labels and recipes; system prompts serve only as reminders, and utensils and workstations must be checked separately.
Changed parameters may render heating or refrigeration ineffective, and this is not easily noticed.
Control approach:Lock and record parameter changes according to the employer's system, with adjustments made only by authorised personnel.
Over-reliance on prompts and missing handover items can serve as process risk checkpoints; this round obtained no causality or incidence rate for cook skill degradation, and risk scenarios are not written as inevitable outcomes.
Control approach:Maintain basic knife-skill and heat-control training, and handovers must clearly state outstanding items and actions already taken.
First master the basics of knife skills, heat control, temperature control and sanitation, then learn to use order, inventory and temperature-control systems.
Treat system prompts as an aid and retain the ability to judge allergens, temperature control and doneness independently.
Define the responsibility boundaries and authorisation scope of tools, and write key review points into operating procedures and training.
In courses, train basic operations alongside review, recording and exception handling under a human-machine division of labour.
There are currently five subcategories with detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15Core/5Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 other cooks page explicitly does not provide that class of O*NET characteristic data, so it cannot be written that all six have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Household menu design, institutional mentoring and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menu work must not be uniformly excluded.
Source:O*NET OnLine: Cooks family occupational profiles (35-2011.00—35-2019.00)Original material ↗
The 2025 U.S. Lightcast job posting table for fast food cooks lists Outlook, Excel and Word, each below 1%; this is a job posting mention proportion, not a software adoption rate, AI rate or a list of kitchen order and inventory systems, and it does not represent the whole family or Chinese recruitment.
Source:O*NET OnLine: Cooks, Fast Food technology skills and hot technologies (35-2011.00)Original material ↗
No. O*NET work context percentages describe tasks and environmental conditions; they contain no data on technology adoption, job numbers or changes in individual income.
Source:O*NET OnLine: Cooks, Restaurant details (35-2014.00)Original material ↗
There is no checkable causal data for this occupation. Technical capability, organisational adoption and headcount are three different levels, and this page does not present any of them as a conclusion.
Source:O*NET OnLine: Cooks, Restaurant details (35-2014.00)Original material ↗
The BLS cook family had 2,705,800 jobs in 2025 and is projected to reach 2,889,000 by 2035, growth of 7%, a published net increase of 183,200 and an average of 393,200 openings per year (including replacements). Growth by segment: restaurants 12%, private households 5%, other 5%, institution and cafeteria 3%, fast food 1% and short order -5%; it is not uniform growth across the six segments, nor a decline in both fast food and short order. Counts and percentages are rounded, and openings are not net increases, current hiring or an individual hiring rate.
Source:BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Cooks (cook family)Original material ↗
The ILO2025 study is a task-exposure method; this round obtained no separate values for individual cook segments, no adoption rate and no displacement date, and it is not claimed on that basis that the study has no occupational scores at all. Exposure does not equal employment causality.
Source:ILO：Generative AI and Jobs — Refined Global Index of Occupational ExposureOriginal material ↗
Roles and responsibilities should be defined, records kept and human oversight points established; a governance framework does not replace the employer's operating procedures and food-safety requirements.
Source:NIST：Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0)Original material ↗
Next step: check the three groups of task changes above item by item against the specific position — which steps are already carried by the system, which still need human judgment, and who is responsible for the results.
Insufficient evidence: this round obtained no verifiable statistics on cook job-posting pay offers; a single employer's or platform's offer cannot represent the national level
Entry points for searching mainland China public information: the National Bureau of Statistics 2025 Survey Report on Migrant Workers and the page publishing average annual wages of urban unit employees; no occupation-specific cook figures were obtained this round.
| Educational background | Job direction | Notes and suggested checks |
|---|---|---|
| Basic education and job training (checked with the unit) | Prep, frying and assembly positions in fast food, short order and chain catering | In the current U.S. O*NET data, fast food, institution and cafeteria, restaurant and short order cooks are Zone1–2/SVP below 6, while private household cooks are Zone3/SVP6 to below 7; a few days to a year, or one to two years, of preparation is a level description, not a uniform course for every job. Among fast food respondents, education was 63% below high school, 21% high school or equivalent and 12% some college courses without earning a degree; the percentages are not a Chinese threshold or a complete educational distribution. The BLS family overview states that no formal educational credential is typically required, some employers prefer a high school diploma, and practical training is still needed. |
| Senior high school or secondary specialised school plus job training | Hot-line, pastry and cold dish stations in restaurant back-of-house | Editorial: study routes may include apprenticeship or in-company training; no domestic share was obtained, so it is not called the main national model. Article 44 of the 2025 amendment to China's Food Safety Law requires food production and operation enterprises to provide food-safety knowledge training for employees; Article 45 requires food production and operation personnel who handle directly consumed food to undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate before taking up their posts, and sets restrictions on posts for diseases that affect food safety. The scope is legally defined production and operation activity; it does not equate all private household cooking with catering operations, and does not treat a health certificate as a skill level or equipment licence. |
| Secondary or higher vocational culinary programme plus Chinese cuisine chef skill grade | Full-service kitchen, banquet production and dish development support positions | Publicly available 2022 material on Chinese cuisine chefs lists five grades, from entry level to Grade One senior technician, with a basic education level of junior high school or equivalent; that is the framing of this occupational material, not a uniform educational licence for all kitchens. Current registration requirements, fees and allowances must be verified separately, and corresponding material was not obtained this round. |
| Management study and related experience (editorial direction) | Head cook, kitchen supervisor and group catering operations management direction | Editorial consolidation: the kitchen management route usually requires production experience plus staff and cost management experience, with employment conditions set by the employer; this page does not constitute a qualification determination. |
Note: the absence of occupation-specific figures obtained does not mean they were never published officially; this page registers only the scope actually consulted and its results, and does not fill gaps with industry averages or U.S. data.
Main employment settings: back-of-house kitchens in full-service and short order restaurants, standardised fast food service, and hotel and accommodation food service.
Common settings: school and kindergarten cafeterias, hospital and elder-care dietary services, and high-volume catering in enterprise and institutional cafeterias.
Private household cooking and banquet service are verifiable task settings; domestic scale and job-posting share were not obtained, the qualifications applicable to business activity must be checked, and this cannot be reduced to the employer's agreement alone.
This round obtained no causality or quantification for AI and cook wages in China. Current NBS tables are published by industry and broad job category, and it cannot be concluded from this that future tool changes will never have verifiable occupational data.
| Median wage position | 36,640 dollars/year (median, May 2025 wage data; median hourly wage 17.62 dollars) | Does not equal a fixed monthly income | The median marks the midpoint of a distribution: half of workers under this measure earn less and half earn more; it is not an average starting wage and does not mean it is reached on entry. |
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| Higher wage position (90th percentile) | 22.84 dollars/hour (family 90th percentile, May 2025) | Does not mean sustained high income all year | Wages published on an hourly basis cannot be converted into a stable annual or monthly income without individual hours and paid arrangements. |
|---|
Restaurant wages · P10：28,700 dollars/year (10th percentile; restaurant cook 35-2014.00 measure, hourly wage 13.80 dollars)；The 10th percentile is a low-end statistical position in this measure's annual wage distribution； it is not an entry starting wage and is not converted into individual monthly income or take-home pay；O*NET national wages: Cooks, Restaurant 35-2014.00 (2025 wage data)
Restaurant wages · P25：34,010 dollars/year (25th percentile; restaurant cook 35-2014.00 measure, hourly wage 16.35 dollars)；The 25th percentile means that about a quarter of workers earn less than that value annually； it is a statistical position and does not indicate a seniority grade or job duties；O*NET national wages: Cooks, Restaurant 35-2014.00 (2025 wage data)
Restaurant wages · median：37,390 dollars/year; 17.98 dollars/hour (restaurant median, 2025)；Restaurant 35-2014 median, on the same measure as the other four percentile figures in this table； the family median is listed separately, and the two are not assembled into a distribution.
Restaurant wages · P75：44,620 dollars/year (75th percentile; restaurant cook 35-2014.00 measure, hourly wage 21.45 dollars)；The 75th percentile is the position of the upper quarter of the distribution and comes from the same statistical period； it cannot be used to infer years of experience or management duties；O*NET national wages: Cooks, Restaurant 35-2014.00 (2025 wage data)
Restaurant wages · P90：47,900 dollars/year (90th percentile; restaurant cook 35-2014.00 measure, hourly wage 23.03 dollars)；The 90th percentile is a high-band position, usually associated with differences in region, venue type, shift and duties, and the source does not establish a correspondence with experience；O*NET national wages: Cooks, Restaurant 35-2014.00 (2025 wage data)
BLS statistics and O*NET profiles serve different purposes: the former for wages, employment and projections, the latter for tasks, work context and preparation levels; each must be retained as cited.
BLS has both industry employment shares for the cook family and median hourly wages by industry, listed as different measures; O*NET segment industry tables have a different scope and an unstated year. An industry share or wage cannot be used as the whole family's wage.
Percentiles correspond to distribution positions rather than seniority: the difference between the 10th and 90th percentiles comes from region, venue type, shift and duties at the same time, and the sources do not establish a correspondence with years of experience.
A projection is a change in the occupation total, not an individual's chance of finding work; openings come mainly from replacement demand as people change careers or leave the labour market.
| Industry | Industry employment share; median hourly wage for cooks (dollars) | How to understand it |
|---|---|---|
| Food services and drinking places | Food services and drinking places: employment 76% (2025); median hourly wage for cooks 17.48 dollars (May 2025) | For the BLS family, food services and drinking places accounted for 76% of employment in 2025, and the median hourly wage for cooks in that industry in May 2025 was $17.48; the O*NET figure of 93% for restaurant cooks is for accommodation and food services, a different classification and segment, with the year not stated. |
| Health care and social assistance | Health care and social assistance: employment 7%; median hourly wage for cooks 18.35 dollars | For the BLS family, healthcare and social assistance accounted for 7% of employment, with a median hourly wage for cooks of $18.35, which is not the wage of all institution and cafeteria cooks; for O*NET institution and cafeteria cooks the current industry split is 40% healthcare, 30% education, 18% accommodation and food services and 12% other, with the year not stated. |
| Educational services (state, local and private) | Educational services: employment 5%; median hourly wage for cooks 17.22 dollars | For the BLS family, educational services accounted for 5% of employment, with a median hourly wage for cooks of $17.22. O*NET institution industries cannot be combined with family industries, and corporate cafeterias must be checked against the specific employer's industry. |
| Traveler accommodation; amusement, gambling and recreation (the two industries listed separately) | Traveler accommodation: employment 3%, median hourly wage 21.35 dollars; amusement, gambling and recreation: employment 2%, median hourly wage 18.56 dollars (cited separately) | For the BLS family, traveler accommodation accounted for 3% of employment, with a median hourly wage of $21.35, and amusement, gambling and recreation accounted for 2%, with a median hourly wage of $18.56; the two industries are not combined. Separately, O*NET shows private household cooks currently at 13% in other services (except government) and 87% in other, including agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, with the year not stated; these are not private-residence shares of 13% or 87%, and private household employment was 35,400 in 2025. |
Hours, shifts and paid months affect individual income, but OEWS annual wages use a standard 2,080-hour statistical conversion with specific exceptions; published annual wages can be cited, and the absence of individual hours must not be written as a claim that they cannot be annualised officially or that take-home pay is guaranteed.
Duties under the same occupational title vary widely: front-line work in fast food and short order, multi-station service in restaurants, full-process cooking in private households and supervisory duties in management roles all correspond to different pay measures.
BLS notes that region, employer type, season and school-year work may differ; whether meals and lodging, benefits and taxes are included must be checked in the specific contract, and this round obtained no causal quantification of their effect on income.
Employment size is a stock statistic, not the number of hires or job openings in a year； the source is the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook “Cooks”.
The growth rate is a relative change over the projection period； the net change in headcount over the same period and average annual openings are different measures and cannot substitute for one another.
Average annual openings include growth demand and replacement demand, so openings will continue to arise throughout the projection period； this measure is not the net number of jobs added each year.
Is my interest type close to the work of cooks?
Restaurant interest R77/C47/E45/S31/A29/I9, fast food R89/C55/E39/S24/A14/I6, short order R86/C56/E45/S37/A21/I0, all with RCE as the top three; institution and cafeteria R82/C56/E36/S36/A17/I14, with E and S tied; private household R66/A46/S46/C45/E43/I7, with A and S tied, leaning to an RAS profile. The six segments cannot share one interest code, and no profile was provided for all other cooks. Interests are clues to activity types, not personality, ability or hiring thresholds.
Do not use it like this:Interest codes describe activity types only; they do not predict job performance and do not constitute hiring standards.
Understand my occupational interestsDo my personality traits help with kitchen work?
You can observe whether someone is willing to repeat checks and to handle pressure and feedback according to procedure; these are editorial self-questions, and this round obtained no Big Five association strength or occupational threshold for this occupation, so no trait is called the most directly relevant.
Do not use it like this:Trait descriptions do not diagnose personality and do not predict whether someone can handle a specific position in a particular kitchen.
Understand my Big Five traitsCan MBTI show whether I am suited to the back of house or the front of house?
MBTI-type tools describe preferences and are not occupational assignment tools; the difference between the back of house and the front of house lies mainly in whether you deal directly with customers, and in collaboration style and pace, not in preference type. Check against actual task experience.
Do not use it like this:Type results must not be used as a basis for hiring, scheduling or promotion.
Understand my personality preferencesCan the Enneagram help me understand why I want to work in a kitchen?
Enneagram-type tools describe motivation clues: cooking for interest, choosing a routine position for stable income, or moving into development work for creativity and recognition correspond to different segment directions. Treat it as a questioning tool, not as a job conclusion.
Do not use it like this:Do not treat motivation descriptions as career-choice conclusions or as grounds for employment.
Understand my motivation cluesHow much cognitive ability does kitchen work require?
In the current U.S. O*NET data, fast food, institution and cafeteria, restaurant and short order cooks are Zone1–2/SVP below 6, while private household cooks are Zone3/SVP6 to below 7; a few days to a year, or one to two years, of preparation is a level description, not a uniform course for every job. Among fast food respondents, education was 63% below high school, 21% high school or equivalent and 12% some college courses without earning a degree; the percentages are not a Chinese threshold or a complete educational distribution. The BLS family overview states that no formal educational credential is typically required, some employers prefer a high school diploma, and practical training is still needed. Preparation level is not an IQ threshold, and no IQ correspondence for this occupation was obtained; task readings and order organisation can be used to observe ability.
Do not use it like this:Cognitive test results are not hiring standards and do not represent physical or sensory conditions.
Understand my cognitive performanceIs strong communication ability required?
Kitchens rely mainly on station-based collaboration and short instructions, and the focus of communication is orders, changes and exception information; peaks and customer complaints require steady expression. Emotion-type tools offer only a self-observation angle and are not a job threshold.
Do not use it like this:Do not use communication style to decide hiring or scheduling, and do not treat emotional descriptions as health conclusions.
Understand my communication cluesBetter match:Many dishes and multi-station collaboration; at service peaks the timing must be aligned with the plating and food-running roles; suited to people willing to keep output consistent in a fast rhythm.
Note:Evening and weekend shifts are common; with many dishes and many changes, orders and allergens must be checked continuously.
Better match:Standardised equipment and processes, a fast pace and high repetition; suited to people who want to start work relatively quickly and accept standardised operations.
Note:Fast food and short order are two separate segments, BLS2025—2035 rising +1% and -5% respectively. The task menu range, order pacing and actual autonomy must be checked separately; short order is not assembly-only in every position, and the previously combined decline for an earlier period is not carried over.
Better match:Requires production experience plus menu design and people management skills; suited to people willing to take responsibility for costs, scheduling and training.
Note:This is already an adjacent occupation: it involves menu pricing and people management, and its duties and qualification requirements must be checked separately.
View related occupations:Chefs and Head CooksBetter match:Focused on outlet operations plus people and cost management; suited to practitioners interested in operations and team management.
Note:Daily tasks differ greatly from kitchen production roles, and moving across requires additional operations and compliance knowledge.
View related occupations:Food Service ManagersBetter match:Mainly upstream preparation such as washing and cutting, and a common entry point into the kitchen system.
Note:The scope of duties is narrower than for cooks, and pay and promotion paths differ, so specific job duties must be checked.
View related occupations:Food Preparation WorkersBetter match:Centred on dough, fermentation and baking, with processes more sensitive to time and temperature; suited to people who like recipe-based repetitive work.
Note:An adjacent occupation: the equipment and recipe systems differ, and moving across requires retraining in baking skills.
View related occupations:BakersKitchen work involves a great deal of repetitive weighing, cutting and cleaning; accepting repetition and carrying out every check properly is the precondition for producing consistent output.
Flavour, heat and portion size are frequently corrected on the spot; treating rework as a checking process rather than as being aimed at you personally is what allows continuous improvement.
During peak periods many orders arrive at the same time; handling them in order and preserving sanitation and temperature-control standards first is safer than simply rushing.
Segments differ greatly: fast food and short order are mainly standardised, while restaurants and private households allow more room for adjustment; first establish the target job's menu and authorisation.
Fast food, short order and counter positions often require direct customer service; institution and cafeteria and private household roles involve different kinds of customer contact, and the choice can be made according to preference.
In the current O*NET restaurant cook work context survey: 81% answered standing almost constantly and 14% more than half the time, about 95% across the two categories; these are respondent answers, not a share of working hours, and cannot be applied to the whole cook family. For people sensitive to the environment, the editorial suggestion is to check the actual venue.
Food service hours determine scheduling: morning, evening, weekend and holiday rotation is common; the specific arrangement varies with the type of venue.
Knife skills, heat control and seasoning depend on repeated practice; recording practice volume, feedback and output consistency says more about fit than a test score.
No. Tests describe preference clues; they do not predict job performance and do not constitute hiring or qualification judgements; real judgement comes from task samples and feedback.
Use the fictional exercises on this page, or a single shadowing shift, to check the real conditions, and compare your observations item by item against the target job's scheduling, temperature-control and collaboration requirements.
Reducing risk：Use equipment and wear protective equipment according to the employer's procedures: control oil temperature and the quantity of food added, keep floors dry, and use protective gear when handling hot oil and hot pans; if skin is broken or guarding is missing, stop the operation and report it.
Basis：O*NET OnLine: Cooks, Restaurant details (35-2014.00)
Typical settings：Floors are slippery after rinsing and cleaning, and combined with lifting ingredient boxes and soup barrels this easily leads to slips or lower-back strains.
Main positions：Dishwashing areas, prep areas and cold-store lifting positions
Possible consequences：Slipping and lifting can cause injury and affect attendance; this round obtained no ranking or incidence rate for cook or food service work injuries, so it is not described as consistently among the highest.
Reducing risk：Keep aisles and work areas dry, use non-slip shoes and mats, and lift in stages according to your capacity using a cart; if standing water or insufficient lighting is found, deal with it before working.
Basis：BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Cooks (cook family)
Typical settings：Refrigeration and freezer temperature failures, shared chopping boards and utensils between cooked and raw food, and allergen information that is not isolated can all cause foodborne illness or allergic reactions in customers.
Main positions：All stations that come into direct contact with ingredients and finished dishes
Possible consequences：Food-safety incidents cause harm to customer health and business suspension and rectification, and individuals may bear corresponding responsibility.
Reducing risk：Monitor and record refrigeration, freezer and heating temperatures according to the standard, keep raw and cooked food in separate zones with separate utensils, and handle and label allergen ingredients separately; if abnormal temperatures or suspected contamination are found, stop serving and report it.
Basis：BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Cooks (cook family)
Typical settings：Article 44 of the 2025 amendment to China's Food Safety Law requires food production and operation enterprises to provide food-safety knowledge training for employees; Article 45 requires food production and operation personnel who handle directly consumed food to undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate before taking up their posts, and sets restrictions on posts for diseases that affect food safety. The scope is legally defined production and operation activity; it does not equate all private household cooking with catering operations, and does not treat a health certificate as a skill level or equipment licence.
Main positions：Cook positions working in catering back-of-house in mainland China
Possible consequences：Treating a classification name as authorisation to work, or treating a unit's internal rules as a nationwide uniform threshold, leads to misjudgement and misaligned responsibility.
Reducing risk：Article 44 of the 2025 amendment to China's Food Safety Law requires food production and operation enterprises to provide food-safety knowledge training for employees; Article 45 requires food production and operation personnel who handle directly consumed food to undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate before taking up their posts, and sets restrictions on posts for diseases that affect food safety. The scope is legally defined production and operation activity; it does not equate all private household cooking with catering operations, and does not treat a health certificate as a skill level or equipment licence. Articles 55/56 set out checks on catering raw materials, equipment maintenance, cleaning and calibration, and the cleaning and disinfection of tableware; Article 57 places additional responsibility on centralised dining canteens. Skill grades do not replace these requirements.
Basis：Chinese cuisine chef occupational information (China Employment Training Technical Instruction Centre)
Typical settings：Editorial risk example: relying on suggestions and omitting key temperature-control and cleaning data, or distorted records, may weaken exception detection and traceability; genuine key records must be kept and reviewed under the applicable rules.
Main positions：Positions using order, inventory and temperature-control systems, and kitchen management roles
Possible consequences：Distorted records may conceal hazards or weaken the traceability basis of inspections and investigations; whether traceability exists must be checked against other valid evidence, and it cannot be assumed across the board that all traceability is lost.
Reducing risk：Treat system output as a draft and verify key items against the original ingredients, equipment and records; temperature-control and cleaning records must state how values were obtained and who reviewed them.
Basis：NIST：Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0) · O*NET OnLine: Cooks, Restaurant details (35-2014.00)
Typical settings：In the current restaurant data 63% report repetitive motion almost constantly; the questions on minor burns, cuts and stings and on noise do not show complete daily responses, so percentages cannot be filled in or interpreted as a real injury rate. Whether heat, noise and repetitive motion are present, and the protection needed, are assessed at the actual station.
Main positions：Frying, stove and washing positions at the same station over the long term
Possible consequences：Long-term exposure may cause hearing, joint and skin problems and affect sustained attendance.
Reducing risk：Choose protection, ventilation, station arrangement and equipment maintenance based on an assessment of the actual station; work context questions cannot establish that every position requires hearing protection. Escalate exceptions through the unit's process, and specific health handling is assessed by qualified personnel; this page does not diagnose.
Basis：BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Cooks (cook family) · O*NET OnLine: Cooks, Restaurant summary (35-2014.00)
Article 44 of the 2025 amendment to China's Food Safety Law requires food production and operation enterprises to provide food-safety knowledge training for employees; Article 45 requires food production and operation personnel who handle directly consumed food to undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate before taking up their posts, and sets restrictions on posts for diseases that affect food safety. The scope is legally defined production and operation activity; it does not equate all private household cooking with catering operations, and does not treat a health certificate as a skill level or equipment licence. U.S. BLS notes that some states or localities require food handler certification, and the FDA2026 Food Code is a model for jurisdictions to adopt; the absence of a uniform federal cook licence cannot be turned into an exemption from certification everywhere. This round did not verify all local adoptions or technical limits.
| Entry-level positions | What the early period mainly involves | Ability materials that editors suggest observing | How to demonstrate this without experience | Difference from other directions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prep and kitchen helper positions | Under supervision, complete ingredient receiving, washing and cutting, weighing and cleaning, and fill in batch and temperature records for the master to review. | Health management and food-safety training records, hygiene and operating standards. | A fictional prep and temperature-control record. | Support preparation rather than independently handling heating and seasoning. |
| Fast food limited menu / short order short-ticket directions (checked separately) | Fast food cooks according to a limited menu and packages; short order may handle several short tickets at once and cook to order, and the specific room for autonomous adjustment depends on the position. | Standard operating speed, hygiene habits, equipment operation training. | A fictional standardised service record. | The menu range and service pace differ, and neither all fast food nor all short order positions should be generalised as assembly work or as having low autonomy. |
| Restaurant back-of-house station |
The BLS family typically requires no formal credential, and the domestic share preferring junior high, senior high or secondary vocational schooling was not obtained this round; the junior high education level in the 2022 Chinese cuisine chef material does not equal the hiring threshold everywhere.
In the current U.S. O*NET data, fast food, institution and cafeteria, restaurant and short order cooks are Zone1–2/SVP below 6, while private household cooks are Zone3/SVP6 to below 7; a few days to a year, or one to two years, of preparation is a level description, not a uniform course for every job. Among fast food respondents, education was 63% below high school, 21% high school or equivalent and 12% some college courses without earning a degree; the percentages are not a Chinese threshold or a complete educational distribution. The BLS family overview states that no formal educational credential is typically required, some employers prefer a high school diploma, and practical training is still needed.
Article 44 of the 2025 amendment to China's Food Safety Law requires food production and operation enterprises to provide food-safety knowledge training for employees; Article 45 requires food production and operation personnel who handle directly consumed food to undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate before taking up their posts, and sets restrictions on posts for diseases that affect food safety. The scope is legally defined production and operation activity; it does not equate all private household cooking with catering operations, and does not treat a health certificate as a skill level or equipment licence.
Articles 44/45 of the Food Safety Law have been checked; specific examination procedures, equipment training and other employer conditions are checked separately, and not obtaining them does not mean there are no national rules.
Can complete weighing and cutting to recipe, can explain the basis for temperature control and hygiene, can stop service and report when something is abnormal, and can record output and temperature-control data completely in the required format (from O*NET task and work context data).
Deliverable: a prep record for a fictional order, covering ingredient receiving, gram weight, cutting sequence, allergen isolation and production time.
The record must state the source of each data item (recipe, weighing reading or manual check) and how values were obtained when something was abnormal.
Deliverable: a one-page record covering the order, heating method, core temperature, output judgement, and the actions of stopping service and reporting when something abnormal is found.
The record must distinguish actual observations from suspected causes, and must not treat assumptions as confirmed results.
Deliverable: a cleaning, disinfection and storage rotation checklist, indicating utensil zoning, frequency and the recording method.
Deliverable: a one-page note setting out how you order tasks under peak conditions, which step takes the most time and what you will practise next; real companies' customer and business data must not be included.
| Stage | What may be assessed | Observable evidence | Boundaries of use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food-safety questions | Whether the candidate can explain the temperature ranges for refrigeration and freezing, the basic requirements for raw and cooked zoning and allergen isolation, and when service must be stopped and reported. | Answer records and a statement of the basis. | A single employer's assessment method does not represent a uniform industry process. |
| Scenario judgement | Whether the candidate can state the stopping sequence, the handling actions and whom to report to when abnormal temperatures, foreign objects or suspected cross-contamination are found. | Answer records and the basis for judgement. | The scope of assessment is set by the employer and the competent authority; this page does not speculate. |
| Equipment and record questions |
| Qualification / preparation item | Who it mainly suits | Practical effect in job seeking | Whether it is a general entry threshold | Registration / application conditions | Investment considerations | Important limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Educational background (junior high to senior high) | People preparing to enter catering back-of-house work | Check the education requirement with the target employer; no national distribution of recruitment requirements was obtained | Not a uniform mandatory threshold; check against the employer's announcement | Per the education requirement in the target unit's recruitment announcement | Fees and study duration were not obtained this round | An educational credential does not represent food-safety or equipment operation authorisation. |
| Health certificate and food-safety knowledge training (checked separately) |
Fictional scenario: a fictional restaurant receives three orders before Friday dinner service — one gluten-free pan-seared chicken breast with seasonal vegetables, two regular beef burger sets and one toddler meal (low salt, no nuts). The freezer temperature log shows an abnormal rise of 42 minutes around midday that day, and the shift record says only “handled”.
Material provided: the recipes and gram-weight requirements for the three orders; the shift's freezer and heating equipment temperature records; the ingredient batch and shelf-life ledger; the allergen ingredient list; a summary of the cleaning and disinfection procedure.
Material not provided: the specific cause of the abnormal temperature, whether the affected ingredients have already been used, the approval process for deciding whether to discard them, and the shift's staffing. If these conditions are needed in the exercise, state your assumptions and whom you would need to confirm them with.
Write a one-page shift handling and service plan covering order and allergen checks, the judgement and handling of the affected ingredients, heating and temperature-control requirements, portioning and plating arrangements, the situations that require stopping service or reporting, and the items to hand over to the next shift.
The plan must state which data come from the exercise material and which are still assumptions, and must say whether it relies on the recipe, the temperature-control records or the procedure summary.
The plan should include: checks (label the allergens and dietary restrictions for each of the three orders separately, exclude nuts from the toddler meal and control salt); ingredient judgement (ingredients in the cabinet during the midday temperature anomaly must be held back from use and reported, and must not be released on the strength of a “handled” record alone); heating and temperature control (check the core temperature of the chicken breast and burger meat against the dish requirements); portioning and plating (dedicated allergen utensils and station isolation); exception handling (stop using the affected ingredients and report before the temperature anomaly is characterised, with authorised personnel deciding whether to discard or release them); records and handover (set out the period of the temperature anomaly, the batches involved, the action taken and the items still to be confirmed).
Find a publicly available material on food handling and hygiene requirements (for example official food-safety guidance), mark three requirements relating to temperature control, raw and cooked zoning or allergens, and write down the points you want to confirm.
Using a fictional recipe, turn receiving, weighing, cutting and portioning into a workable checklist, and note the actions and whom to report to when spoilage, foreign objects or allergen contamination are found.
Using fictional refrigeration and heating temperature records, judge which period has abnormal readings and the possible direction of the cause, and explain your basis.
Write out the sequence for handling a temperature anomaly or a foreign object: stopping service, isolation, reporting, review and the conditions for resuming, and note which steps must be confirmed by authorised personnel.
Using a fictional order, write an isolation plan for allergen ingredients, utensils and workstations, and how you would explain it to service staff.
Typical duties：Under supervision, complete receiving, washing and cutting and cleaning, and record batches and temperatures against a list.
Promotion evidence：Can complete weighing and cutting to recipe, complete cleaning and disinfection against a list, and record truthfully.
Qualification boundaries：The U.S. BLS family typically requires no formal credential on entry, which does not apply to all employers or to Chinese conditions; in China, enterprises engaged in food business lawfully implement food-safety training for employees, and those handling directly consumed food undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate according to law, with specific position procedures checked separately; private household activity is not uniformly subject to business rules.
Next step：Aim to run one station independently within the same kitchen.
Typical duties：Independently run a relatively fixed station, produce to recipe and double-check portions.
Promotion evidence：Consistent output, ability to explain the basis for temperature control and hygiene, and ability to stop service and report when something is abnormal.
Qualification boundaries：Some chain enterprises require completion of in-company training.
Next step：Rotate to a hot-line station and learn multi-station collaboration.
Typical duties：Heat and season to order, check core temperature and doneness, and handle changed orders.
Promotion evidence：Ability to maintain output consistency and safety standards during peak periods.
Qualification boundaries：Position authorisation follows the unit's rules.
Next step：Take on coaching and peak coordination.
Typical duties：Take part in organising service, assisting with scheduling and maintaining output standards.
Promotion evidence：Ability to coordinate multiple stations and handle common exceptions.
Qualification boundaries：The management direction usually requires production experience and training, with conditions set by the employer.
Next step：Check that adjacent occupation's duties and qualification requirements.
Typical duties：Prepare ingredients, assemble and package according to standardised processes, complying with hygiene and time requirements.
Promotion evidence：Ability to work to standard while maintaining speed and hygiene.
Qualification boundaries：The U.S. BLS family typically requires no formal credential on entry, which does not apply to all employers or to Chinese conditions; in China, enterprises engaged in food business lawfully implement food-safety training for employees, and those handling directly consumed food undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate according to law, with specific position procedures checked separately; private household activity is not uniformly subject to business rules.
Next step：Learn to operate frying and heating equipment.
Typical duties：Complete heating and frying according to the equipment programme, monitoring temperature and time.
Promotion evidence：Ability to operate to procedure and recognise equipment faults.
Qualification boundaries：Unit in-house training and position authorisation.
Next step：Learn to handle customer orders and changes.
Cook short-order dishes to order on the spot and hand them over.
Typical duties：Prepare ingredients, portion meals and clean according to a bulk menu, recording quantities and temperatures.
Promotion evidence：Ability to complete preparation and recording to bulk requirements.
Qualification boundaries：Article 44 of the 2025 amendment to China's Food Safety Law requires food production and operation enterprises to provide food-safety knowledge training for employees; Article 45 requires food production and operation personnel who handle directly consumed food to undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate before taking up their posts, and sets restrictions on posts for diseases that affect food safety. The scope is legally defined production and operation activity; it does not equate all private household cooking with catering operations, and does not treat a health certificate as a skill level or equipment licence.
Next step：Learn bulk cooking and temperature control.
Typical duties：Cook in bulk and portion meals according to the menu and dietary restrictions.
Promotion evidence：Ability to adjust recipes for dietary restrictions and record them.
Qualification boundaries：Per the unit's rules and position authorisation.
Next step：Learn basic menu and cost accounting.
Under supervision, complete ingredient receiving, washing and cutting, weighing and cleaning, and be able to check against a list and record truthfully; the goal is to turn the basic hygiene and temperature-control actions into habits.
Run one station independently: heat and season to order, check core temperature and doneness, portion and plate, and stop service and report according to procedure when something is abnormal.
Coordinate multiple stations and the service sequence during peaks, coach newly hired prep staff, and handle routine responses to allergen and equipment exceptions.
Menus, costs and coaching are in some cases already core tasks of cook segments; if moving to whole-kitchen or business coordination, check the duties and preparation of the adjacent chef-manager roles separately, and do not treat a stage name as automatic authorisation.
Cannot show：A projection is a change in the occupation total, not an individual's probability of being hired; the combined family measure also cannot replace segment judgement.
United States · Cook family (O*NET measure)
Certification and training entry point
Certification and training information
O*NET provides an entry point for looking up certification and training for this segment, for verifying credential and training information; this is a description of an information entry point, not a demand signal.
Cannot show：Certification and training entry points do not predict job numbers or wage levels.
Editorially compiled for this page · Cooks (occupational family)
Measures for checking recruitment information (editorially compiled)
How to check recruitment information
Editorially compiled note on measures for checking job information: recruitment information can show only one employer's job demand at one point in time.
Cannot show：Recruitment information does not represent national demand, the median wage or a uniform access requirement.
These are ability-adjacency relationships; they do not mean automatic promotion or that no further learning is needed.
Transferable：Shared abilities: ingredient handling, heating and temperature control, hygiene and service organisation.
To be added：Check whole-kitchen output standards, staffing and cost coordination against the target chef role; existing experience such as household menus and institutional coaching is transferable, and it cannot be said that no cooks have done menu management.
View occupation detailsTransferable：Shared abilities: understanding of kitchen processes, service organisation and on-site coordination.
To be added：To be added: outlet operations, budget and cost management, compliance and people management.
View occupation detailsTransferable：Shared abilities: washing, cutting and preparation.
To be added：Moving into food preparation requires checking the target preparation volumes, specifications and handover with cooks; existing cooking experience cannot substitute for verifying a specific position, and because the two occupations' tasks overlap, competence cannot be judged from the occupational title alone.
View occupation detailsTransferable：Shared abilities: following recipes, weighing and temperature control.
To be added：To be added: dough and fermentation processes, baking equipment and product systems.
View occupation detailsTransferable：Shared abilities: standardised service, order taking and assembly, hygiene requirements.
To be added：Moving into a fast food counter requires checking order taking, payment, customer communication and the delivery process; kitchen cooking experience cannot substitute for verifying payment service, and the actual tasks are checked against 35-3023.
View occupation detailsTransferable：Shared abilities: cleaning and disinfection, returning utensils and hygiene requirements.
To be added：Moving into dishwashing requires checking the washing and disinfection equipment, tableware sorting, throughput and cleaning procedures; existing ingredient processing is not the main gap for that target.
View occupation detailsTransferable：Shared abilities: the service process, hygiene standards and team collaboration.
To be added：To be added: scheduling and assessment, training records and on-site management.
View occupation detailsTransferable：Shared abilities: hygiene standards, customer contact and on-site pace.
To be added：To be added: beverage recipes, alcohol regulations and equipment operation.
View occupation detailsOrder consolidation, prep forecasting, inventory alerts and scheduling can be assisted by software, and programmed equipment can take over some heating steps; but ingredient receiving, knife work and heat control, sensory judgement, allergen isolation, temperature-control records and exception handling still depend on on-site staff. Technology exposure does not equal organisational adoption or the disappearance of jobs.
What can be checked is change at the task level: three task groups — order and inventory information, heating pacing, and temperature control and recording — can be partly taken over by tools; this page has no occupation-specific adoption rate or displacement data.
Ingredient receiving and judgement, knife work and heat control, allergen isolation, temperature-control records, exception handling and handover, and the basic operation of order, inventory and temperature-control systems.
In the United States the median hourly wage in May 2025 is $17.62 (combined family measure), and the percentile data use the measure for restaurant cooks, the largest segment in the family; no occupation-level wage figures were obtained for mainland China, and this page treats this as a gap rather than filling it in with industry averages.
Most U.S. positions do not require a formal credential, the preparation level is Job Zone 1–2, and skills come mainly from on-the-job training; domestically people often start from kitchen helper and prep roles, and secondary vocational and higher vocational culinary programmes are more common in full-service kitchens.
There is no uniform mandatory licence in the United States; domestically health management and food-safety training are common prerequisites, the Chinese cuisine chef skill grade is not a general entry threshold, and specific requirements follow the target unit's and the competent authority's rules.
First complete one “receiving—cutting—temperature control—portioning—recording” exercise using the fictional order on this page, or do one shadowing shift, and then check the target job's scheduling, hygiene and temperature-control requirements.
Family segments differ greatly: restaurants and private households allow more autonomy, while fast food and short order are more standardised; employment growth from 2024—2034 differs by segment, so employment and scheduling must be checked against the target segment when choosing a career.
FermatMind career content editorial team (source verification and exercise design)
Updated: 2026-09-18 (retrieval dates for each source are given in the source register)
Actual sources include BLS cook family and segment projections and wages, five O*NET detail task and current industry pages, a note that data are unavailable for all other cooks, NBS industry and migrant worker wage background, the 2025 amendment to the Food Safety Law, an overview of the FDA2026 model, and the ILO/NIST frameworks; adjacent occupation material is used only for its corresponding target, and the scope consulted and the gaps are recorded in the register.
Limits of use：Whole-kitchen coordination by adjacent chefs is used for transition comparison; menus and management are not exclusive to chefs, and cook segments also have related Core tasks.
Limits of use：Supports only the tasks and preparation level of dishwashers (adjacent occupation); it is a support role whose duties are narrower than those of cooks.
Limits of use：Supports only the recipes, fermentation and baking tasks and preparation level of bakers (adjacent occupation); the equipment and product systems differ from cook positions.
Limits of use：The BLS cook family had 2,705,800 jobs in 2025 and is projected to reach 2,889,000 by 2035, growth of 7%, a published net increase of 183,200 and an average of 393,200 openings per year (including replacements). Growth by segment: restaurants 12%, private households 5%, other 5%, institution and cafeteria 3%, fast food 1% and short order -5%; it is not uniform growth across the six segments, nor a decline in both fast food and short order. Counts and percentages are rounded, and openings are not net increases, current hiring or an individual hiring rate. The family median is 36,640/17.62, a year and an hour, with 12.85 an hour at P10 and 22.84 an hour at P90; six segment medians and the family's industry wage shares are also listed, and no individual hiring or AI causality is provided.
Limits of use：Supports leads on the skill grades and occupational information of the Chinese cuisine chef (4-03-02-01) in the context of China's occupational classification; it does not establish a nationwide uniform employment qualification or work authorisation, and the classification name cannot be treated as corresponding one-to-one with a U.S. occupational code.
Limits of use：Supports only the order taking, assembly and delivery tasks of fast food and counter workers (adjacent occupation); the operational depth is less than in cook positions.
Limits of use：Supports only the drink preparation and customer service tasks of bartenders (adjacent occupation); the product and regulatory systems differ from cook positions.
Limits of use：Comparison with the coordination role of adjacent first-line supervisors; their existence cannot be used to exclude the coaching duties of institution cooks or the supervisory core tasks in restaurants.
Limits of use：Private household: Zone3, interests R66/A46/S46/C45/E43/I7, with A and S tied; employment of 35,400 in 2025 and growth of 5% for 2025—2035 are checked separately in BLS.
Limits of use：Supports only the preparation level, respondent education proportions and work context of restaurant cooks (35-2014.00), the largest group in the family; it does not represent a specific employer's hiring conditions and does not equal mainland China's requirements.
Limits of use：Supports only the preparation duties of food preparation workers (adjacent occupation); the scope of duties is narrower than for cooks, and pay and promotion paths differ.
Limits of use：The interest questionnaire describes experiential preferences only; it does not replace ability, qualification, health or hiring judgements and does not predict job performance.
Limits of use：In 2025 the monthly average for migrant workers in the accommodation and catering industry was 4,208 yuan, up 1.6% year on year; the population and industry background are not cook occupational income and are not converted against legal-entity annual averages.
Limits of use：The NIST voluntary AI governance framework is not a mandatory kitchen procedure or food-safety law and does not prove effectiveness.
Limits of use：The OEWS index serves as an entry to the statistical system; the specific restaurant 2025 quintiles in this round were actually verified from the r2-pay-3 national wage page. The index page cannot independently establish all the values.
Limits of use：Currently five segments have detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15/5 Core and Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 all other cooks page explicitly states that no O*NET characteristic data are provided for that group, so it cannot be written that all six segments have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Private household menu design, institutional coaching and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menus cannot be excluded wholesale. The search entry point is used for locating material, while the actual tasks, context, interests and industries are supported by the newly added detail sources; the industry page currently does not state a year.
Limits of use：The 2025 U.S. Lightcast job posting table for fast food cooks lists Outlook, Excel and Word, each below 1%; this is a job posting mention proportion, not a software adoption rate, AI rate or a list of kitchen order and inventory systems, and it does not represent the whole family or Chinese recruitment.
Limits of use：National Bureau of Statistics 2025 pre-tax average annual wages in accommodation and food services: urban non-private 62,461 yuan and private 55,123 yuan, both all-position unit averages for the industry. There is also a monthly average income of 4,208 yuan for migrant workers in accommodation and food services, up 1.6% year on year, which is an industry and population scope; these cannot be spliced into a wage range for cooks, converted into an occupational monthly salary or substituted for occupational percentiles. The urban unit table covers legal entities with 5 or more employees including bonuses and allowances and excludes self-employed businesses and freelancers; the migrant worker survey covers a different population, and none of them equals all cooks or an individual take-home income. Institutional catering chooses another industry by the unit's main business, and private household income is not filled in from a legal entity industry average. The exact occupation wage, percentile and job posting quote gaps are retained.
Limits of use：Explains the OEWS coverage population, wage composition and conversion assumptions (including whether the self-employed are included and the standard work-year conversion); it does not provide specific figures for this occupation and is not used to convert hourly wages into an individual monthly income.
Limits of use：Current national restaurant 2025 wages 28,700/34,010/37,390/44,620/47,900 dollars; hourly 13.80/16.35/17.98/21.45/23.03. Not family percentiles, experience grades or individual income.
Limits of use：Provides an entry point for looking up certification and training for this segment, for verifying credential and training information; this is a description of an information entry point, it does not predict job numbers or wage levels, and it does not replace mainland China's employment conditions.
Limits of use：The ILO2025 task exposure study; this round obtained no separate values by cook segment, adoption or dates, and it is not asserted that the study has no occupational scores at all.
Limits of use：Supports the tasks, detailed work activities and work context percentages of restaurant cooks (35-2014.00); that page is a single-segment measure, contains no technology adoption or job displacement data, and cannot represent the family's other segments.
Limits of use：Supports only the operations, budget and people management tasks of food service managers (adjacent occupation); daily tasks differ greatly from kitchen production roles, and moving across requires additional operations and compliance knowledge.
Limits of use：Currently five segments have detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15/5 Core and Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 all other cooks page explicitly states that no O*NET characteristic data are provided for that group, so it cannot be written that all six segments have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Private household menu design, institutional coaching and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menus cannot be excluded wholesale. In the current U.S. O*NET data, fast food, institution and cafeteria, restaurant and short order cooks are Zone1–2/SVP below 6, while private household cooks are Zone3/SVP6 to below 7; a few days to a year, or one to two years, of preparation is a level description, not a uniform course for every job. Among fast food respondents, education was 63% below high school, 21% high school or equivalent and 12% some college courses without earning a degree; the percentages are not a Chinese threshold or a complete educational distribution. The BLS family overview states that no formal educational credential is typically required, some employers prefer a high school diploma, and practical training is still needed. A 2025 U.S. Lightcast fast food cook job-posting table lists Outlook, Excel and Word, each below 1%; this is a share of job-posting mentions, not a software adoption rate, an AI rate or a list of kitchen order and inventory systems, and it does not represent the whole family or Chinese job postings.
Limits of use：Currently five segments have detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15/5 Core and Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 all other cooks page explicitly states that no O*NET characteristic data are provided for that group, so it cannot be written that all six segments have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Private household menu design, institutional coaching and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menus cannot be excluded wholesale. 17 tasks 12/5 Core and Supplemental; Zone1–2; education 71% high school, 14% postsecondary certificate and 7% bachelor's degree, partial responses.
Limits of use：Currently five segments have detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15/5 Core and Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 all other cooks page explicitly states that no O*NET characteristic data are provided for that group, so it cannot be written that all six segments have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Private household menu design, institutional coaching and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menus cannot be excluded wholesale. 13 tasks 12/1 Core and Supplemental; Zone3; education 38% postsecondary certificate, 31% high school and 15% below high school, partial responses.
Limits of use：Currently five segments have detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15/5 Core and Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 all other cooks page explicitly states that no O*NET characteristic data are provided for that group, so it cannot be written that all six segments have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Private household menu design, institutional coaching and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menus cannot be excluded wholesale. Current restaurant cook detail page integer responses: 93% daily routine protection, 92% daily indoors in a controlled environment and 15% daily outdoors in all weather; the two questions may overlap. Standing 81%/14%, almost constantly and more than half the time; hands 76% almost constantly; repetitive motion 63% almost constantly; 30% daily under strict time limits; the question percentages are not shares of working hours, injury rates or Chinese conditions. Restaurant interest R77/C47/E45/S31/A29/I9, fast food R89/C55/E39/S24/A14/I6, short order R86/C56/E45/S37/A21/I0, all with RCE as the top three; institution and cafeteria R82/C56/E36/S36/A17/I14, with E and S tied; private household R66/A46/S46/C45/E43/I7, with A and S tied, leaning to an RAS profile. The six segments cannot share one interest code, and no profile was provided for all other cooks. Interests are clues to activity types, not personality, ability or hiring thresholds. 20 tasks 14/6 Core and Supplemental; education 47% high school, 34% below high school and 12% associate degree, partial responses.
Limits of use：Currently five segments have detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15/5 Core and Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 all other cooks page explicitly states that no O*NET characteristic data are provided for that group, so it cannot be written that all six segments have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Private household menu design, institutional coaching and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menus cannot be excluded wholesale. 11 tasks 8/3 Core and Supplemental; Zone1–2; education 66% high school, 14% below high school and 9% some college courses, partial responses.
Limits of use：Currently five segments have detailed profiles: fast food 20 tasks 15/5 Core and Supplemental, institution and cafeteria 17 tasks 12/5, private household 13 tasks 12/1, restaurant 20 tasks 14/6 and short order 11 tasks 8/3. The 35-2019 all other cooks page explicitly states that no O*NET characteristic data are provided for that group, so it cannot be written that all six segments have detailed task and interest profiles. Importance is not frequency. Private household menu design, institutional coaching and restaurant coordination and supervision all have Core tasks, so management or menus cannot be excluded wholesale. The page explicitly states that this residual occupation provides no O*NET characteristic data, so it cannot be given complete tasks, a Zone or interests.
Limits of use：Institution and cafeteria: 40% healthcare, 30% education, 18% accommodation and food services and 12% other; employment industry shares are not wages, and the year is not stated.
Limits of use：Private household: 13% other services (except government) and 87% other, including agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting; this does not equal the share of residential employers; employment industry shares are not wages, and the year is not stated.
Limits of use：Restaurant: 93% accommodation and food services and 7% other; employment industry shares are not wages, and the year is not stated.
Limits of use：Article 44 of the 2025 amendment to China's Food Safety Law requires food production and operation enterprises to provide food-safety knowledge training for employees; Article 45 requires food production and operation personnel who handle directly consumed food to undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate before taking up their posts, and sets restrictions on posts for diseases that affect food safety. The scope is legally defined production and operation activity; it does not equate all private household cooking with catering operations, and does not treat a health certificate as a skill level or equipment licence. Articles 42/47/54—57 in fact support traceability, self-inspection and stop-reporting, storage of raw materials and equipment, and canteen responsibility; individual position division of labour and technical limits are checked separately.
Limits of use：A model guidance for jurisdictions to adopt, which does not automatically constitute law in all U.S. areas; this round read only the overview, did not read the full PDF or verify adoption in each state, and does not cite specific temperature limits.
Limits of use：Tasks such as sanitation supervision, training, kitchen coordination, budgeting and pricing, and menus; compared with existing segment experience for the increment. Transition distance and individual gaps are editorial check directions and do not guarantee hiring or mutual recognition of qualifications.
Limits of use：Corresponding tasks such as operating budgets, staff training and scheduling, record compliance and service complaints. Transition distance and individual gaps are editorial check directions and do not guarantee hiring or mutual recognition of qualifications.
Limits of use：Tasks such as preparation, temperature recording, weighing, assembling meals, cleaning and some serving; not all preparation work lacks finished-product preparation. Transition distance and individual gaps are editorial check directions and do not guarantee hiring or mutual recognition of qualifications.
Limits of use：Tasks such as weighing and ratios, dough processing, baking parameters and product quality; these do not directly substitute for cook qualifications. Transition distance and individual gaps are editorial check directions and do not guarantee hiring or mutual recognition of qualifications.
Limits of use：Tasks such as order taking and payment, customer communication, simple cooking and packaging, and cleaning, corresponding in practice to a move to the counter. Transition distance and individual gaps are editorial check directions and do not guarantee hiring or mutual recognition of qualifications.
Limits of use：Tasks such as washing tableware, putting it away, cleaning the premises, preparing ingredients and moving materials; the role is not limited to washing dishes. Transition distance and individual gaps are editorial check directions and do not guarantee hiring or mutual recognition of qualifications.
Limits of use：Tasks such as staff assignment, training, cash records, cleaning supervision and inventory; this does not rule out that cooks already have coaching duties. Transition distance and individual gaps are editorial check directions and do not guarantee hiring or mutual recognition of qualifications.
Limits of use：Tasks such as checking age documents, taking payment and preparing drinks, and limiting over-consumption; alcohol-related jurisdictional requirements are checked separately. Transition distance and individual gaps are editorial check directions and do not guarantee hiring or mutual recognition of qualifications.
Note: this page distinguishes official statistics, legal rules and editorial compilation; source names and scopes of application are not interchanged. U.S. and mainland China data are kept in separate columns: U.S. wages, employment and projections use combined family or segment measures, while mainland China is treated as a gap, and the two do not substitute for each other. When the statistical period, survey population and pay measure differ, cite them separately; do not interpolate and do not fill gaps with adjacent occupations or industry averages. The practice material is fictional or based on public sources and does not constitute a qualification, a permit or authorisation for safe work.
Personality preferences (EN) · Big Five traits (EN) · Understand my personality preferences · Understand my Big Five traits
| Main objects and basis | Ingredients, recipes, orders and temperature control records; the basis is food safety requirements, menu and recipe standards, orders and the serving pace, and the employer's kitchen operating standards. | Objects and basis of adjacent positions: menus and cost sheets (chefs and managers), preparation lists and recipes (preparation workers), dough and baking recipes (bakers), cash register and order systems (counter workers), and tableware and cleaning processes (dishwashers). |
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| Core process | Receiving and preparation → weighing, cutting and portioning → heating and temperature control by order → sensory and instrument checks → plating and serving → cleaning, storage and records. | Processes of adjacent positions: menu and cost accounting, scheduling and purchasing, washing and cutting and preparing, fermentation and baking, order assembly and payment, and cleaning, sanitising and returning items. |
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| Main outputs | Dishes that can be reproduced consistently, serving records and temperature control data, and ingredient stock rotated on a first-in-first-out basis. | Outputs of adjacent positions: an accountable menu and gross margin, outlet operating reports, prepared semi-finished items, baked products, correct orders and payment, and clean tableware and premises. |
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| Responsible party | Actual ingredient, processing, hygiene and record duties are checked per position, and food producers and business operators and their principal responsible persons bear the legal responsibility; cooks may also take on the menu, purchasing and mentoring. Equipment modification and repair are checked against authority, and no authority is conferred by the job title. | Adjacent management positions may take on operations and personnel management, but menu, purchasing or supervision are not exclusively theirs; household menu design and institutional mentoring are also core tasks for cook subcategories. Counter payment and dishwashing must be checked against the target position. |
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| Cooperation and supervision | Work is divided by station within the kitchen, and at the serving peak the timing must be aligned with the plating assistant, the food runner and the front of house; when a temperature, foreign object or equipment anomaly is found, stop the affected work and report it to the supervisor. | Cooperation of adjacent positions: chefs and managers assign tasks and shifts; preparation workers receive the cook's specification requirements; counter workers check order changes with the kitchen; dishwashers share cleaning and storage space with the kitchen. |
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| Conclusion boundary | Similar job titles do not mean interchangeability: whether the person designs dishes and the menu independently, manages people, money and goods, and faces customers directly determines the scope of authorization and where responsibility lies. | The preparation levels and qualification requirements of adjacent positions do not apply to this occupation and must be checked item by item against each occupation's official material and the employer's system. |
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Judgment four: are allergens and cross-contamination isolated?
Judgment five: do cleaning, sanitising and storage follow procedure?
Judgment six: are anomaly reporting and handover complete?
| Output consistency, the basis for temperature control and hygiene, and the habit of reporting exceptions. |
| A fictional station output and temperature-control record. |
| Responsible for output quality at a single station and must work within authorisation. |
| Institution and cafeteria position | Prepare ingredients and portion meals according to a bulk menu, recording quantities and temperatures. | Bulk preparation ability, understanding of dietary restrictions, record-keeping standards. | A fictional bulk catering quantity and temperature record. | Bulk catering in institutions, with some school positions working the school year; specific shifts and duties are checked with the unit, and regular scheduling is not guaranteed at every institution |
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| Private household cook direction | Design menus, shop and cook main meals for a single employer household. | Menu design, flavour adjustment and communication with the household. | A fictional menu and shopping list (including dietary restrictions). | The workplace is a private residence, with high autonomy but small scale. |
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Current restaurant cook detail page integer responses: 93% daily routine protection, 92% daily indoors in a controlled environment and 15% daily outdoors in all weather; the two questions may overlap. Standing 81%/14%, almost constantly and more than half the time; hands 76% almost constantly; repetitive motion 63% almost constantly; 30% daily under strict time limits; the question percentages are not shares of working hours, injury rates or Chinese conditions. Some responses to the accuracy question are not shown, and no total is filled in.
Physical tools come from the task list; for software, a separate 2025 U.S. Lightcast fast food cook job-posting table lists Outlook, Excel and Word, each below 1%; this is a share of job-posting mentions, not a software adoption rate, an AI rate or a list of kitchen order and inventory systems, and it does not represent the whole family or Chinese job postings.
Tool proficiency is a market preference and recruitment signal; it does not equal core ability or an entry threshold.
| Answer records or a demonstration of comparing records. |
| The assessment standard is set by the employer and the competent authority; this page does not speculate. |
| Probation assessment | A combined assessment of hygiene execution, output consistency and record quality under supervised on-the-job conditions. | Sampling of probation-period output and temperature-control records, and a cleaning inspection review. | Assessment and appointment conditions are set by the employer; this page does not constitute a hiring promise. |
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| Personnel in positions that directly handle food |
| Article 44 of the 2025 amendment to China's Food Safety Law requires food production and operation enterprises to provide food-safety knowledge training for employees; Article 45 requires food production and operation personnel who handle directly consumed food to undergo an annual health examination and obtain a health certificate before taking up their posts, and sets restrictions on posts for diseases that affect food safety. The scope is legally defined production and operation activity; it does not equate all private household cooking with catering operations, and does not treat a health certificate as a skill level or equipment licence. |
| For positions handling directly consumed food, a health certificate is a statutory requirement under Article 45; enterprise training is a requirement under Article 44 |
| The health certificate is obtained through the applicable health examination; training is implemented by the enterprise according to law, and the two do not substitute for each other |
| Processing and training fees and duration were not obtained this round |
| A training record does not equal authorisation to work in a position; specific requirements follow the rules currently in force. |
| Chinese cuisine chef vocational skill grade | People who want systematic training and skill recognition | Can provide skill evidence within that assessment system; allowances and the effect on a specific position were not verified this round and should be checked against the employer and the assessment announcement. | Not a general entry threshold | Per the registration conditions published by the skill-grade assessment body | Fees and duration were not obtained this round; check against the actual announcement | The employer decides how a grade certificate relates to job placement; this page does not constitute a hiring conclusion. |
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| Equipment operation and position authorisation | People who need to operate stoves, frying and slicing equipment independently | Determines whether someone can run a station independently | Authorised by the employer according to the equipment and position | Per the employer's rules and the equipment manual | Fees and duration were not obtained this round; check against the actual announcement | Authorisation is limited to specific equipment and positions and cannot be used across different equipment. |
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| Allergen management and hygiene practice training | People responsible for isolating allergens and carrying out cleaning and disinfection | An access and assessment requirement for some positions | Per the unit's and position's requirements | Training organised per the unit's rules and the standards currently in force | Fees and duration were not obtained this round; check against the actual announcement | Where real food-safety responsibility is involved, the regulations currently in force must be followed, and practice cannot substitute for them. |
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| Kitchen management training | People preparing to take on shift-leading and kitchen management duties | Editorial preparation suggestion: practise division of labour, records and communication; course recognition and the effect on being hired for shift-leading roles must be checked with the enterprise, and no competitive advantage is promised. | Not an entry threshold | Per the enterprise's rules and the position's requirements | Fees and duration were not obtained this round; check against the actual announcement | Management training does not equal authorisation for a food-safety responsibility position. |
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Any qualification or employment requirement should follow the current rules of the employer and the competent authority; this page does not constitute a hiring promise, a qualification opinion or advice on work authorisation.
The reference deliverable lists only the elements that should be included and does not require wording identical to the example; explaining the basis for your judgement is enough.
This exercise tests only hygiene and temperature-control awareness, allergen checking and the ability to organise records; it does not evaluate the safety of a real kitchen and does not constitute a hiring or qualification judgement or advice on real food-safety handling.
Real restaurants' customer information, business data or accident records must not be used; where real food-safety judgements are involved, the rules of the unit and the competent authority must be followed.
Using fictional data, write an end-of-shift record covering output, discards and temperature-control data, unresolved exceptions and the items the next shift needs to confirm.
Return to the judgement checklist on this page and write down three reasons you are willing to continue and two conditions that need caution.
Promotion evidence：Ability to handle several short tickets at once while keeping output consistent.
Qualification boundaries：Position authorisation and hygiene training.
Next step：Rotate to more complex hot-line cooking.
Typical duties：Assist with scheduling and peak dispatching, and coach new employees.
Promotion evidence：Ability to coordinate the floor and handle customer complaints.
Qualification boundaries：Per the enterprise's rules.
Next step：Consider moving into a restaurant back-of-house or management direction.
Typical duties：Design menus, shop and cook main meals for a single employer household.
Promotion evidence：Ability to design menus independently and adjust them to the household's taste.
Qualification boundaries：Private household cooking is checked against the actual employment and the jurisdiction of the activity; if it constitutes a business activity, the corresponding food-safety and business conditions also apply, and the employer's contract alone is not enough.
Next step：Build experience in banqueting and special diets.
Typical duties：Responsible for purchasing, menus and daily arrangements, and may manage assistants.
Promotion evidence：Ability to balance output, cost and household preferences.
Qualification boundaries：Personal cooking and operating a catering business are kept separate; business, employment and food-safety conditions are checked against the activity, and a contract does not replace a statutory permit.
Next step：Check the relevant business and employment requirements.
Limits of use：Editorial ratings use the existing occupational responsibilities and AI task analysis on this page. They are not adoption rates, measured effects, job-disappearance or personal-unemployment probabilities, or official scores from Stanford or another external institution. No measured time weights or future robot deployment are assumed.
