# Will cafeteria cooks be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 Cafeteria cooks score 25 of 100 for AI exposure. 56% of their task time still needs a person. AI can do 16% today and speed up another 28%. - **16%** AI can do it - **28%** AI helps - **56%** Needs a person Low exposure Lower than 71% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 17 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 4 of them today, speeds up 5 and leaves 8 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Compile and maintain records of food use and expenditures. Routine digital record keeping of food use and costs. | 80% AI can do it | | Determine meal prices, based on calculations of ingredient prices. Price math from ingredient costs is easily done by AI. | 70% AI can do it | | Plan menus that are varied, nutritionally balanced, and appetizing, taking advantage of foods in season and local availability. LLMs can draft seasonal, balanced menus; dietitians should approve. | 65% AI can do it | | Requisition food supplies, kitchen equipment, and appliances, based on estimates of future needs. Forecasting and ordering tools draft requisitions; staff approve them. | 60% AI can do it | | Monitor menus and spending to ensure that meals are prepared economically. Spreadsheet tools can flag overspending; manager reviews the findings. | 55% AI helps | ## How cafeteria cooks compare All occupations (923) Food preparation and serving (16) **Cafeteria cooks score 25**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 25 for food preparation and serving. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $37,450 a year, May 2025 People employed 441,050 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs +2.8% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Check nutrition values in GNOME Gnutrition before menus go out - Run food cost reports in Meals Plus and Microsoft Excel - Log food use and costs in PCS FASTRAK School Meal Software - Monitor government commodity records against program procedures in Excel - Knife work on meat, fish, and poultry for daily service - Bake breads, rolls, and pastries from scratch for daily service ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Cooks23 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cooks/) - [Food preparation workers17 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/food-preparation-workers/) - [Short order cooks20 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/short-order-cooks/) - [Fast food cooks21 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/fast-food-cooks/) - [Fast food workers24 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/fast-food-workers/) ## Questions about cafeteria cooks and AI Will AI replace cafeteria cooks? Partly. About 3 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly keeping records of food use and costs and working out meal prices from ingredient costs. Cooking, cutting meat, serving, cleaning, and baking stay with people because they need hands in a kitchen. Which cafeteria cook tasks is AI taking over? Record keeping of food use and expenditures has the highest exposure score at 80, so software can log usage and spending automatically. Meal price math from ingredient costs scores 70, and menu drafting scores 65 when a dietitian approves the result. Which cafeteria cook tasks stay human? Washing pots, pans, and utensils scores 4 on exposure, and cleaning, cutting, and cooking meat, fish, or poultry scores 5, because both need physical handling in a kitchen. Serving food to residents and staff in person scores 6, since a person has to hand food across the line. How can cafeteria cooks stay valuable? Check AI-drafted menus in GNOME Gnutrition for nutrition values before they reach the line. Run cost reports in Meals Plus and Excel yourself, so you spot overspending before a manager does. Keep knife work, baking, and serving skills, since those tasks scored lowest for AI exposure. ## Related jobs - [Chefs36 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/chefs/) - [Bakers25 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/bakers/) - [Food service managers41 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/food-service-managers/) - [Food service supervisors41 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/food-service-supervisors/) ## Next steps for cafeteria cooks - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) ### Check which roles in your team AI can take on We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.