Catering and bar managers
Catering and bar managers plan, direct and co-ordinate the catering and bar facilities and services of licensed premises, factories, shops, theatres, educational premises and other establishments. They also manage outside catering businesses and shops selling food cooked on the premises.
- Employees (UK)
- 37k
- Median annual pay
- £27,888
- Exposure score ?
- 0.7/10 Minimal 7.7/10 High strict reading, with tools is 7.7/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.7/10
- Wage exposure
- £72m £795m
Higher exposure than 41% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Most of the routine work in this role can already be done by a capable model. The role does not disappear, but its shape changes, and one person can credibly cover the work of several.
If you are in this role
Stop spending time on what a model can do well. Your value is judgement, relationships and the parts of the work that need you in the room. Redesign the workflow around that before someone else does it for you.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Monitor employee and patron activities to ensure liquor regulations are obeyed.
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Greet guests, escort them to their seats, and present them with menus and wine lists.
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Count money and make bank deposits.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Establish standards for personnel performance and customer service.
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Keep records required by government agencies regarding sanitation or food subsidies.
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Schedule staff hours and assign duties.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Food Service Managers" (11-9051.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 28 tasks, unaided
Keep records required by government agencies regarding sanitation or food subsidies.
Create specialty dishes and develop recipes to be used in dining facilities.
What still needs a person
26 of 28 tasks
Monitor employee and patron activities to ensure liquor regulations are obeyed.
Greet guests, escort them to their seats, and present them with menus and wine lists.
Count money and make bank deposits.
Establish standards for personnel performance and customer service.
Schedule staff hours and assign duties.
Investigate and resolve complaints regarding food quality, service, or accommodations.
Maintain food and equipment inventories, and keep inventory records.
Perform some food preparation or service tasks, such as cooking, clearing tables, and serving food and drinks when necessary.
Monitor budgets and payroll records, and review financial transactions to ensure that expenditures are authorized and budgeted.
Schedule and receive food and beverage deliveries, checking delivery contents to verify product quality and quantity.
Coordinate assignments of cooking personnel to ensure economical use of food and timely preparation.
Organize and direct worker training programs, resolve personnel problems, hire new staff, and evaluate employee performance in dining and lodging facilities.
Assess staffing needs and recruit staff, using methods such as newspaper advertisements or attendance at job fairs.
Estimate food, liquor, wine, and other beverage consumption to anticipate amounts to be purchased or requisitioned.
Monitor food preparation methods, portion sizes, and garnishing and presentation of food to ensure that food is prepared and presented in an acceptable manner.
Monitor compliance with health and fire regulations regarding food preparation and serving, and building maintenance in lodging and dining facilities.
Test cooked food by tasting and smelling it to ensure palatability and flavor conformity.
Order and purchase equipment and supplies.
Review work procedures and operational problems to determine ways to improve service, performance, or safety.
Arrange for equipment maintenance and repairs, and coordinate a variety of services, such as waste removal and pest control.
Record the number, type, and cost of items sold to determine which items may be unpopular or less profitable.
Plan menus and food utilization, based on anticipated number of guests, nutritional value, palatability, popularity, and costs.
Review menus and analyze recipes to determine labor and overhead costs, and assign prices to menu items.
Take dining reservations.
Schedule use of facilities or catering services for events such as banquets or receptions, and negotiate details of arrangements with clients.
Establish and enforce nutritional standards for dining establishments, based on accepted industry standards.
Tasks via O*NET "Food Service Managers" (11-9051.00).
What AI can already do
22 of 28 tasks, with tools
Establish standards for personnel performance and customer service.
Keep records required by government agencies regarding sanitation or food subsidies.
Schedule staff hours and assign duties.
Investigate and resolve complaints regarding food quality, service, or accommodations.
Maintain food and equipment inventories, and keep inventory records.
Monitor budgets and payroll records, and review financial transactions to ensure that expenditures are authorized and budgeted.
Schedule and receive food and beverage deliveries, checking delivery contents to verify product quality and quantity.
Coordinate assignments of cooking personnel to ensure economical use of food and timely preparation.
Organize and direct worker training programs, resolve personnel problems, hire new staff, and evaluate employee performance in dining and lodging facilities.
Assess staffing needs and recruit staff, using methods such as newspaper advertisements or attendance at job fairs.
Estimate food, liquor, wine, and other beverage consumption to anticipate amounts to be purchased or requisitioned.
Monitor compliance with health and fire regulations regarding food preparation and serving, and building maintenance in lodging and dining facilities.
Order and purchase equipment and supplies.
Review work procedures and operational problems to determine ways to improve service, performance, or safety.
Arrange for equipment maintenance and repairs, and coordinate a variety of services, such as waste removal and pest control.
Record the number, type, and cost of items sold to determine which items may be unpopular or less profitable.
Plan menus and food utilization, based on anticipated number of guests, nutritional value, palatability, popularity, and costs.
Review menus and analyze recipes to determine labor and overhead costs, and assign prices to menu items.
Take dining reservations.
Create specialty dishes and develop recipes to be used in dining facilities.
Schedule use of facilities or catering services for events such as banquets or receptions, and negotiate details of arrangements with clients.
Establish and enforce nutritional standards for dining establishments, based on accepted industry standards.
What still needs a person
6 of 28 tasks
Monitor employee and patron activities to ensure liquor regulations are obeyed.
Greet guests, escort them to their seats, and present them with menus and wine lists.
Count money and make bank deposits.
Perform some food preparation or service tasks, such as cooking, clearing tables, and serving food and drinks when necessary.
Monitor food preparation methods, portion sizes, and garnishing and presentation of food to ensure that food is prepared and presented in an acceptable manner.
Test cooked food by tasting and smelling it to ensure palatability and flavor conformity.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Skilled trades occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons