Chefs
Chefs plan menus and prepare, or oversee the preparation of food in hotels, restaurants, clubs, private households and other establishments.
- Employees (UK)
- 152k
- Median annual pay
- £26,531
- Exposure score ?
- 1.4/10 Minimal 6.2/10 High strict reading, with tools is 6.2/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.4/10
- Wage exposure
- £565m £2.50bn
Higher exposure than 66% 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.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Record production, operational, and personnel data on specified forms.
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Estimate ingredients and supplies required to prepare a recipe.
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Assign duties, responsibilities, and work stations to employees in accordance with work requirements.
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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Compile and balance cash receipts at the end of the day or shift.
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Forecast staff, equipment, and supply requirements, based on a master menu.
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Assess nutritional needs of patients, plan special menus, supervise the assembly of regular and special diet trays, and oversee the delivery of food trolleys to hospital patients.
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 "First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers" (35-1012.00).
What AI can already do
5 of 26 tasks, unaided
Record production, operational, and personnel data on specified forms.
Estimate ingredients and supplies required to prepare a recipe.
Assign duties, responsibilities, and work stations to employees in accordance with work requirements.
Perform various financial activities, such as cash handling, deposit preparation, and payroll.
Observe and evaluate workers and work procedures to ensure quality standards and service, and complete disciplinary write-ups.
What still needs a person
21 of 26 tasks
Compile and balance cash receipts at the end of the day or shift.
Forecast staff, equipment, and supply requirements, based on a master menu.
Assess nutritional needs of patients, plan special menus, supervise the assembly of regular and special diet trays, and oversee the delivery of food trolleys to hospital patients.
Resolve customer complaints regarding food service.
Perform personnel actions, such as hiring and firing staff, providing employee orientation and training, and conducting supervisory activities, such as creating work schedules or organizing employee time sheets.
Train workers in food preparation, and in service, sanitation, and safety procedures.
Present bills and accept payments.
Purchase or requisition supplies and equipment needed to ensure quality and timely delivery of services.
Perform food preparation and serving duties, such as carving meat, preparing flambe dishes, or serving wine and liquor.
Supervise and participate in kitchen and dining area cleaning activities.
Recommend measures for improving work procedures and worker performance to increase service quality and enhance job safety.
Specify food portions and courses, production and time sequences, and workstation and equipment arrangements.
Control inventories of food, equipment, smallware, and liquor, and report shortages to designated personnel.
Analyze operational problems, such as theft and wastage, and establish procedures to alleviate these problems.
Schedule parties and take reservations.
Develop departmental objectives, budgets, policies, procedures, and strategies.
Conduct meetings and collaborate with other personnel for menu planning, serving arrangements, and related details.
Develop equipment maintenance schedules and arrange for repairs.
Inspect supplies, equipment, and work areas to ensure efficient service and conformance to standards.
Greet and seat guests, and present menus and wine lists.
Evaluate new products for usefulness and suitability.
Tasks via O*NET "First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers" (35-1012.00).
What AI can already do
21 of 26 tasks, with tools
Compile and balance cash receipts at the end of the day or shift.
Forecast staff, equipment, and supply requirements, based on a master menu.
Assess nutritional needs of patients, plan special menus, supervise the assembly of regular and special diet trays, and oversee the delivery of food trolleys to hospital patients.
Record production, operational, and personnel data on specified forms.
Resolve customer complaints regarding food service.
Perform personnel actions, such as hiring and firing staff, providing employee orientation and training, and conducting supervisory activities, such as creating work schedules or organizing employee time sheets.
Estimate ingredients and supplies required to prepare a recipe.
Assign duties, responsibilities, and work stations to employees in accordance with work requirements.
Present bills and accept payments.
Purchase or requisition supplies and equipment needed to ensure quality and timely delivery of services.
Perform various financial activities, such as cash handling, deposit preparation, and payroll.
Recommend measures for improving work procedures and worker performance to increase service quality and enhance job safety.
Specify food portions and courses, production and time sequences, and workstation and equipment arrangements.
Control inventories of food, equipment, smallware, and liquor, and report shortages to designated personnel.
Observe and evaluate workers and work procedures to ensure quality standards and service, and complete disciplinary write-ups.
Analyze operational problems, such as theft and wastage, and establish procedures to alleviate these problems.
Schedule parties and take reservations.
Develop departmental objectives, budgets, policies, procedures, and strategies.
Conduct meetings and collaborate with other personnel for menu planning, serving arrangements, and related details.
Develop equipment maintenance schedules and arrange for repairs.
Evaluate new products for usefulness and suitability.
What still needs a person
5 of 26 tasks
Train workers in food preparation, and in service, sanitation, and safety procedures.
Perform food preparation and serving duties, such as carving meat, preparing flambe dishes, or serving wine and liquor.
Supervise and participate in kitchen and dining area cleaning activities.
Inspect supplies, equipment, and work areas to ensure efficient service and conformance to standards.
Greet and seat guests, and present menus and wine lists.
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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