UK AI Exposure · Skilled trades occupations
Cooks
Cooks prepare, season and cook food, often using pre-prepared ingredients, in clubs, private households, fast food outlets, shops selling food cooked on the premises and the catering departments and canteens of other establishments.
- Employees (UK)
- 39k
- Median annual pay
- £17,885
- Exposure score ?
- 1.0/10 Minimal 3.2/10 Low strict reading · with tools is 3.2/10 with-tools reading · strict is 1.0/10
- Wage exposure
- £70m £223m
Higher exposure than 56% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means
Most of this role's work is still genuinely hard for AI to do. Physical presence, bodily skill, high-context judgment, direct human care - the things that don't translate to text.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
You're not in the firing line today. But the frontier moves. Build enough AI fluency now that you can direct it for the parts of your work that could benefit. People in unexposed roles who understand AI become unusually valuable inside their organisations.
A handful of tasks in this role are touchable by AI, mostly around paperwork, scheduling and basic writing. The shape of the role stays the same - some parts just get faster.
If you're in this role, here's what to do now
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try an LLM on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT can already do for admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the dividend.
Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role
These are the highest-importance tasks a language model can already handle directly today. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these, so they stop eating your 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 highest-importance tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these — usually the difference between an LLM that can technically 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 wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →
The full task breakdown
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can already do unaided versus what still needs a human. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.
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.
Where humans still hold the line
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.
Where humans still hold the line
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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Methodology
This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.
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