Production
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders
Operate or tend food or tobacco roasting, baking, or drying equipment, including hearth ovens, kiln driers, roasters, char kilns, and vacuum drying equipment.
Median pay
$44,810
Growth to 2035
0%
little or no change
Openings a year
2,500
Time to qualify*
6 months
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- None
Calculate your switch to food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time standing
Hazardous conditions
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders: 49% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Observe, feel, taste, or otherwise examine products during and after processing to ensure conformance to standards.
- Set temperature and time controls, light ovens, burners, driers, or roasters, and start equipment, such as conveyors, cylinders, blowers, driers, or pumps.
- Observe temperature, humidity, pressure gauges, and product samples and adjust controls, such as thermostats and valves, to maintain prescribed operating conditions for specific stages.
- Observe flow of materials and listen for machine malfunctions, such as jamming or spillage, and notify supervisors if corrective actions fail.
- Record production data, such as weight and amount of product processed, type of product, and time and temperature of processing.
- Weigh or measure products, using scale hoppers or scale conveyors.
- Operate or tend equipment that roasts, bakes, dries, or cures food items such as cocoa and coffee beans, grains, nuts, and bakery products.
- Signal coworkers to synchronize flow of materials.
Also called: Bean Roaster · Coffee Roaster · Line Operator · Machine Operator · Oven Operator · Oven Technician · Roast Master · Roaster
Outlook and AI
Food and tobacco roasting, baking, and drying machine operators and tenders held 21,600 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 21,700 by 2035 (0%, little or no change; all jobs: +3.5%).
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