Production
Food cooking machine operators and tenders
Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.
Median pay
$41,590
Growth to 2035
0%
little or no change
Openings a year
3,700
Time to qualify*
6 months
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Food cooking machine operators and tenders
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- None
Calculate your switch to food cooking 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 sitting
Time standing
Outdoors in all weather
Hazardous conditions
Food cooking machine operators and tenders: 37% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Clean, wash, and sterilize equipment and cooking area, using water hoses, cleaning or sterilizing solutions, or rinses.
- Read work orders, recipes, or formulas to determine cooking times and temperatures, and ingredient specifications.
- Observe gauges, dials, and product characteristics, and adjust controls to maintain appropriate temperature, pressure, and flow of ingredients.
- Measure or weigh ingredients, using scales or measuring containers.
- Tend or operate and control equipment, such as kettles, cookers, vats and tanks, and boilers, to cook ingredients or prepare products for further processing.
- Record production and test data, such as processing steps, temperature and steam readings, cooking time, batches processed, and test results.
- Set temperature, pressure, and time controls, and start conveyers, machines, or pumps.
- Remove cooked material or products from equipment.
Also called: Cooker Operator · Food Production Worker · Fryer Operator · Kettle Fry Cook Operator · Machine Operator · Mogul Operator · Oven Operator · Peeler Operator
Outlook and AI
Food cooking machine operators and tenders held 31,200 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 31,200 by 2035 (0%, little or no change; all jobs: +3.5%).
Productivity change - share decreases as an expected increase in the adoption of automation technologies, such as robotics, makes food production processes more labor efficient.
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