AI exposure by occupation, O*NET 35-2015.00
Will AI replace Cooks, Short Order?
Cooks, Short Order: AI does not yet handle any of the role's 11 tasks; most of the work is hands-on, and the part AI can address mostly needs a frontier-tier model.
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample: send this role and up to nine others, and a founder sends a board-pack PDF within two business days.
Every task, scored
The 11 tasks O*NET 30.3 lists for Cooks, Short Order, from most to least exposed. None reaches 60, the level at which AI already handles a task.
| Task | AI exposure | Evidence | Model tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan work on orders so that items served together are finished at the same time. | Estimated | Frontier | |
| Clean food preparation equipment, work areas, and counters or tables. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Complete orders from steam tables, placing food on plates and serving customers at tables or counters. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Perform general cleaning activities in kitchen and dining areas. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Order supplies and stock them on shelves. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Accept payments, and make change or write charge slips as necessary. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Grill and garnish hamburgers or other meats, such as steaks and chops. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Restock kitchen supplies, rotate food, and stamp the time and date on food in coolers. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Grill, cook, and fry foods such as french fries, eggs, and pancakes. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Perform food preparation tasks, such as making sandwiches, carving meats, making soups or salads, baking breads or desserts, and brewing coffee or tea. | Estimated | No tier | |
| Take orders from customers and cook foods requiring short preparation times, according to customer requirements. | Estimated | No tier |
Observed: scored from AI use recorded in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), 0 of 11 tasks. Estimated: scored from the task's O*NET 30.3 work activity, 11 of 11. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central the task is. Model tier is the lowest tier that can do the task under the published rubric; "No tier" marks hands-on work.
The model tier this role needs
A frontier-tier model or lower covers 10% of the role's importance-weighted task work. 10% of the work is something AI can address at some tier, and 90% is hands-on.
Efficient, standard and frontier tiers come from the JobRoute model tier reference. The recommended tier is the lowest one that covers 80% of the work AI can address. How the method works.
Wages, employment and outlook
- US employment
- 138,650
- Median annual wage
- $35,880
- Middle half of earners
- $30,610 to $42,450
- Projected change, 2024 to 2034
- -5.6%
Employment and wages: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national. Projection: BLS Employment Projections 2024 to 2034.
Adjacent roles
The occupations that reuse the most of this role's skills, with the usual time to move. These are the first places to look when you plan to redeploy or retrain people in this role.
- Cooks, Fast Food 76% skill overlap, about 9 months to move Exposure21
- Cooks, Restaurant 74% skill overlap, about 9 months to move Exposure20
- Food Preparation Workers 66% skill overlap, about 12 months to move Exposure16
- Fast Food and Counter Workers 64% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure17
- Chefs and Head Cooks 64% skill overlap, about 13 months to move Exposure23
Skill overlap and transition time from the JobRoute role adjacency graph on O*NET 30.3 skills.
Questions about Cooks, Short Order and AI
Will AI replace Cooks, Short Order?
Not on current evidence. None of the 11 tasks O*NET lists for this occupation reaches a task exposure of 60, the level at which JobRoute counts a task as handled by AI, and the role's importance-weighted exposure is 17 out of 100. JobRoute scores tasks, not whole jobs, so the score shows how much of the work changes rather than whether the job disappears.
What is the AI exposure of Cooks, Short Order?
17 out of 100 on JobRoute's task exposure measure, the importance-weighted average of the role's O*NET task scores. Higher means more of the work is AI-doable today. 0 of the 11 task scores are observed in the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026 release), and the other 11 are estimated from each task's O*NET work activity.
Which Cooks, Short Order tasks can AI already do?
None reaches 60 yet. The most exposed task is: Plan work on orders so that items served together are finished at the same time, at 50 out of 100.
What AI model tier does this role need?
A frontier-tier model or lower covers 10% of the role's importance-weighted task work, and 90% is hands-on work that no model tier covers. JobRoute assigns each task the lowest tier that can do it under a published rubric and recommends the lowest tier that covers 80% of the work AI can address.
How many people work as Cooks, Short Order, and what do they earn?
138,650 people in the United States, with a median annual wage of $35,880 (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025). BLS Employment Projections expect a change of -5.6% from 2024 to 2034.
How to cite
Data version 2026-11-02, JobRoute method v1.0.0. Download all occupations or this occupation as JSON. Methodology.
JobRoute (2026). AI exposure: Cooks, Short Order. Data version 2026-11-02, method v1.0.0. Built on O*NET 30.3, BLS OEWS May 2025 and the Anthropic Economic Index (June 2026). CC BY 4.0. https://www.jobroute.ai/jobs/cooks-short-order
Have a team in this role?
Get your free 10-role sample. Send this role and up to nine others, with no employee data, and a founder sends a PDF in board-pack format within two business days.
A founder replies within one business day.