Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Also called: Bakery Fryer, Blanching Machine Operator, Boiler, Brine Maker, Casing Cooker, Chip Fryer, Chocolate Temperer, Coconut Boiler
Operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products.
What food cooking machine operators and tenders do
Typical 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.
- Collect and examine product samples during production to test them for quality, color, content, consistency, viscosity, acidity, or specific gravity.
- Pour, dump, or load prescribed quantities of ingredients or products into cooking equipment, manually or using a hoist.
- Listen for malfunction alarms, and shut down equipment and notify supervisors when necessary.
- Notify or signal other workers to operate equipment or when processing is complete.
Typical path into the job (BLS)
Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders salary
The median annual wage for food cooking machine operators and tenders is $41,590 (BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, national). The lowest 10 percent earn less than $31,680 and the highest 10 percent earn more than $54,410. The mean annual wage is $42,570.
The mean hourly wage of $20.00 is 2.8× the federal minimum wage of $7.25. State minimums are higher in most large states. Minimum wage by state →
How does your pay compare with people your age?
Your numbers are not sent or stored. The comparison uses this occupation's BLS wage percentiles, adjusted for age with BLS median weekly earnings by age group (Q3 2026).
Pay by percentile
Annual wage percentiles from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Percentiles are a good proxy for pay by experience.
Projected pay for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders (3, 5 and 10 years)est.
Today $41,590 → in 3 years $45,000 → in 5 years $47,400 → in 10 years $53,900 (10-year range $46,400–$62,600). The model assumes pay growth of +2.6% per year.
What drives the annual growth rate
Projected pay = current pay × (1 + annual growth)^years. The annual growth rate starts from a base wage-growth rate and adds or subtracts labor demand (BLS projected employment growth), wage momentum and AI replacement risk for each occupation. Projections are not guarantees. How it is calculated →
Outlook score for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Each component is a percentile rank among all occupations in the same country (0–100). Weights: labor demand 25, wage momentum / openings 15, pay level 15, AI resistance 25, aging workforce 10 (Japan only), entry barrier 10.
Will AI replace Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders? AI replacement risk
How AI is changing this job
A written analysis for this occupation is being prepared.
AI replacement risk compares the parts of a job that are easy to hand to AI or software (processing information, documentation, repetitive computer work) with the parts that are hard to automate (physical work, working closely with people, judgment in unpredictable settings), using O*NET work activities, work context, skills and knowledge. The result is a relative position among all occupations in the country, scaled to 0–100%. Methodology →
Labor demand for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Employment projections are from the BLS Employment Projections program (2025–35). Annual openings include both new jobs and replacement of workers who leave the occupation.
The same job in Japan
| Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders United States | かん詰・びん詰・レトルト食品製造 Japan | |
|---|---|---|
| Median / average pay | $41,590 | ¥3.97M ≈ $25,230 |
| Pay in 10 years (est.) | $53,900 | ¥4.92M |
| Outlook score | 37 | 41 |
| AI replacement risk | 55% Moderate | 62% High |
| Workers | 31K | — |
Matched by occupation (SOC code). Yen converted at 157.25 JPY/USD for reference; Japanese figures are averages, U.S. figures are medians, and the surveys define occupations differently.
Skills, education and requirements for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Key skills
O*NET skill level ratings (0–7).
Key knowledge areas
What the work involves
Important abilities
Education of workers
Training before entry
Related work experience
Job Zone 2 — some preparation needed (O*NET)
Difficulty of entry: ★★☆☆☆ Fairly easy (from education, training, experience and Job Zone)
How to become food cooking machine operators and tenders
A step-by-step guide for this occupation is being prepared. The education, training and experience data above show the typical path.
Career path and how to earn more as food cooking machine operators and tenders
Career-path guidance is being prepared. Pay by percentile is shown in the Pay section.