Skilled Trades
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 salary
$40,550
Typical range
$31k – $54k
Job outlook
+1% (about average)
AI exposure
Plan a path to Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Education
Typical entry: No degree required
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Junior Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Entry / Junior
$30,540
~2 yrs to advance
Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Established
$40,550
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Senior
$47,360
Key skills
A typical day
- •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.
Fields of study
Any field
Top colleges for Skilled Trades
Explore all- Purdue University50% admit · $78,000 grad pay
- Ohio State University53% admit · $68,000 grad pay
- Pennsylvania State University55% admit · $70,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.