The Task Exposure Indexv2026.Q3
Occupation · SOC 35-1012.00 · Job Zone 2

AI exposure: First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers

Directly supervise and coordinate activities of workers engaged in preparing and serving food.

Reading this score

computed

36.3% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers at the 63th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.3 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.

What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 26 tasks it averages 1.62 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.

The most exposed thing this job does is Schedule parties and take reservations, at 93.3%. The least is Perform food preparation and serving duties, at 0.0%. A gap of 93.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.

Within food preparation and serving occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 16 roles in the group is 16.1%, and only 1 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.

What would move this score. Of 26 tasks, 15 are currently banded exposed, 2 assisted and 9 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take systems being given deeper access to the organisation's own records and history, which is already happening. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.

Task by task

26 tasks, O*NET 31.0
TaskExposedAssistedUntouchedImportanceBand
Schedule parties and take reservations.93.3%6.7%0.0%3.90exposed
Present bills and accept payments.80.0%20.0%0.0%4.13exposed
Assess nutritional needs of patients, plan special menus, supervise the assembly of regular and special diet trays, and oversee the delivery of food trolleys to hospital patients.80.0%20.0%0.0%4.34exposed
Purchase or requisition supplies and equipment needed to ensure quality and timely delivery of services.80.0%20.0%0.0%4.11exposed
Conduct meetings and collaborate with other personnel for menu planning, serving arrangements, and related details.80.0%20.0%0.0%3.71exposed
Develop equipment maintenance schedules and arrange for repairs.80.0%20.0%0.0%3.71exposed
Compile and balance cash receipts at the end of the day or shift.73.3%26.7%0.0%4.47exposed
Record production, operational, and personnel data on specified forms.73.3%26.7%0.0%4.23exposed
Forecast staff, equipment, and supply requirements, based on a master menu.60.0%15.0%25.0%4.44exposed
Estimate ingredients and supplies required to prepare a recipe.60.0%15.0%25.0%4.22exposed
Resolve customer complaints regarding food service.50.0%25.0%25.0%4.23exposed
Recommend measures for improving work procedures and worker performance to increase service quality and enhance job safety.40.0%35.0%25.0%3.96exposed
Perform various financial activities, such as cash handling, deposit preparation, and payroll.26.7%23.3%50.0%4.03exposed
Analyze operational problems, such as theft and wastage, and establish procedures to alleviate these problems.26.7%23.3%50.0%3.91exposed
Develop departmental objectives, budgets, policies, procedures, and strategies.26.7%23.3%50.0%3.75exposed
Observe and evaluate workers and work procedures to ensure quality standards and service, and complete disciplinary write-ups.23.3%26.7%50.0%3.95assisted
Perform personnel actions, such as hiring and firing staff, providing employee orientation and training, and conducting supervisory activities, such as creating work schedules or organizing employee time sheets.21.7%28.3%50.0%4.23assisted
Control inventories of food, equipment, smallware, and liquor, and report shortages to designated personnel.15.0%10.0%75.0%3.96untouched
Greet and seat guests, and present menus and wine lists.13.3%11.7%75.0%3.51untouched
Evaluate new products for usefulness and suitability.11.7%13.3%75.0%3.42untouched
Assign duties, responsibilities, and work stations to employees in accordance with work requirements.10.0%15.0%75.0%4.13untouched
Specify food portions and courses, production and time sequences, and workstation and equipment arrangements.10.0%15.0%75.0%3.96untouched
Train workers in food preparation, and in service, sanitation, and safety procedures.8.3%16.7%75.0%4.19untouched
Inspect supplies, equipment, and work areas to ensure efficient service and conformance to standards.8.3%16.7%75.0%3.67untouched
Supervise and participate in kitchen and dining area cleaning activities.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.01untouched
Perform food preparation and serving duties, such as carving meat, preparing flambe dishes, or serving wine and liquor.0.0%0.0%100.0%4.11untouched

Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.

Where the score comes from

judged

Every task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.

DimensionMeanScale
Capability2.350-4
Embodiment1.310-3
Presence0.960-3
Accountability0.810-3
Context1.620-3
Verification cost1.150-3

What this means in practice

Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.

Occupations either side of this one

The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.

Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.