AI exposure: Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop
Welcome patrons, seat them at tables or in lounge, and help ensure quality of facilities and service.
Reading this score
computed36.5% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop at the 64th 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.
No single friction dominates this occupation. The strongest is embodiment at 1.52 out of 3 and the weakest is accountability at 0.60, which is a narrow spread. Where nothing structural stands in the way, exposure tracks capability almost directly, and capability is the thing that changes every quarter.
The most exposed thing this job does is Receive and record patrons' dining reservations, at 93.3%. The least is Assist other restaurant workers by serving food and beverages, or by bussing tables, 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 0 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 20 tasks, 11 are currently banded exposed, 1 assisted and 8 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take capability alone, since there is little structural friction here to slow adoption once a system can do the work. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
20 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receive and record patrons' dining reservations. | 93.3% | 6.7% | 0.0% | 3.91 | exposed |
| Answer telephone calls and respond to inquiries or transfer calls. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.27 | exposed |
| Direct patrons to coatrooms and waiting areas, such as lounges. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.16 | exposed |
| Order or requisition supplies and equipment for tables and serving stations. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.54 | exposed |
| Confer with other staff to help plan establishments' menus. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.42 | exposed |
| Prepare cash receipts after establishments close, and make bank deposits. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.10 | exposed |
| Maintain contact with kitchen staff, management, serving staff, and customers to ensure that dining details are handled properly and customers' concerns are addressed. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 4.58 | exposed |
| Speak with patrons to ensure satisfaction with food and service, to respond to complaints, or to make conversation. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.34 | exposed |
| Inform patrons of establishment specialties and features. | 43.8% | 18.8% | 37.5% | 3.94 | exposed |
| Operate cash registers to accept payments for food and beverages. | 41.7% | 20.8% | 37.5% | 4.30 | exposed |
| Perform marketing and advertising services. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 2.94 | exposed |
| Take and prepare to-go orders. | 26.2% | 11.2% | 62.5% | 4.06 | untouched |
| Hire, train, and supervise food and beverage service staff. | 21.7% | 28.3% | 50.0% | 3.42 | assisted |
| Provide guests with menus. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.76 | untouched |
| Greet guests and seat them at tables or in waiting areas. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.67 | untouched |
| Assign patrons to tables suitable for their needs and according to rotation so that servers receive an appropriate number of seatings. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.44 | untouched |
| Supervise and coordinate activities of dining room staff to ensure that patrons receive prompt and courteous service. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Inspect dining and serving areas to ensure cleanliness and proper setup. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.30 | untouched |
| Inspect restrooms for cleanliness and availability of supplies, and clean restrooms when necessary. | 8.3% | 16.7% | 75.0% | 4.19 | untouched |
| Assist other restaurant workers by serving food and beverages, or by bussing tables. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.24 | untouched |
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
judgedEvery 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.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.33 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.52 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.32 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.60 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.30 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 0.68 | 0-3 |
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.