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Boston Career Explorer

Production

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.

Also called: Cooker Operator, Food Production Worker, Fryer Operator, Kettle Fry Cook Operator, Machine Operator, Mogul Operator

Median pay in Greater Boston
$41,030
$19.73/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
190
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+2.9%
70 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Moderate-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$39,670$40,440$41,030$48,160$50,910

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • 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.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure23 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 31
  • Language-model AIOE 30
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 9

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is lower, and observed AI use is little or none. Software may help with reading recipes and tracking cooking times and temperatures. The work of tending kettles and cookers, cleaning equipment, and measuring ingredients is physical. Federal projections also say more automation, such as robotics, may reduce the share of these jobs over time.

Likely to change

  • Reading recipes and cooking time settings
  • Monitoring gauges and adjusting controls

Still relies on people

  • Cleaning and sterilizing equipment and cooking areas
  • Hands-on tending of kettles, vats, and cookers

What federal projections say

“Productivity change - share decreases as an expected increase in the adoption of automation technologies, such as robotics, makes food production processes more labor efficient.”
BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, factors affecting this job (U.S.)

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

    Adjusting temperature, pressure, and ingredient flow is work you already do. This job pays a Boston median of $47,730.

    Pay difference
    +$6,700 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +2.9%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Industrial Machinery Mechanics

    Your experience running production equipment helps if you learn to repair it. It requires long-term training but pays $75,200 and has 17.1% projected growth.

    Pay difference
    +$34,170 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +17.1%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders

    Weighing and measuring skills carry over to packaging lines. It pays a Boston median of $44,390 and has 6.1% projected growth.

    Pay difference
    +$3,360 median
    AI exposure
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    MA growth
    +6.1%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.

Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

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