Cooks, All Other

Cooks spend their days chopping, mixing, seasoning, and cooking food – work that today is still mostly done by people. Some robots and AI systems can tackle parts of these tasks. For example, Miso Robotics’ “Flippy” arm can grill burgers and fry potatoes, and another system called Omni can stir-fry or stew dishes with minimal human help ^{[1] [2]}.

These machines follow programmed recipes and even clean themselves, but they don’t handle every step. In real kitchens, humans still must finish meals – adding toppings, plating food, and checking taste – because robots can’t do everything. One review finds no sign that high-tech robots have “found a place” yet in most fast-food or fine-dining kitchens ^[3].

In short, robots today can automate routine parts of cooking, but creative and judgement tasks (like adjusting seasoning or serving customers) remain in human hands ^{[1] [3]}.

Whether restaurants adopt these tools quickly depends on trade-offs. On the upside, owners face labor shortages and high turnover in the kitchen. U.S. labor data report over 1.1 million unfilled food preparation jobs, reflecting big staffing gaps ^[4].

In response, some kitchens are experimenting with robots. For instance, a Chinese startup claims its robot cooks could cut kitchen labor costs by ~30% and reduce waste ^[2]. A Brooklyn vegan burger joint found workers enjoying and benefiting from an automated oven and robot assembly arm ^[5].

A salad chain (Sweetgreen) added an automated “Infinite Kitchen” and saw 10% higher sales and expectations of 7-point profit gains ^[5].