Vocational Programs for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders Career

The role of Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders is to operate or tend cooking equipment, such as steam cooking vats, deep fry cookers, pressure cookers, kettles, and boilers, to prepare food products..

The average annual wage of the occupations is $39,770 and $19 per hour. 2 vocational programs could be taken for the Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders career. Based on BLS data, a total of 29,730 employees were employed in the Occupation.

Vocational Programs to Prepare Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders Career

The following 2 vocational programs are required or helpful to prepare Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders.

The tuition, program length, and completion time program information is average amounts over all schools that offer each program. This information is only for vocational programs (i.e. certificate programs) and not for bachelor's or graduate degrees.

2025 Average Tuition and Time for Preparing Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Program Name	Number of Schools	Tuition & Fees	Books & Supplies	Program Lengths	Avg. Completion Time
Brewing Science	18	$45,191	-	-	-
Zymology/Fermentation Science	1	$17,048	-	-	-

Related Occupations to Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders Career

The following 20 occupations are related to Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders.

Related Occupations toFood Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders
Occupation	Total Employees	Annual Wages	Hourly Rate
Cooks, Restaurant	1,412K	$36,060	$17
Cooks, Short Order	126K	$33,920	$16
Graders and Sorters, Agricultural Products	23,430	$34,880	$17
Bakers	220K	$35,550	$17
Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders	19,570	$42,410	$20
Food Batchmakers	169K	$40,890	$20
Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders	20,870	$54,340	$26
Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	14,950	$46,540	$22
Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders	6,650	$37,570	$18
Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	53,170	$51,960	$25
Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	26,210	$46,390	$22
Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	106K	$47,950	$23
Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	52,720	$44,700	$21
Extruding, Forming, Pressing, and Compacting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	57,080	$44,610	$21
Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders	14,820	$47,540	$23
Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders	372K	$41,200	$20
Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders	15,210	$41,500	$20
Cooling and Freezing Equipment Operators and Tenders	6,500	$44,840	$22
Machine Feeders and Offbearers	44,500	$41,000	$20
Packers and Packagers, Hand	645K	$35,450	$17

Schools offering vocational programs for Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders

The following 23 schools offer the vocational programs and certificate courses for preparing Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders. The list includes some 4-year colleges that have certificate or associate programs for the career.