{
  "source": "Cooked Index — occupational AI risk register",
  "page": "https://cookedindex.com/jobs/fast-food-and-counter-workers/",
  "methodology": "https://cookedindex.com/methodology",
  "notice": "Verdicts are re-examined as evidence accumulates. Re-fetch before relying on this; the page above always carries the current score.",
  "scored_at": "2026-08-11",
  "model": "claude-opus-5",
  "occupation": {
    "title": "Fast Food and Counter Workers",
    "soc_code": "35-3023",
    "category": "Food",
    "us_employment": 3854050,
    "median_annual_wage": 31200
  },
  "verdict": "EXPOSED",
  "risk_resistance": 34,
  "contested": false,
  "near_boundary": true,
  "dimensions": {
    "task_resistance": 10,
    "embodiment": 15,
    "liability_shield": 1,
    "trust_premium": 5,
    "judgment_accountability": 3
  },
  "reasoning": {
    "task_resistance": "At 10 the job splits almost evenly: kiosks, app ordering, and drive-thru voice systems have already absorbed order entry, payment, and upselling, while grabbing fries from the basket, dressing a burger to a modification screen, bagging drive-thru orders, and wiping down the soda station still need hands on the line — that's why it isn't 4, and the fact that none of the surviving tasks require judgment or training beyond a shift is why it isn't 14.",
    "embodiment": "15 reflects a shift spent standing on greasy quarry tile between a fryer at 350°F and a make table, reaching into ice bins, hauling syrup boxes and 50-lb potato cases from the walk-in, and mopping lobbies — an uncontrolled space where customers, spills, and rush-hour chaos change the floor minute to minute, though it stays inside one building rather than out in weather or traffic.",
    "liability_shield": "A 1, not a 0, because most states require only a food handler card obtained from a 90-minute online course; the ServSafe-certified manager and the franchise owner carry the health code citations, and nobody sues a counter worker by name.",
    "trust_premium": "5 grants that regulars at a breakfast counter or a small-town drive-thru do come back for the person who remembers their order, but the brand, the price point, and the drive-thru timer are what bring traffic — customers accept whoever is at the window and the chain rotates schedules on the assumption they will.",
    "judgment_accountability": "3 matches a job run on posted build charts, timed holding windows, and a POS that dictates the sequence; the discretion that exists — remaking a wrong order, comping a drink, calling the manager over — is capped by dollar limits and escalation rules written above your pay grade."
  },
  "rationale": "The order-taking half of this job — reading menus aloud, upselling, taking payment, keying modifications — is already being handled by self-service kiosks, mobile apps, and drive-thru voice AI at national chains. What survives is the physical half: assembling orders fast in a hot, cramped, unpredictable line, restocking, cleaning, and handling the customer who is angry, confused, or spilled something. That physical work is what keeps this from being fully cooked, but the labor is unlicensed, low-discretion, and priced to be replaceable, so headcount per store keeps sliding.",
  "outlook": "The job doesn't disappear in ten years, but the cashier role largely does; expect fewer workers per store, more of them on the line or as shift leads, with pay pressure staying tight.",
  "what_would_raise_it": {
    "levers": [
      {
        "dimension": "embodiment",
        "change": "Kitchen-line robotics (Miso Robotics Flippy, Chipotle's Autocado, Sweetgreen Infinite Kitchen) keep failing on the messy assembly and cleaning tier while fryer/grill stations automate; if capex stays high and franchisee ROI stays negative, the remaining role is the unstructured tier — spill cleanup, restock in cramped space, equipment jams, custom builds — which no current arm handles. This is a task-mix effect, not new capability.",
        "plausibility": "already happening",
        "would_add": 2
      },
      {
        "dimension": "task_resistance",
        "change": "As kiosks and drive-thru voice AI absorb order entry (McDonald's/Google, Wendy's FreshAI, Taco Bell Voice AI), what remains per surviving headcount is exception handling: wrong-order remakes, allergen questions, kiosk failure recovery, de-escalating angry customers. If chains keep one 'guest experience lead' per shift rather than zero, that residual role scores higher than the blended job does today.",
        "plausibility": "already happening",
        "would_add": 3
      },
      {
        "dimension": "liability_shield",
        "change": "Food-safety statutes could name a person rather than a process: state or local adoption of FDA Food Code provisions requiring a Certified Food Protection Manager physically on premises during all hours of operation (already required in some jurisdictions for some hours), plus allergen-disclosure rules requiring a trained human to confirm allergen handling on any modified order. That makes at least one on-shift worker legally non-removable.",
        "plausibility": "plausible",
        "would_add": 4
      },
      {
        "dimension": "judgment_accountability",
        "change": "If allergen and cross-contact liability keeps growing through litigation, the on-shift certified person owns a consequential call — refuse the order, remake it, shut a station — under ambiguity, and is the named party in incident reports. Also applies to alcohol service at chains expanding beer/wine, where server liability laws already attach personally.",
        "plausibility": "plausible",
        "would_add": 3
      }
    ],
    "ceiling_note": "Even with a food-safety personal-liability rule, the shield covers one certified person per shift, not the crew — so the occupation's score can rise while headcount keeps falling. Per-worker resistance and total employment move in opposite directions here."
  },
  "adjudication": {
    "method": "two independent runs agreed on the verdict",
    "outcome": "corroborated",
    "run_totals": [
      34,
      37
    ],
    "run_verdicts": [
      "EXPOSED",
      "EXPOSED"
    ]
  },
  "employment_history": {
    "points": [
      {
        "y": 2019,
        "emp": 3996820,
        "wage": 22740
      },
      {
        "y": 2020,
        "emp": 3450120,
        "wage": 23860
      },
      {
        "y": 2021,
        "emp": 3095120,
        "wage": 25100
      },
      {
        "y": 2022,
        "emp": 3325050,
        "wage": 27930
      },
      {
        "y": 2023,
        "emp": 3676580,
        "wage": 29540
      },
      {
        "y": 2024,
        "emp": 3780930,
        "wage": 30480
      },
      {
        "y": 2025,
        "emp": 3854050,
        "wage": 31200
      }
    ],
    "from": 2019,
    "to": 2025,
    "change_pct": -3.6,
    "comparable_from": 2019,
    "spans_soc_revision": false
  },
  "pivots": [
    {
      "slug": "cooks-short-order",
      "title": "Cooks, Short Order",
      "verdict": "EXPOSED",
      "risk_resistance": 47,
      "median_wage": 35880,
      "overlap": 86,
      "skills_to_close": [
        "Time Management",
        "Complex Problem Solving",
        "Reading Comprehension"
      ]
    },
    {
      "slug": "waiters-and-waitresses",
      "title": "Waiters and Waitresses",
      "verdict": "EXPOSED",
      "risk_resistance": 49,
      "median_wage": 35230,
      "overlap": 85,
      "skills_to_close": [
        "Service Orientation",
        "Speaking",
        "Complex Problem Solving"
      ]
    },
    {
      "slug": "butchers-and-meat-cutters",
      "title": "Butchers and Meat Cutters",
      "verdict": "EXPOSED",
      "risk_resistance": 51,
      "median_wage": 40140,
      "overlap": 81,
      "skills_to_close": [
        "Complex Problem Solving",
        "Operations Analysis",
        "Quality Control Analysis",
        "Systems Evaluation"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "license": "https://cookedindex.com/terms"
}