chef
Chefs are culinary professionals with a flair for creativity and innovation to provide a unique gastronomic experience.
chef chefs are culinary professionals with a flair for creativity and innovation to provide a unique gastronomic experience. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.46 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include food waste monitoring systems, types of whisks, comply with food safety and hygiene, store raw food materials, manage staff.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £30,010 a year for Chefs (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
Middle half of full-time jobs: £25,894 to £36,126 a year
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 5434). ONS rates this estimate precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Technicians and associate professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only chef, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 3. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Frequently asked questions
What does chef do?
Chefs are culinary professionals with a flair for creativity and innovation to provide a unique gastronomic experience.
What skills does chef need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include food waste monitoring systems, types of whisks, comply with food safety and hygiene, store raw food materials, manage staff, design indicators for food waste reduction. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace chef?
Our AI-durability model gives chef a score of 0.46 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.