Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders
Operate or tend food or tobacco roasting, baking, or drying equipment, including hearth ovens, kiln driers, roasters, char kilns, and vacuum drying equipment.
Most important skills
- Operations Monitoring
- Monitoring
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Operation and Control
- Quality Control Analysis
- Speaking
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- English Language
- Public Safety and Security
- Food Production
- Mathematics
- Education and Training
- Mechanical
- Customer and Personal Service
What the work involves
- Observe, feel, taste, or otherwise examine products during and after processing to ensure conformance to standards.
- Observe temperature, humidity, pressure gauges, and product samples and adjust controls, such as thermostats and valves, to maintain prescribed operating conditions for specific stages.
- Operate or tend equipment that roasts, bakes, dries, or cures food items such as cocoa and coffee beans, grains, nuts, and bakery products.
- Set temperature and time controls, light ovens, burners, driers, or roasters, and start equipment, such as conveyors, cylinders, blowers, driers, or pumps.
- Observe flow of materials and listen for machine malfunctions, such as jamming or spillage, and notify supervisors if corrective actions fail.
- Record production data, such as weight and amount of product processed, type of product, and time and temperature of processing.
- Weigh or measure products, using scale hoppers or scale conveyors.
- Read work orders to determine quantities and types of products to be baked, dried, or roasted.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (60.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (54.4%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (35.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Food and Tobacco Roasting, Baking, and Drying Machine Operators and Tenders is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 78% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Contact with others most of the time” |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 81% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 84% of occupations compared | 46% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 87% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 64% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 58% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 51% of occupations compared | 28% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 81% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 8.67%
- Contact with others about half the time: 19.05%
- Contact with others most of the time: 40.65%
- Constant contact with others: 31.62%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly important: 9.69%
- Important: 0.38%
- Very important: 11.46%
- Extremely important: 26.91%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 20.36%
- Important: 32.49%
- Very important: 1.6%
- Extremely important: 45.55%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 11.19%
- Very little freedom: 15.43%
- Limited freedom: 22.69%
- Some freedom: 9.31%
- A lot of freedom: 41.37%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 11.19%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.54%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 32.7%
- Every day: 46.56%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: 17.39%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 19.45%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 48.8%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 2.53%
- Every day: 11.82%
n = 26, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 22.65%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 27.55%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 14.74%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 17.22%
- Every day: 17.85%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 11.19%
- Fairly serious: 5.1%
- Serious: 22.26%
- Very serious: 20.62%
- Extremely serious: 40.83%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 51-3091.00 · SOC 51-3091 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8