Food Batchmakers
What Food Batchmakers Do
Set up and operate equipment that mixes or blends ingredients used in the manufacturing of food products. Includes candy makers and cheese makers.
See full salary breakdown & percentiles →
Career Outlook
National employment outlook, 2024–2034.
- Related work experience
- None
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
- Self-employed
- 0.6%
Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.
How Much Preparation Does This Take?
Job Zone 2 of 5Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Experience
- Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience.
- Education
- Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
- Job training
- Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Source: O*NET Job Zones.
Key Knowledge Areas
Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.
- Public Safety and Securityimportance 4.3/5
- Food Productionimportance 4.3/5
- Production and Processingimportance 4.2/5
- Education and Trainingimportance 3.6/5
- English Languageimportance 3.5/5
- Administration and Managementimportance 3.1/5
- Mechanicalimportance 3.1/5
- Mathematicsimportance 3.1/5
Work Environment
What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.
- Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets4.8/5
- Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.5/5
- Spend Time Standing4.4/5
- Pace Determined by Speed of Equipment4.3/5
- Importance of Being Exact or Accurate4.3/5
- Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team4.2/5
Careers With Similar Skills
Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.
- Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders95% skill match
- Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers94% skill match
- Paperhangers93% skill match
- Power Distributors and Dispatchers93% skill match
- Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators93% skill match
- Railroad Brake, Signal, and Switch Operators and Locomotive Firers93% skill match
- Model Makers, Wood93% skill match
- Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders92% skill match
Transferable Skills
Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.
- Operations Monitoringimportance 3.3/5
- Coordinationimportance 3.0/5
- Operation and Controlimportance 3.0/5
- Complex Problem Solvingimportance 2.9/5
- Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 2.9/5
- Social Perceptivenessimportance 2.8/5
- Quality Control Analysisimportance 2.8/5
- Time Managementimportance 2.8/5
Software & Technologies
Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.
Hot Technologies
Other Software Used
- Edible Software
- Plex Systems Plex Manufacturing Cloud
Work Style
Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.
- Dependability
- Attention to Detail
- Cautiousness
- Integrity
- Stress Tolerance
- Achievement Orientation
- Self-Control
Career Interests
This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.
- RealisticHigh
- ConventionalMedium
- EnterprisingLow
- InvestigativeLow
- ArtisticLow
- SocialLow
This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Where This Career Is Most Concentrated
Metro areas where food batchmakers make up the largest share of local employment, relative to the national average (BLS location quotient).
- 1Sheboygan, WI28.13× national avg
- 2Wausau, WI13.94× national avg
- 3Appleton, WI10.15× national avg
- 4Michigan City-La Porte, IN10.13× national avg
- 5La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN9.77× national avg
Possible Career Moves
A computed starting point, not observed job-change data — see the full list for why each one might fit.
Related Education Programs
Schools that offer related fields of study, based on the NCES CIP-SOC crosswalk — not a guarantee that graduates enter this specific career.
Viticulture and Enology
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo (San Luis Obispo, CA)grads earn ~$75,466
- University of California-Davis (Davis, CA)grads earn ~$70,571
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, IL)grads earn ~$66,226
- University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY)grads earn ~$69,286
- Clemson University (Clemson, SC)grads earn ~$63,501