How to become a baker, pastry-cook or confectionery maker

Official title: Bakers, pastry-cooks and confectionery makers

Also called: Baker, Chocolate maker, Confectioner, Pastry-cook

Bakers, pastry-cooks and confectionery makers make various kinds of bread, cakes, and other flour products, as well as handmade chocolate and sugar confectionery.

Main tasks

• Making bread, cakes, biscuits, pastries, pies and other flour products
• Making handmade confectionery from mixtures of sugar, chocolate and other ingredients, using hand tools and some machines
• Combining measured ingredients in bowls of mixing, blending or cooking machinery
• Checking the quality of raw materials to ensure that standards and specifications are met
• Applying glazes, icings or other toppings to baked goods, using spatulas or brushes
• Checking the cleanliness of equipment and operation of premises before production runs to ensure compliance with occupational health and safety regulations
• Monitoring oven temperatures and product appearance to determine baking times
• Coordinating the forming, loading, baking, unloading, de-panning and cooling of batches of bread, rolls, pastry and confectionery products

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: HK$21,000 a month
• About 387,500 people in 2025, and about 403,200 projected by 2028. (+4.1%)
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Tobacco preparers and tobacco products makers
• Fruit, vegetable and related preservers
• Food and beverage tasters and graders
• Butchers, fishmongers and related food preparers
• Dairy-products makers

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Questions people ask

Do you need a degree to become a baker, pastry-cook or confectionery maker?

Usually not. Only 8% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Will AI change the work of a baker, pastry-cook or confectionery maker?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026