noun
A person who cooks, especially in a professional or institutional setting. Slightly formal; in casual contexts 料理人 or コック are more common.
学校の給食の調理者は、毎日大量の食事を作っている。
The school lunch cooks prepare large quantities of food every day.
このレストランでは、調理者が地元の食材を活かした料理を提供している。
At this restaurant, the cooks serve dishes that make use of local ingredients.
Loanword from English 'cook', casual and commonly used for restaurant cooks. 調理者 is more formal and less colloquial.
Compound of 調理 (cooking, food preparation) and 者 (person). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word follows a standard pattern for forming agent nouns.