In a method for operating a cooking zone of a cook top, wherein the cooking zone is formed by at least two cooking sub-zones and each cooking sub-zone can be heated by at least one heating unit, with the heating units arranged adjacent to each other without overlapping such that a cohesive heatable surface is formed during a joint operation of the cooking sub-zones, detection of an occupancy of a cooking sub-zone by at least one food preparation vessel is activated in a first operating mode and a same electrical power is supplied to all activated cooking sub-zones occupied by a food preparation vessel.