take something off someone's plate

[JungKim]

In an American movie called "The Intern", there is this line (or something like that):
Our investors think a seasoned CEO could take some things off your plate.
Apparently, the line was spoken by an employee of a company to the young CEO.

After this discussion, they started interviewing "seasoned CEO candidates" to pick the right one for the company. So, in context, "take some things off your plate" seems to mean "help you out with some things".

Is this a common expression?

 

[Copyright]

In my experience, "take some things off your plate" is not common, but "you have too much on your plate" is. Of course, if you know that last one, then anything else involving plate/responsibilities will be understandable.

 

[JungKim]

So, do "some things" and "too much" in this type of expression refer to food, figuratively?

And "food" here somehow refers to some sort of responsibility?

 

[Copyright]

No, it refers to responsibilities/jobs, not food. It's figurative ... to have all these on your plate and you have to clean your plate, i.e. finish all these responsibilities and job, before you can leave the table (which will never happen because you'll just keep getting more put on your plate).