Chef Resume Examples
In a competitive job market, those applying for chef roles need to be sure to cook up a great resume. Our chef resume examples help you identify how resumes in the culinary industry should look. These and our other effective tools provide you with step-by-step guidance as you write the critical sections of your resume including the professional summary, skills section and work experience. Our Resume Builder even helps you write a unique resume for each job application or inquiry you submit.
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What is a Chef?
Chefs manage a restaurant or other dining establishment’s kitchen by supervising members of the food preparation team, preparing specialty food items, deciding what dishes to serve and dealing with customer complaints and requests. They occasionally assist in food prep work but are mostly involved with cooking more complicated dishes. Chefs are also responsible for creating menus based on the pricing and availability of food. They often collaborate with managers, restaurant owners and vendors. The environment in which chefs work can often be hectic and fast-paced. Schedules can be demanding, with most working full-time, rotating hours.
What Makes This a Great
Chef Resume Example?
Chefs play an essential role in the culinary industry and are responsible for keeping restaurants running smoothly and efficiently. Whether you just graduated from culinary school or have many years of experience in the industry, our chef resume examples can help you craft your ideal resume. Using our tools, you can easily create a resume that effectively presents your skills.
Here’s how our chef resume examples can help you write a better resume:
- Suggest customized content: The resume above is effective because it utilizes keywords and phrases written by our certified resume writers. You can use content such as “oversaw all prep activities for a kitchen team of eight people” as you fill out the critical sections of your resume including the work history, or use our builder which will recommend pre-written content for your chef’s resume that you can then customize.
- Provide formats for your skill level: The resume above is for a job seeker that has progressed from a sous chef to a head chef in only a few years. She used a chronological resume format to showcase her career progression. However, for entry-level chefs or those with many years of experience, you may want to choose a different resume format.
- Recommend appropriate templates: The culinary arts industry is professional, yet creative so your resume design should reflect those traits. The job seeker above is a head chef, so an understated resume template is appropriate. Creative templates are appropriate when applying to casual restaurants, not high-end establishments.
3 Chef Professional Summary Examples
The professional summary is one of the most important components of a resume. It’s situated at the very top of your resume and allows you to tell hiring managers why you are the ideal candidate for the job in one paragraph. Use our chef resume examples and builder to customize a professional summary that will detail your most relevant skills and experience in a succinct, eye-catching manner.
Below are three examples of chef professional summaries:
- Professional chef with seven years of experience in Asian and Italian cuisines. Effectively managed dining services of up to 50 tables. Proficient in inventory management, menu creation and kitchen staff training and development.
- Dedicated chef with experience grilling meats, creating salads and making desserts in fine dining restaurant environments. Skilled in using fresh ingredients sourced from nearby vendors and creating new recipes to incorporate fresh, local items. Ability to lead teams of 10-20 staff members in creating new dishes based on the dietary needs, preferences and restrictions of diners.
- Customer service-oriented chef with five years’ experience in a fast-paced restaurant environment. Proficient in menu creation, kitchen safety and cooking sanitation. Strong background in food pricing to increase revenues and decrease food waste.
3 Chef Work Experience Examples
Use our chef resume examples as motivation when creating your own personal resume. To see how to best present your skills and experience, our tools offer industry-specific, pre-written content for chefs in any stage of their careers. Use the content as-is or personalize it with your own metrics to build a stronger work experience section.
Here are three examples of work history content our builder might suggest for your chef resume:
- Effectively managed the restaurant’s inventory system, reducing the amount of food waste by 10% in one year.
- Prepared a unique, five-course tasting menu that was available during Los Angeles Restaurant Week.
- Hired, trained and managed a team of 25 sous chefs, line cooks, waiters, bussers and food-prep staff.
Top Skills for Your Chef Resume
Many top restaurants use computer software to scan resumes and identify the most qualified job seekers. Our chef resume examples can help you optimize your resume to include the skills that are highly desired by employers in the culinary industry.
Here are some hard and soft skills that could work for your chef resume:
Hard Skills
- Gluten-free menu creation
- Supply management
- Organic food knowledge
- Food sanitation
Soft Skills
- Leadership
- Ingenuity
- Customer service
- Creativity
Building Your Chef Resume with Our Builder:
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Choose Pre-Written Phrases
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Chef FAQs
What are chef responsibilities?
The main responsibilities of chefs are developing new recipes, planning menus and making dishes based on customer requests and dietary restrictions. They are also responsible for training and developing the kitchen staff. Other duties include managing customer relations, inventory management, quality control, collaborating with the purchasing department and monitoring kitchen safety standards.
What is chef qualification?
The qualifications required will depend on the type of culinary establishment in which you are working. Most employers will require chefs to have a minimum of a high school diploma. Many chefs attend post-high school cooking programs at technical or culinary arts schools. An employer may also require a certain number of apprenticeship hours or years of experience as a sous chef.
What is the objective of a chef?
The main objective of a chef is to keep a kitchen running smoothly and efficiently by fulfilling food orders in a timely manner, maintaining food quality standards and meeting health and sanitation regulations. Another primary objective is creating menus that are not only popular with customers but also meet requirements in terms of sales goals and food pricing guidelines.
