What is the chef hierarchy?

The hierarchy of chefs has the executive chef at the top and the kitchen porter at the bottom. Here is a more detailed look at the chef hierarchy, starting with the highest ranked chef and descending down to the lowest ranked kitchen staff member:

• Executive Chef. Not all restaurants have executive chefs. They are reserved for large-scale restaurants, including some chains, and those at hotels, resorts, cruise lines, and other venues. Executive chefs generally do very little actual cooking. Their primary work task is to manage the kitchen staff and the kitchen itself.

  Duties include managing and training personnel, planning menus, overseeing the culinary budget, and sometimes kitchen purchases. All executive chefs have a lot of experience in lower-level chef roles, as they need to understand how every aspect of a kitchen operates effectively.

• Head Chef. Head Chef also referred to as the Chef de Cuisine, is at the top of the hierarchy in a kitchen that does not have an executive chef. They also control all aspects of a kitchen.

  Responsibilities include creating menus and special meals, controlling kitchen costs, and overseeing kitchen staff. Some head chefs opt to leave the cooking to the sous chefs and the rest of the kitchen team, while others take a more hands-on approach and prefer to be a part of the daily cooking activities.

• Deputy Chef. The deputy chef, also known as the sous chef, is the second in command in a kitchen. Some restaurants have several sous chefs, while others only have one.

  Some duties of the sous chef may overlap with the head chef, although a sous chef is always going to be a hands-on chef, participating in much of the cooking and other kitchen duties. The sous chef oversees the subordinate kitchen staff and the daily activities in the kitchen.

• Station Chef. The station chef, also referred to as the Chef de Partie, has perhaps one of the most critical participating roles in the kitchen. These chefs cook the meals that are being brought out to the customers of a restaurant.

  However, normally there are multiple positions for a station chef, meaning there are usually several station chefs in a kitchen. Each chef is responsible for a different "station", and there are chefs that are devoted to different food categories.

  Station assignments may include fish cooking, meat cooking, sauce making, vegetables, saute, and pastries.

• Junior Chef. The junior chef is also known as the Commis Chef. They work with the station chefs to learn and become trained in the kitchen environment. This is an entry-level position in a kitchen, one most chefs, no matter their current rank, have done at some point in their careers.

• Kitchen Porter. The kitchen porter is the lowest ranking role on a kitchen's staff. People in these positions generally do not have the training and skills that other chefs in the kitchen have. They are involved with easy but important tasks in the kitchen, such as cutting vegetables, peeling fruit, or grating cheese.