A banquet chef is responsible for overseeing food preparation and catering events and ensuring high-class quality and constituency at all times. He/She or she is also in charge of planning, organizing, controlling, and directing employees in the Banquet kitchen department of a commercial establishment. A banquet chef is expected to learn and master the flavors and techniques of different dishes and to always ensure the kitchen is a tidy and clean environment to work in.

Banquet chefs commonly work in hotels, resorts, and country clubs. They take part in creatively putting together a menu for clients in these establishments. In order to succeed in their role, they should have extensive culinary knowledge and experience, attention to detail, creativity, communication skills, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, and people management skills.

Banquet chefs work 40 hours a week in 12-hour shifts. They may be required to work additional hours during peak hours when the establishments record high numbers of clients.

What Does a Banquet Chef Do

There are certain skills that many banquet chefs have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed business skills, communication skills and creativity.

Learn more about what a Banquet Chef does

How To Become a Banquet Chef

If you're interested in becoming a banquet chef, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 19.4% of banquet chefs have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.3% of banquet chefs have master's degrees. Even though some banquet chefs have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Banquet Chef

Banquet Chef Career Paths

Average Salary for a Banquet Chef

Banquet Chefs in America make an average salary of $48,026 per year or $23 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $80,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $28,000 per year.
Average Banquet Chef Salary
$48,026 Yearly
$23.09 hourly

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Roles and Types of Banquet Chef

The role of a banquet chef includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general banquet chef responsibilities:

  • Coordination of all banquet hot and cold foods. Banquet chef must work along with garde manger to ensure quality meets specs
  • Willingness to accept the most effective role. Manage
  • Responsibilitiesinclude the following. Other duties may be assigned. Supervises production of all butchering, sauce, vegetable

There are several types of banquet chef, including:

Chef

Role:

MMM, do you smell that? Working as a chef comes with some good-smelling perks, especially if you're good at what you do. Chefs are in charge of preparing food for establishments where food is served, typically restaurants.

The schedule of a chef varies widely depending on where you're cooking. Sometimes they work early mornings, late evenings, weekends and even holidays. Yes, people still want to eat your delicious food on Christmas

  • Average Salary: $46,824
  • Degree: Associate Degree

Sous Chef

Role:

Chefs are often considered artists, who create culinary masterpieces pleasing to vision and palate alike. Sous chefs are there at every step of the process, assisting the head chef, in a professionally run kitchen, in making the magic happen.

They contribute to creating the menu, making sure every necessary ingredient is in stock and fresh, supervise sanitation, and do everything in their power to reach the expected quality standard of the meals.

Defying stereotypical gender roles, or perhaps adhering to less obvious ones, the sous chef position is primarily filled by men, especially in high-end kitchens. With all the long hours, heat, and a high-pressure working environment, prejudice against women has them framed as not being physically and emotionally strong enough to work in kitchens, and receive fewer opportunities to hold high-status jobs as cooks.

Restaurants behind the scenes are apparently not just the site for exquisite food preparation but prove to be an excellent field for institutionalized sexism as well. Go sous chefettes, it is high time to change this demographic!

  • Average Salary: $48,716
  • Degree: Associate Degree

Head Cook

Role:

A Head Cook, aka the chef, is responsible for running a kitchen, usually in a high-end establishment. They delegate tasks and oversee the work of everyone involved in food preparation, making sure that the result is nothing but exquisite delicacies. They come up with new recipes, create the menu, and make sure the necessary ingredients are always in stock.

Head cooks are deeply passionate about cooking. They live and die for tasty food and know a lot about other countries' culinary cultures. They consider their profession art, rather than anything else, and just like a poet has a favorite pen, you will recognize an authentic head cook by the fact that he/she favors one knife over all others.

Not that salaries matter to a real artist; just for your information, head cooks in the U.S. make an average of $48,098 per year.

  • Average Salary: $44,412
  • Degree: High School Diploma

States With The Most Banquet Chef Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active banquet chef jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where banquet chefs earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Banquet Chef Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1Florida593$48,892
2Texas586$46,735
3California418$55,888
4Georgia283$47,905
5Minnesota228$44,680
6Arizona222$41,187
7Virginia221$61,693
8New York220$59,004
9North Carolina216$49,154
10Illinois197$49,488
11Colorado178$44,405
12Ohio171$51,319
13Massachusetts170$59,352
14Pennsylvania169$57,512
15Indiana160$48,136
16Michigan146$52,346
17Tennessee145$35,599
18Missouri120$41,920
19South Carolina113$46,047
20New Jersey105$74,001
21Utah101$31,032
22Washington100$46,625
23Wisconsin97$42,062
24Alabama96$45,400
25Maryland93$48,590
26Connecticut81$56,027
27Nevada80$42,348
28Oklahoma74$41,877
29Mississippi66$42,402
30Kentucky66$42,420
31Louisiana64$35,991
32Oregon59$39,665
33Iowa55$38,108
34Alaska51$43,988
35Montana46$34,040
36Kansas45$34,340
37Maine44$46,037
38Arkansas42$37,881
39Nebraska41$38,408
40New Hampshire36$61,177
41New Mexico35$43,033
42Idaho30$26,810
43North Dakota27$39,687
44Wyoming24$43,441
45Rhode Island22$60,626
46Hawaii12$62,556
47West Virginia12$42,774
48South Dakota12$38,936
49Delaware10$50,672
50Vermont9$37,473

Banquet Chef Education

Banquet Chef Majors

Banquet Chef Degrees

Associate

59.3 %

Bachelors

19.4 %

High School Diploma

9.9 %

Top Colleges for Banquet Chefs

1. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

2. University of Cincinnati

Cincinnati, OH • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,000

Enrollment

25,973

3. Drexel University

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,244

Enrollment

15,557

4. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

5. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,104

Enrollment

7,089

6. Southwest Minnesota State University

Marshall, MN • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,612

Enrollment

2,022

7. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Ponce

Mercedita, PR • Private

In-State Tuition

$5,914

Enrollment

4,155

8. University of New Hampshire

Durham, NH • Private

In-State Tuition

$18,499

Enrollment

12,668

9. Monroe College

Bronx, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$15,428

Enrollment

5,482

10. SUNY College of Technology at Delhi

Delhi, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,360

Enrollment

3,142

Top Skills For a Banquet Chef

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.0% of banquet chefs listed culinary on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and communication skills are important as well.

  • Culinary, 14.0%
  • Food Preparation, 7.8%
  • Quality Standards, 6.5%
  • Banquet Kitchen, 6.3%
  • Food Quality, 3.9%
  • Other Skills, 61.5%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Banquet Chef Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Banquet Chef templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Banquet Chef resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Banquet Chef diversity

Banquet Chef Gender Distribution

Male
Male
85%
Female
Female
15%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among banquet chefs, 15.1% of them are women, while 84.9% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among banquet chefs is White, which makes up 55.9% of all banquet chefs.

  • The most common foreign language among banquet chefs is Spanish at 39.1%.

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Best States For a Banquet Chef

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a banquet chef. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, Hawaii, Virginia, and New Hampshire. Banquet chefs make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $74,001. Whereas in Hawaii and Virginia, they would average $62,556 and $61,693, respectively. While banquet chefs would only make an average of $61,177 in New Hampshire, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. District of Columbia

Total Banquet Chef Jobs: 67
Highest 10% Earn:
$116,000
Location Quotient:
1.82

2. Virginia

Total Banquet Chef Jobs: 221
Highest 10% Earn:
$108,000
Location Quotient:
1.07

3. New Hampshire

Total Banquet Chef Jobs: 36
Highest 10% Earn:
$104,000
Location Quotient:
0.94
Full List Of Best States For Banquet Chefs

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Top Banquet Chef Employers

Most Common Employers For Banquet Chef

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Embassy C E S$55,877$26.8623
2Goodwin Recruiting$51,248$24.6412
3Maggiano's Little Italy$48,365$23.259
4Hyatt Hotels$44,005$21.1644
5Wyndham Hotels & Resorts$43,063$20.7018
6Interstate Hotels & Resorts$41,283$19.858
7The Walt Disney Company$39,909$19.198
8Hilton$39,867$19.1754
9Marriott International$38,940$18.7252
10Peabody Hotel Group$38,818$18.666

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