Cooking chef resume examples from 2026
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How to write a cooking chef resume
Craft a resume summary statement
A well-written resume summary is basically an elevator pitch. You are summing up your skills and experience in a few sentences to wow recruiters, hiring managers, and decision makers into giving you an interview. Here are some tips to putting your best foot first with your resume summary:
Step 1: Mention your current job title or the role you're pursuing.
Step 2: Include your years of experience in cooking chef-related roles. Consider adding relevant company and industry experience as relevant to the job listing.
Step 3: Highlight your greatest accomplishments. Here is your chance to make sure your biggest wins aren't buried in your resume.
Step 4: Again, keep it short. Your goal is to summarize your experience and highlight your accomplishments, not write a paragraph.
These four steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some cooking chef interviews.Please upload your resume so Zippia’s job hunt AI can draft a summary statement for you.
List the right project manager skills
Use your Skills section to show you have the knowledge and technical ability to do the job. Here is how to make the most of your skills section and make sure you have the right keywords:
- Look to the job listing. You often need to include the exact keywords from the job description. Take note of the skills listed for the job.
- Put all relevant hard and soft skills in your skills section.
- Be specific. If you are too broad, you may not be giving the best picture of your skills and leave the hiring manager uncertain of your abilities.
- Be up to date. Software names change and companies merge. Don't look out of touch by being careless.
- Be accurate. Spelling and even upper or lowercase can dramatically change meanings. Make sure you are correctly listing your skills.
Here are example skills to include in your “Area of Expertise” on a cooking chef resume:
- Food Service
- Food Handling
- Kitchen Equipment
- Culinary
- Cleanliness
- Dishwashers
- Steamers
- Fine Dining
- Nursing Home
- Safety Standards
- Quality Standards
- Food Products
- Cooking Meals
- Food Quality
- Deep Fat Fryers
- Portion Control
- Food Preparation
- Food Orders
- RAN
- Roasting
- HACCP
- La Carte
- Cooking Methods
- Inventory Control
- Kitchen Operations
- Fryers
- Allergies
- Garnishing
- Sanitation Practices
- Broilers
Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.
How to structure your work experience
Next you should include your work experience. Structure your work experience section by listing your most recent experience first, followed by earlier roles in reverse chronological order.
Start with your job title, company name, city, and state on the left. Align dates in month and year format on the right-hand side.
Include only recent, relevant jobs. Avoid including work experience over 20 years to avoid ageism.
Beneath each job, you should have bullet points to emphasize why you're the perfect fit for the cooking chef.
How to write cooking chef experience bullet points
Effective job bullet points do more than just describe your job duties. Instead, they should be specific and measurable accomplishments. Here are some strategies to mastering job bullet points:
- Use strong action verbs like Led, Built, or Optimized.
- Follow up with numbers when possible to support your results. How much did performance improve? How much revenue did you drive?
- Wrap it up by explaining the actions you took to achieve the result and how you made an impact.
Here are effective examples from cooking chef resumes:
Work history example #1
Cooking Chef
Whole Foods Market
- Created recipes utilizing a variety of ingredients showcasing unique or unknown products.
- Assisted the Chef and Sous Chef with scheduling and menu planning.
- Followed rotating menu sets per corporate guidelines in line with holidays, occasions, or other input.
- Trained in sanitation, knife safety, and proper food handling, storage, and rotation practices.
- Performed purchasing function for this million-dollar upscale establishment specializing in Modernized French cuisine with other worldly influences.
Work history example #2
Dinner Cook
Applebee's
- Cultivated team environment by working with management team through consistent verbal communication.
- Established a high functioning kitchen team by promoting communication and efficient time management.
- Established a high functioning kitchen team by promoting communication and efficient time.
- Portioned and wrapped food to make it easier to cook on the fly when the restaurant got busy.
- Trained plate nacho, fry, saute and broil stations Mixes and cooks specialty dishes and delicate foods.
Work history example #3
Cooking Chef
Pizza Hut
- Assembled pizzas, cleaned dishes and kept the ingredient containers stocked.
- Washed dishes, ran line.
- Operated griddle Built pizzas Pre-opening preparation of food Washed and stocked dishes Post-closing clean-up
- Collected and washed dishes Bussed tables Created and baked pizzas as well as dough
- Practiced excellent food safety and sanitation practices and comply with Hazardous Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) standards.
Work history example #4
Cook/Trainer
Wendy's
- Cooked meals Prepped meals Washed dishes
- Utilized excellent teamwork and communication.
- Involved cleaning all stoves, grills, fryers.
- Maintained neat and clean work station and store to ensure positive environment for all patrons.
- Aided in the closing process of cleaning up work station, taking out the trash, and washing the dishes.
Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.
Add an education section to your resume
- The highest degree you have achieved.
- TWhere you attended school, and the dates (Although if you graduated some time ago, leave the date off to avoid ageism)
- TField of study
- TAny honors, relevant coursework, achievements, or pertinent activities
Here are some examples of good education entries for resumes:
Doctoral Degree in culinary arts
Johnson & Wales University, Providence, RI
2012 - 2015
Associate's Degree in food and nutrition
New York University, New York, NY
2013 - 2015
Highlight your cooking chef certifications on your resume
Certifications can be a crucial part of your resume. Many jobs have required certifications.
To list, use the full name of the certification and the organization that issued it, along with the date of achievement.
Here are some of the best certifications to have on cooking chef resumes:
- Food Safety Manager Certification
- Certified Food Manager (CFM)
- ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification
- Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS)
- Certified Master Chef (CMC)