What does a cooking chef do?
A cooking chef oversees all people performing kitchen duties under their mandate. These professionals oversee timeliness, sanitary issues, ingredient preparation, meal preparation, and final presentations. Besides engaging in menu planning and creating recipes, a cooking chef also performs several administrative tasks from one day to another. They place supply orders, track inventory, calculate payroll, calculate costs, and handle complaints from the employee or customer. Moreover, a cooking chef trains the kitchen staff to ensure they perform their duties correctly.
Cooking chef responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real cooking chef resumes:
- Manage a kitchen of military personal and Japanese civilian chefs.
- Assist culinary instructor in food preparation.
- Cook foods by baking, roasting, broiling, frying, saut? ing, steaming, grilling.
- Travel to various locations throughout the city to perform culinary task.
- Obtain in-depth experience working on grills, ranges, and steamers.
- Experience with baking, broiling, frying, roasting and grilling.
- Load dishwashers and hand-wash items such as pots, pans, knives.
- Operate stoves, food processors, steamers, slicers, and ovens.
- Produce large batch cooking recipes for the commissary kitchen, following strict HACCP systems.
- Adjust thermostat controls to regulate temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, fryers and steam kettles
- Make sure that allergies are taken care of in the right manner and with the correct substitutions.
- Maintain kitchen cleanliness, inventory and equipment.
- Create and prepare international cuisine for executive clientele by using ingenuity, organization, efficiency in production and attention to detail
- Start as dishwasher and then become a cook soon after.
- Provide leadership that promotes and exemplifies excellent customer service.
Cooking chef skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Cooking Chefs are proficient in Food Service, Food Handling, and Kitchen Equipment. They’re also known for soft skills such as Business skills, Communication skills, and Creativity.
We break down the percentage of Cooking Chefs that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Food Service, 23%
Conducted and encouraged multiple teams of staff to maintain efficiency and safety in their food service duties.
- Food Handling, 19%
Supervised, coordinated, and participated in activities of cooks and other food handling personnel.
- Kitchen Equipment, 16%
Provided preventative and scheduled maintenance for kitchen equipment.
- Culinary, 10%
Assisted culinary instructor in food preparation.
- Cleanliness, 9%
Maintain proper order and cleanliness of facility
- Dishwashers, 7%
Started as dishwasher and then became a cook soon after.
Common skills that a cooking chef uses to do their job include "food service," "food handling," and "kitchen equipment." You can find details on the most important cooking chef responsibilities below.
Business skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a cooking chef to have is business skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "executive chefs and chefs who run their own restaurant need to know how to budget for supplies, set prices, and manage workers so that the restaurant is profitable." Cooking chefs often use business skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "teach new consultants food preparation, computer applications, data and time management skills to help them with their businesses. "
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform cooking chef duties is communication skills. Cooking chefs responsibilities require that "chefs must convey their instructions clearly and effectively to staff so that patrons' orders are prepared correctly." Cooking chefs also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "prepared a daily variety of nutritious meals maintained inventory and ordered food and kitchen equipment excel at organization and communication"
Creativity. cooking chefs are also known for creativity, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to cooking chef responsibilities, because "chefs and head cooks need to develop and prepare interesting and innovative recipes." A cooking chef resume example shows how creativity is used in the workplace: "maintained kitchen cleanliness, inventory and equipment. "
Dexterity. A big part of what cooking chefs do relies on "dexterity." You can see how essential it is to cooking chef responsibilities because "chefs and head cooks need agility to handle knives properly for cutting, chopping, and dicing." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical cooking chef tasks: "prepped ingredientsfor cooking supervised 10-20 team membersin food preparation cooked some forklift use"
Leadership skills. Another crucial skill for a cooking chef to carry out their responsibilities is "leadership skills." A big part of what cooking chefs relies on this skill, since "chefs and head cooks must be able to motivate kitchen staff and to develop constructive and cooperative working relationships." How this skill relates to cooking chef duties can be seen in an example from a cooking chef resume snippet: "provided leadership in all culinary skills including preparation, quality control, safety, and sanitation customer service. "
Physical stamina. While "physical stamina" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to cooking chef responsibilities. Much of what a cooking chef does relies on this skill, seeing as "chefs and head cooks often work long shifts and sometimes spend entire evenings on their feet, overseeing the preparation and serving of meals." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of cooking chefs: "maintain daily food use records and conduct monthly physical food inventory. "
The three companies that hire the most cooking chefs are:
- Benchmark Senior Living13 cooking chefs jobs
- The Center for Health Care Services8 cooking chefs jobs
- PLUM7 cooking chefs jobs
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Compare different cooking chefs
Cooking chef vs. Food service worker
Foodservice workers are employees at restaurants, food trucks, or any outlet that provides food to customers. They may be assigned to welcome customers, take food orders, prepare food orders in the kitchen, serve food, handle customer payments, clean up the tables once the guests leave, or maintain the whole store's cleanliness. They may also be assigned to manage inventories, handle stocks and deliveries, and other activities related to the restaurant's successful operations. Foodservice workers must always be hygienic and maintain the sanitation of the area to ensure food safety.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a cooking chef are more likely to require skills like "mixers," "nursing home," "quality standards," and "cooking meals." On the other hand, a job as a food service worker requires skills like "customer service," "patients," "pet," and "cash control." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Food service workers really shine in the retail industry with an average salary of $30,177. Comparatively, cooking chefs tend to make the most money in the health care industry with an average salary of $36,189.food service workers tend to reach similar levels of education than cooking chefs. In fact, food service workers are 2.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Cooking chef vs. Food service associate
A food service associate performs fundamental functions in the food industry. Food service associates prepare and serve food items. They cater to special events, which involve facility preparation, food presentation maintenance, and setting up tables. Their duties include cleaning preparation and service equipment. They restock the work stations for the essential supplies. The skills they need to perform their job include customer service, teamwork, work with diverse cultural, ethnic, and academic backgrounds, and learn safety and health regulations.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that cooking chef responsibilities requires skills like "food service," "steamers," "mixers," and "nursing home." But a food service associate might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "patients," "excellent interpersonal," "math," and "sanitation standards."
Food service associates earn a lower average salary than cooking chefs. But food service associates earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $33,477. Additionally, cooking chefs earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $36,189 annually.food service associates earn similar levels of education than cooking chefs in general. They're 1.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Cooking chef vs. Chef de cuisine
A chef de cuisine, also known as an executive chef, oversees a kitchen's daily operations in public and private establishments to ensure food quality and efficient services. Their duties require cooking and leadership skills because they involve leading menu development and meal preparation, coordinating staff, delegating responsibilities, selecting and sourcing ingredients, and handling customer issues and concerns promptly and professionally. Moreover, a chef de cuisine leads and empowers staff to reach the kitchen's daily goals while implementing health standards and regulations.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, cooking chefs are more likely to have skills like "mixers," "nursing home," "safety standards," and "food products." But a chef de cuisine is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "menu development," "food safety," and "wine."
Chef de cuisines make a very good living in the hospitality industry with an average annual salary of $53,893. On the other hand, cooking chefs are paid the highest salary in the health care industry, with average annual pay of $36,189.chef de cuisines typically earn similar educational levels compared to cooking chefs. Specifically, they're 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Cooking chef vs. Assistant cook
Types of cooking chef
Updated January 8, 2025
