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Culinary chef skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted experts
Aaron Guerra,
Kellie Puff
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical culinary chef skills. We ranked the top skills for culinary chefs based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 30.1% of culinary chef resumes contained culinary as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a culinary chef needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 culinary chef skills for your resume and career

1. Culinary

Here's how culinary chefs use culinary:
  • Manage daily activity in culinary art career and technical education program with the Director of Culinary Studies.
  • Work directly with customer culinary teams on Chef to product development initiatives and presentations.

2. Fine Dining

Here's how culinary chefs use fine dining:
  • Provided unique and attractive menu development and incorporation for banquet, catering, and fine dining restaurant operations.
  • Incorporated lighter, progressive cuisine with Mediterranean-based menu for 150-seat fine dining establishment & specialty dessert room.

3. Food Service

The food service industry is a vast industry comprising of restaurants, caterers, cafeterias operating in institutions and any other business offering a meal not prepared at home. Foodservice operators require necessary utensils for preparing food for the consumers, foodservice distributors are the people who take care of this need for them.

Here's how culinary chefs use food service:
  • Evaluated organizational funding requirements and food service equipment for 900,000 dollar cyclical phase replacement program.
  • Handled all food and beverage in accordance with federal, state and local regulatory procedures regarding food service.

4. Cuisine

Cuisine refers to a certain style, method, or manner of preparing food peculiar to a particular country, region, or establishment. It is often characterized by distinctive techniques, ingredients, and dishes that are usually associated with a specific geographic region or culture. Examples include New Mexico Chile in New Mexican cuisine and Japanese rice in Japanese cuisine.

Here's how culinary chefs use cuisine:
  • Created and prepared international cuisine for executive clientele by using ingenuity, organization, efficiency in production and attention to detail
  • Revised and implemented a more diverse menu along with creating and preparing original daily specials utilizing local and regional cuisine.

5. Kitchen Equipment

Kitchen Equipment refers to all those essential items which are crucial for the task of cooking.

Here's how culinary chefs use kitchen equipment:
  • Selected and ordered all kitchen equipment, small wares and china for both properties.
  • Handle preparation and other safety and sanitation codes involving dining utensils, kitchen equipment and overall cleanliness.

6. Recipe Development

Here's how culinary chefs use recipe development:
  • Directed menu design and recipe development, considering seasonal availability of ingredients and potential customer count.
  • Prepared and executed meals for parties from 10-150ppl-Menu development-Recipe development-Opening and closing supervision

7. Food Handling

Here's how culinary chefs use food handling:
  • Apply Certified ServSafe Manager skills to proper food handling, preparation, presentation, safety and sanitation.
  • Ensured proper food handling, food quality, taste, and temperature control.

8. Safety Standards

Here's how culinary chefs use safety standards:
  • Order supplies to stock inventory appropriately comply with and enforce sanitation regulations and safety standards.
  • Conducted training ensuring individual performance met the highest possible culinary and safety standards.

9. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how culinary chefs use product development:
  • Worked with QA, marketing, and senior management in new product development strategies and execution.
  • Directed Pipeline new product development for plated meals, sandwiches and side dish items.

10. Food Quality

Here's how culinary chefs use food quality:
  • Inspected supplies, equipment, and work areas to ensure conformance to established standards in sanitation and food quality.
  • Achieved positive financial results while greatly improving food quality and service.

11. HACCP

Here's how culinary chefs use haccp:
  • Developed specifications, training, HACCP guidelines and full BOH responsibilities including National purchasing programs and setting corporate standards of consistency.
  • Supervised and trained all.associates in food preparation, HACCP in-service training and sanitation and safety procedures.

12. USDA

Here's how culinary chefs use usda:
  • Developed and opened a USDA inspected production facility.
  • Set up overall production following specifications, budget, GMP's & USDA guidelines.

13. Menu Planning

Menu planning is the process of making a list of the food items you are going to prepare and serve in any type of meal e.g. for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Menu planning helps you to decide what you will eat for each meal, to know how many meals to plan for, and the right time to serve them.

Here's how culinary chefs use menu planning:
  • Head Chef-Menu Planning-Kitchen Organization-Supervising Kitchen Staff
  • Managed all aspects of kitchen, including menu planning, scheduling, staff supervision, administrative responsibilities and food preparation

14. Food Products

Food products are the types of various food items that are created and processed to be sold as a product. These products are consumed by humans for nourishment and are mostly processed and created in a huge factory. Tinned goods, milk, meat, etc are the most common food products, and they are not limited to any specific kind except tobacco, beers, and alcohol as they are not considered food products.

Here's how culinary chefs use food products:
  • Oversee plant personnel and help them to follow the proper processes in production of high volume food products.
  • Implemented new lines of health and wellness food products across 60+ brands.

15. Menu Development

Here's how culinary chefs use menu development:
  • Time Management-Vendor Relation-Vender Ordering-Food Cost-Food Preparation-Employee Management-Menu Development-Marketing Advisement
  • Orchestrated recipe/menu development based on guest trends/preferences/and seasonal considerations.
top-skills

What skills help Culinary Chefs find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on culinary chef resumes?

Aaron GuerraAaron Guerra LinkedIn profile

Tenured Professor of Cuisine Management, Department Head, Clark College

ServSafe 5 year certification as a student; basics of any quality student: good attendance, substantial grades, evidence of incorporating and demonstrating hard skills like plating and organization as well as soft skills like the ability to cost recipes correctly, produce accurate production sheet, and execute events; portfolios and management project binder that illustrate previous skills (Our students must provide a portfolio at the end of the program with their 120-hour externship paperwork and develop a small business plan/Restaurant management project that includes menu, full costing including q factor and budgeted yield percentage, profit and loss sheets, equipment depreciation, dining area and kitchen floor plans, business prospectus including demographics, marketing, and specified segmentation.

What soft skills should all culinary chefs possess?

Kellie Puff

Department Chair/Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Anchorage

The most important soft skills, in my opinion, are being able to communicate effectively and professionally, being able to problem-solve, and time management.

What hard/technical skills are most important for culinary chefs?

Kellie Puff

Department Chair/Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Anchorage

The technical skills that I find are most important when entering the culinary workforce are knowing the basics of cooking and baking! It is really beneficial to know commonly used measurements and abbreviations, how to measure properly, knife cuts, cooking principles, and baking principles. These are the foundational skills needed to be confident and successful in a professional kitchen or bakery.

What culinary chef skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Stacey SchwartzStacey Schwartz LinkedIn profile

Chef Instructor, Edmonds Community College

If a student needs to take a gap year, a good way to spend it would be immersing themselves in culinary literature and information, familiarizing themselves with the basics, eating diverse foods, and exploring unique ingredients. This would be a wonderful way to start!

What type of skills will young culinary chefs need?

R. Earl FrederickR. Earl Frederick LinkedIn profile

Tenured Professor of Cuisine Management, Clark College

Graduates entering the workforce need to have the ability to multitask, communicate well, think critically in high-pressure situations, and be reliable. For years, the margins for restaurants and most food service establishments have been skinny. The coronavirus pandemic has shown that the most successful businesses have pivoted and learned to adapt to thrive. This same attitude is what we instill in our students so that they can be successful.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about culinary chef

List of culinary chef skills to add to your resume

Culinary chef skills

The most important skills for a culinary chef resume and required skills for a culinary chef to have include:

  • Culinary
  • Fine Dining
  • Food Service
  • Cuisine
  • Kitchen Equipment
  • Recipe Development
  • Food Handling
  • Safety Standards
  • Product Development
  • Food Quality
  • HACCP
  • USDA
  • Menu Planning
  • Food Products
  • Menu Development
  • Food Orders
  • Food Preparation
  • Sauces
  • Labor Costs
  • Food Cost
  • Allergies
  • BOH
  • Cost Control
  • Private Events
  • Private Parties
  • Portion Control
  • La Carte
  • Caf
  • Cooking Techniques

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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