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Executive chef resume examples from 2025

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Land interviews using Zippia's AI-powered resume builder.

Updated March 26, 2025
6 min read
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How to write an executive chef resume

Craft a resume summary statement

Your resume summary sums up your experience and skills, making it easy for hiring managers to understand your qualifications at a glance. Here are some tips to writing the most important 2-4 sentences of your resume:

Step 1: Mention your current job title or the role you're pursuing.

Step 2: Include your years of experience in executive 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.

Hiring managers spend under a minute reviewing resumes on average. This means your summary needs to demonstrate your value quickly and show why you are the perfect fit for the executive chef position.

Please upload your resume so Zippia’s job hunt AI can draft a summary statement for you.

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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:

  1. Start with the job listing. Frequently, the keywords looked for by recruiters will be listed. Be careful to include all skills in the job listing you have experience with.
  2. Consider all the software and tools you use on a daily basis. When in doubt, list them!
  3. Make sure you use accurate and up to date terms for all the skills listed.
These five steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some executive chef interviews.

Here are example skills to include in your “Area of Expertise” on an executive chef resume:

  • Culinary
  • Food Preparation
  • Customer Service
  • Kitchen Operations
  • Food Safety
  • Food Service
  • Menu Development
  • Food Quality
  • Fine Dining
  • Food Handling
  • Patients
  • Quality Standards
  • Cleanliness
  • Wine
  • Cuisine
  • Menu Planning
  • Worksheets
  • Food Production
  • Food Cost
  • Labor Costs
  • PET
  • Sanitation Standards
  • Kitchen Equipment
  • Guest Satisfaction
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Culinary Operations
  • Sous Chefs
  • HACCP
  • Exceptional Guest
  • Banquet Facility

Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.

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How to structure your work experience

Your employment history is arguably one of the most important parts of your resume. It shows you have experience and foundation in your field to successfully master the executive chef position. Here is how to most effectively structure your work experience:

  1. List your most recent experience first, followed by earlier roles in reverse chronological order. Employers care about your most recent experience the most.
  2. 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.
  3. Include only recent, relevant jobs.

How to write executive chef experience bullet points

Your resume is your chance to show your biggest accomplishments. Don't just list your job responsibilities, instead take the opportunity to show why you're really good at what you do. Here is how you do that:

  • Start with strong action verbs like managed, spearheaded, created, etc. Your goal is to show what you did and verbs will help demonstrate your contributions.
  • Use numbers to quantify your achievements. Did you save time with a new report? Increase revenue? How large was the team you managed?
  • Keep it concise. You're highlighting your achievements. Consider if all details you are sharing are relevant, or can be written more efficiently.

Here are effective examples from executive chef resumes:

Work history example #1

Cook

McDonald's

  • Sanitized and washed dishes for next use.
  • Established and maintained effective communication system.
  • Cleaned and prepped kitchen Washed dishes Cooked food using grill and deep fryer Assembled sandwiches
  • Cooked and preped the food unloaded truck cleaned dishes & floors took out trash
  • Worked at a fast pace while keeping an open line of communication Worked as a team

Work history example #2

Executive Chef

Guckenheimer Services

  • Trained staff on proper cooking techniques, knife handling, sanitation (HACCP), food classification, and product marketing.
  • Managed day-to-day business details * Prepared daily meals * Banking * Payroll * Staff management.
  • Conducted monthly HACCP audits assuring all employees fully comprehend and Execute HACCP program requirements.
  • Composed weekly menus, and daily specials.
  • Adhered to all safety and sanitation guidelines to be HACCP compliant.

Work history example #3

Culinary Internship

Chili's

  • Operated flat top grill, expo station, salad/nacho station, and fry station.
  • Cleaned and maintained the entire BOH daily.
  • Supported events by working as bartender and waiter at weekend functions.
  • Completed 18 week kitchen rotation in a resort/hotel setting for the Culinary Institute of America
  • Supervised 5 people and oversaw daily production of high-volume for this fine dining restaurant specializing in Mediterranean cuisine.

Work history example #4

Cooking Chef

Darden Restaurants

  • Recognized for ability to work effectively in a fast paced environment requiring grace and calm demeanor in high pressure situations.
  • Started working bread and appetizers, worked up to saute's.
  • Started off on Fryers, cross trained on Grill, Saute, and Expo.
  • Cooked line when needed, including: appetizer oven, lead window, grill, saut , or back house prep.
  • Provided hands-on leadership to establish a quality operation characterized by high level service and table presentation.

Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.

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Add an education section to your resume

Employers are looking for a few things when looking at the Education section of 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 from executive chef resumes:

Doctoral Degree in culinary arts

Kendall College, North Chicago, IL

2015 - 2018

Highlight your executive chef certifications on your resume

If you have any additional certifications, add them to the certification section.

To list, use the full name of the certification and the organization that issued it, along with the date of achievement.

If you have any of these certifications, be sure to include them on your executive chef resume:

  1. Certified Food Manager (CFM)
  2. Certified Culinary Administrator (CCA)
  3. Food Safety Manager Certification
  4. Certified Executive Chef (CEC)
  5. ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification
  6. Certified Master Chef (CMC)
  7. Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS)
  8. Certified Professional - Food Safety (CP-FS)
  9. Certified Food Protection Professional (CFPP)
  10. Certified Master Pastry Chef (CMPC)

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