Food and beverage supervisor vs sous chef

The differences between food and beverage supervisors and sous chefs can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a sous chef has an average salary of $48,716, which is higher than the $38,335 average annual salary of a food and beverage supervisor.

The top three skills for a food and beverage supervisor include cleanliness, customer service and guest service. The most important skills for a sous chef are culinary, food handling, and food preparation.

Food and beverage supervisor vs sous chef overview

	Food And Beverage Supervisor	Sous Chef
Yearly salary	$38,335	$48,716
Hourly rate	$18.43	$23.42
Growth rate	10%	15%
Number of jobs	61,726	22,393
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Associate Degree, 51%
Average age	37	42
Years of experience	-	6

What does a food and beverage supervisor do?

A Food and Beverage Supervisors role is to make sure that guests food and beverage expectations are being met or exceeded. They supervise all of the issues related to a patrons dining experience, like quality control, staff management, health and safety regulations.

What does a sous chef do?

A sous chef is responsible for directing food preparation and general kitchen tasks with the supervision of an executive chef. A sous chef duties also include customizing healthy menus, maintaining quality check for foods, adhering to the highest sanitation procedures and standards, monitoring food and equipment supplies, suggesting new specialties, assisting customer's inquiries, and managing client's complaints. A sous chef must have excellent communication and decision-making skills, as well as updated with the current food trends to provide the best services for the customers.

Food and beverage supervisor vs sous chef salary

Food and beverage supervisors and sous chefs have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Food And Beverage Supervisor	Sous Chef
Average salary	$38,335	$48,716
Salary range	Between $30,000 And $48,000	Between $33,000 And $70,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Atlantic City, NJ
Highest paying state	Rhode Island	Hawaii
Best paying company	Black Oak Casino Resort	RH
Best paying industry	Media	Government

Differences between food and beverage supervisor and sous chef education

There are a few differences between a food and beverage supervisor and a sous chef in terms of educational background:

	Food And Beverage Supervisor	Sous Chef
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 54%	Associate Degree, 51%
Most common major	Business	Culinary Arts
Most common college	-	Drexel University

Food and beverage supervisor vs sous chef demographics

Here are the differences between food and beverage supervisors' and sous chefs' demographics:

	Food And Beverage Supervisor	Sous Chef
Average age	37	42
Gender ratio	Male, 48.4% Female, 51.6%	Male, 82.1% Female, 17.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 18.8% Asian, 6.2% White, 57.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 17.8% Asian, 11.3% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	10%	9%

Differences between food and beverage supervisor and sous chef duties and responsibilities

Food and beverage supervisor example responsibilities.

Manage daily beverage shift operations of a team of 140 employees consisting of bartenders, bar backs, and beverage servers.
Manage all FOH positions, including scheduling, developing and coaching employees, motivating the team and continuing to drive sales.
Use of POS system and control daily activities that servers and bartenders do in every guests open/close check.
Conduct monthly beverage inventory for bar, restaurant and room service of liquor beer and wine of over $25k.
Schedule catering and staff for hospital VIP events.
Set up buffets to maintain foods at proper temperatures.

Sous chef example responsibilities.

Manage FOH duties, along with customer relations.
Train, mentore, manage and discipline lead chefs, associate chefs, prep cooks, pastry assistants and dishwashers.
Manage a staff of 45 union personnel in preparation of meals for hospital patients and cafeteria patrons for three meals daily.
Control food and payroll costs to achieve maximum profitability.
Manage people and oversee production of high-volume establishment for this upscale restaurant specializing in Mexican cuisine.
Train and manage all culinary personnel, supervise and coordinate all culinary activities, estimate food consumption and manage food cost.

Food and beverage supervisor vs sous chef skills

Common food and beverage supervisor skills

Cleanliness, 11%
Customer Service, 8%
Guest Service, 6%
Guest Satisfaction, 5%
Wine, 4%
Food Handling, 4%

Common sous chef skills

Culinary, 15%
Food Handling, 8%
Food Preparation, 7%
Customer Service, 5%
Fine Dining, 5%
Food Service, 5%

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Food And Beverage Supervisor
Food And Beverage Supervisor vs Sous Chef

Updated January 8, 2025

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