A Head Cook, aka the chef, is responsible for running a kitchen, usually in a high-end establishment. They delegate tasks and oversee the work of everyone involved in food preparation, making sure that the result is nothing but exquisite delicacies. They come up with new recipes, create the menu, and make sure the necessary ingredients are always in stock.
Head cooks are deeply passionate about cooking. They live and die for tasty food and know a lot about other countries' culinary cultures. They consider their profession art, rather than anything else, and just like a poet has a favorite pen, you will recognize an authentic head cook by the fact that he/she favors one knife over all others.
Not that salaries matter to a real artist; just for your information, head cooks in the U.S. make an average of $48,098 per year.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Head Cook. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.67 an hour? That's $47,144 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 15,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many Head Cooks have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Business skills, Communication skills and Creativity.
If you're interested in becoming a Head Cook, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 15.5% of Head Cooks have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.9% of Head Cooks have master's degrees. Even though some Head Cooks have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Head Cook. When we researched the most common majors for a Head Cook, we found that they most commonly earn High School Diploma degrees or Associate Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Head Cook resumes include Bachelor's Degree degrees or Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Head Cook. In fact, many Head Cook jobs require experience in a role such as Cook. Meanwhile, many Head Cooks also have previous career experience in roles such as Line Cook or Cashier.