What does a kitchen steward do?
A kitchen steward maintains the cleanliness and sanitary standards in the establishment's kitchen and surrounding areas. The kitchen stewards report to the kitchen supervisor and generally work in a commercial kitchen, restaurants, and hotels. Their responsibility may include maintaining and creating a cleaning schedule for the kitchen, cleaning pots and grills, and washing glasses, dishes, and cutlery. They may also polish silvers. Sometimes, they assist kitchen cooks with basic cooking tasks such as blending soup and prepping vegetables.
Kitchen steward responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real kitchen steward resumes:
- Clean stoves, ovens, grills, refrigerators, and using cleaning solutions, brushes and wash cloths.
- Inspect kitchen equipment for cleanliness and order improvement of efficiency.
- Restock supplies for servers and cooks.
- Replenish mini-bars and restock VIP guests' amenities.
- Clean and sanitize all bars and beverage service areas.
- Supervise a staff of 10 associates to ensure orderly and seamless production for all departments of culinary operations.
- Assist students with kitchen conduct, including knife skills, and proper equipment usage, during culinary classes and workshops.
- Ensure that federal regulations regarding cleanliness and food preparation are met.
- Cut/Chop food items and cook on a flat top, grill, or fryer.
- Operate dishwasher and clean general kitchen area.
- Clean sanitize and put away dishes using various commercial dishwashers.- Perform janitorial services.- Occasionally plate food before service.
- Replenish mini-bars and restock VIP guests' amenities.
Kitchen steward skills and personality traits
We calculated that 21% of Kitchen Stewards are proficient in Cleanliness, Kitchen Equipment, and Safety Procedures.
We break down the percentage of Kitchen Stewards that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Cleanliness, 21%
Sanitize dishes and maintain cleanliness of grills, grill hoods, ovens, tilt kettles, and other kitchen appliances.
- Kitchen Equipment, 11%
Washed restaurant as well as banquet event dishes and all cooking utensils, pots, pans, also cleaned kitchen equipment.
- Safety Procedures, 10%
Followed safety procedures by covering of foods during transportation to desired work areas.
- Culinary, 8%
Assisted students with kitchen conduct, including knife skills, and proper equipment usage, during culinary classes and workshops.
- Safety Regulations, 5%
Work in a clean, sanitary, safe and organized manner, abiding by all health and safety regulations.
- Safety Standards, 5%
Maintain sanitation, health, and safety standards in work areas.
Most kitchen stewards use their skills in "cleanliness," "kitchen equipment," and "safety procedures" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential kitchen steward responsibilities here:
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a kitchen steward to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "food service establishments rely on good food and customer service to keep customers and succeed in a competitive industry." Kitchen stewards often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "maintained a clean and full dish washing machine to ensure cleanliness of the facility for guest safety. "
Physical strength. Many kitchen steward duties rely on physical strength. "food and beverage serving and related workers need to be able to lift and carry stock and equipment that can weigh up to 50 pounds.," so a kitchen steward will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways kitchen steward responsibilities rely on physical strength: "operate industrial cleaning equipment and use industrial strength cleaning chemicals. "
The three companies that hire the most kitchen stewards are:
- Aimbridge Hospitality142 kitchen stewards jobs
- Mobilize.Net
13 kitchen stewards jobs
- Caesars Entertainment8 kitchen stewards jobs
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Compare different kitchen stewards
Kitchen steward vs. Mini bar attendant
A minibar attendant serves and mixes alcoholic beverages in a licensed establishment or at special events. They are responsible for restocking minibars, charging customers, completing guest inventories, rotating stock, and cleaning the minibar. When working in a hotel, they ensure that minibars in guestrooms remain stocked, inventory is maintained, customers are billed, fridges are cleaned and repaired, and customers' questions are addressed.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, kitchen steward responsibilities require skills like "kitchen equipment," "safety procedures," "culinary," and "osha." Meanwhile a typical mini bar attendant has skills in areas such as "expiration dates," "track inventory," "guest departure," and "departmental procedures." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, mini bar attendants reach similar levels of education than kitchen stewards. Mini bar attendants are 1.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of kitchen steward
Updated January 8, 2025
