What does a pastry chef do?

Pastry chefs are culinary artists specializing in the creation of desserts, bread, and sweets. They order supplies and ingredients for the restaurant, aside from creating, decorating, and presenting pastries. They are in charge of recruiting employees to aid in pastry goods production and other enterprise aspects. The skills required for this job are attention to detail, experience as a baker or any relevant role, knowledge about sanitation principles, creativity, and leadership skills.
Pastry chef responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real pastry chef resumes:
- Hire, schedule and manage a staff of 9 direct reports (5 in kitchen and 4 in caf).
- Control food and payroll costs to achieve maximum profitability.
- Follow food safety and cleanliness guidelines.
- Work as per the HACCP standard.
- Create specialized dessert items for wine and holiday dinners.
- Operate blenders, mixers, grinders, slicers, and other cooking equipment.
- Offer personal and corporate cater events as additional business aspect of the bistro.
- Operate baking machines such as scales, dough mixers, bread molds, and ovens.
- Make bread for the restaurant, prep desserts, proper sanitation, HACCP, lunch service
- Operate machinery such as slicing machine, heavy duty mixers, conventional ovens, scales, and more.
- Increase productivity by ensuring all stoves and ovens are in proper working order, before the morning shift.
- Operate a full service bistro and some off premise catering including wine parings as well as wine dinners.
- Maintain kitchen according to ServSafe standards
- Prepare high-end cuisine for dine-in customers.
- Apply accurate mathematical conversions as well as attentiveness.
Pastry chef skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Pastry Chefs are proficient in Culinary, Food Handling, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Comprehension, Dexterity, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Pastry Chefs that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Culinary, 19%
Develop culinary gold standard formulations for key new products and innovation strategies, leveraging professional chef advanced baking skills.
- Food Handling, 11%
Utilized basic sanitation requirements for food handling while maintaining personal hygiene.
- Customer Service, 10%
Produce quality bakery products to ensure customer requirements are met and build customer loyalty by providing exemplary customer service.
- Food Preparation, 7%
Maintain clean and sanitary food preparation and storage areas in accordance with sanitation requirements.
- Pastry Kitchen, 6%
Planned and executed dessert items for all banquet events - Oversaw efficiency of pastry kitchen; ensured cleanliness and organization
- Fine Dining, 6%
Practiced elegant food presentation techniques accompanied by an elegant fine dining experience.
Common skills that a pastry chef uses to do their job include "culinary," "food handling," and "customer service." You can find details on the most important pastry chef responsibilities below.
Dexterity. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling pastry chef duties is dexterity. The role rewards competence in this skill because "chefs and head cooks need agility to handle knives properly for cutting, chopping, and dicing." According to a pastry chef resume, here's how pastry chefs can utilize dexterity in their job responsibilities: "provided hands-on expertise in areas that included menu planning, cost control and analysis, staffing, budgeting, and marketing. "
Physical stamina. pastry chefs are also known for physical stamina, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to pastry chef responsibilities, because "chefs and head cooks often work long shifts and sometimes spend entire evenings on their feet, overseeing the preparation and serving of meals." A pastry chef resume example shows how physical stamina is used in the workplace: "inventory for both retail and culinary environment; including physical count, and generating reports. "
Sense of taste and smell. For certain pastry chef responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "sense of taste and smell." The day-to-day duties of a pastry chef rely on this skill, as "chefs and head cooks must have a keen sense of taste and smell in order to inspect food quality and to design meals that their patrons will enjoy." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what pastry chefs do: "managed and opened the store every morning, made an assortment of coffee-drinks, home-made pastries, vegan and gluten free. "
Business skills. Another common skill required for pastry chef responsibilities is "business skills." This skill comes up in the duties of pastry chefs all the time, as "executive chefs and chefs who run their own restaurant need to know how to budget for supplies, set prices, and manage workers so that the restaurant is profitable." An excerpt from a real pastry chef resume shows how this skill is central to what a pastry chef does: "maintained essential business relationships with many of the larger purveyors in new york city while minimizing food costs. "
Communication skills. While "communication skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to pastry chef responsibilities. Much of what a pastry chef does relies on this skill, seeing as "chefs must convey their instructions clearly and effectively to staff so that patrons' orders are prepared correctly." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of pastry chefs: "manage organization, communication and execution of culinary and technical product reviews for r&d; teams. "
The three companies that hire the most pastry chefs are:
- Kneaders Bakery and Cafe30 pastry chefs jobs
- Goodwin Recruiting23 pastry chefs jobs
- Compass Group USA21 pastry chefs jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable pastry chef resume templates
Build a professional pastry chef resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your pastry chef resume.Compare different pastry chefs
Pastry chef vs. Food service coordinator
Food service coordinators are responsible for organizing the food preparation for a considerable section of a huge operation such as the bakery, catering, and pantry section. They arrange, prepare, and synchronize the preparation of main entrees. Also, they coordinate and prepare all snacks and meals at a distinct facility as well as supervise the performance of food service specialists and student assistants in preparing food. Qualifications for the job include agility and physical strength to lift and reach kitchen materials and supplies as well as working in a hot environment while standing for a long period.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, pastry chef responsibilities require skills like "pastry kitchen," "quality standards," "wedding cakes," and "pastry production." Meanwhile a typical food service coordinator has skills in areas such as "meal preparation," "food safety," "servsafe," and "patients." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Food service coordinators tend to make the most money working in the media industry, where they earn an average salary of $33,827. In contrast, pastry chefs make the biggest average salary, $57,072, in the media industry.The education levels that food service coordinators earn slightly differ from pastry chefs. In particular, food service coordinators are 2.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a pastry chef. Additionally, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Pastry chef vs. Line cook
Line cooks are responsible for preparing meals for guests or employers. The term line cook brings to mind an assembly line. This is apt because line cooks are usually assigned to a specific station to work on a specific part of a meal or a preparation process. They are part of a bigger group of cooks in the restaurant. This is done so that meal preparation is more efficient. Line cooks are responsible for preparing ingredients, ensuring that the pantry is well-stocked, and doing their assigned activity in the line. They are expected to be good team players, have experience as a cook, and be able to follow recipes and provide alternatives when necessary.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real pastry chef resumes. While pastry chef responsibilities can utilize skills like "pastry kitchen," "food quality," "wedding cakes," and "pastry production," line cooks use skills like "team work," "cleanliness," "quality food," and "food orders."
Line cooks earn a lower average salary than pastry chefs. But line cooks earn the highest pay in the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $32,363. Additionally, pastry chefs earn the highest salaries in the media with average pay of $57,072 annually.In general, line cooks achieve similar levels of education than pastry chefs. They're 1.7% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Pastry chef vs. Chef de cuisine
A chef de cuisine, also known as an executive chef, oversees a kitchen's daily operations in public and private establishments to ensure food quality and efficient services. Their duties require cooking and leadership skills because they involve leading menu development and meal preparation, coordinating staff, delegating responsibilities, selecting and sourcing ingredients, and handling customer issues and concerns promptly and professionally. Moreover, a chef de cuisine leads and empowers staff to reach the kitchen's daily goals while implementing health standards and regulations.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from pastry chef resumes include skills like "pastry kitchen," "wedding cakes," "pastry production," and "ice cream," whereas a chef de cuisine is more likely to list skills in "kitchen operations," "cleanliness," "food safety," and "food service. "
Chef de cuisines make a very good living in the hospitality industry with an average annual salary of $53,893. On the other hand, pastry chefs are paid the highest salary in the media industry, with average annual pay of $57,072.Most chef de cuisines achieve a similar degree level compared to pastry chefs. For example, they're 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Pastry chef vs. Mcdonalds crew member
McDonald's crew members work in the kitchen of the company. The primary responsibilities of the crew members include food preparation, customer service, hygiene, and cleanliness. They see to it that every guest will be treated fast and in a friendly manner. It is part of their responsibilities to maintain the restaurant's purity and make it always inviting for friends, families, and their fellow employees. There are times when they are in the front counter to tend to the needs of the customers. Also, some of them work drive-thru.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between pastry chefs and mcdonalds crew members, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a pastry chef might have more use for skills like "culinary," "food handling," "pastry kitchen," and "fine dining." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of mcdonalds crew members require skills like "cleanliness," "food orders," "customers orders," and "front window. "
In general, mcdonalds crew members earn the most working in the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $23,848. The highest-paying industry for a pastry chef is the media industry.The average resume of mcdonalds crew members showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to pastry chefs. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 2.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.Types of pastry chef
Updated January 8, 2025











