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 representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • 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.

Some of the skills we found on pastry chef resumes included "culinary," "food handling," and "customer service." We have detailed the most important pastry chef responsibilities below.

  • Another trait important for fulfilling pastry chef duties is dexterity. According to a pastry chef resume, "chefs and head cooks need excellent dexterity, including proper knife techniques for cutting, chopping, and dicing." Here's an example of how pastry chefs are able to utilize dexterity: "provided hands-on expertise in areas that included menu planning, cost control and analysis, staffing, budgeting, and marketing. "
  • Pastry chefs are also known for physical stamina, which can be critical when it comes to performing their duties. An example of why this skill is important is shown by this snippet that we found in a pastry chef resume: "chefs and head cooks often work long shifts and sometimes spend entire evenings on their feet, overseeing the preparation and serving of meals." We also found this resume example that details how this skill is put to the test: "inventory for both retail and culinary environment; including physical count, and generating reports. "
  • In order for certain pastry chef responsibilities to be completed, the job requires the skill "sense of taste and smell." According to a pastry chef resume, "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 customers will enjoy." As an example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies: "managed and opened the store every morning, made an assortment of coffee-drinks, home-made pastries, vegan and gluten free. "
  • Another common skill for a pastry chef to be able to utilize is "business skills." Executive chefs and chefs who run their own restaurant need to understand the restaurant business a pastry chef demonstrated the need for this skill by putting this on their resume: "maintained essential business relationships with many of the larger purveyors in new york city while minimizing food costs. "
  • While "communication skills" is listed last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to pastry chef responsibilities. The skill is described by this resume snippet, "chefs must communicate their instructions clearly and effectively to staff so that customers’ orders are prepared correctly." Here is an example of how this skill is used, "manage organization, communication and execution of culinary and technical product reviews for r&d; teams. "
  • See the full list of pastry chef skills.

    The three companies that hire the most prestigious pastry chefs are:

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    What Food Service Coordinators Do

    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.

    In this section, we compare the average pastry chef annual salary with that of a food service coordinator. Typically, food service coordinators earn a $12,794 lower salary than pastry chefs earn annually.

    While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both pastry chefs and food service coordinators positions are skilled in culinary, food handling, and customer service.

    There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a 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 how truly different these two careers really are.

    Food service coordinators tend to make the most money in the media industry by averaging a salary of $33,827. In contrast, pastry chefs make the biggest average salary of $57,072 in the media industry.

    The education levels that food service coordinators earn is a bit different than that of 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.

    What Are The Duties Of a 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.

    Now we're going to look at the line cook profession. On average, line cooks earn a $11,985 lower salary than pastry chefs a year.

    A similarity between the two careers of pastry chefs and line cooks are a few of the skills associated with both roles. We used resumes from both professions to find that both use skills like "culinary," "food handling," and "customer service. "

    But both careers also use 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," some line cooks use skills like "team work," "cleanliness," "quality food," and "food orders."

    It's been discovered that line cooks earn lower salaries compared to pastry chefs, but we wanted to find out where line cooks earned the most pay. The answer? The hospitality industry. The average salary in the industry is $32,363. Additionally, pastry chefs earn the highest paychecks in the media with an average salary of $57,072.

    In general, line cooks study at 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.

    How a Chef De Cuisine Compares

    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.

    Let's now take a look at the chef de cuisine profession. On average, these workers make higher salaries than pastry chefs with a $7,047 difference per year.

    While looking through the resumes of several pastry chefs and chef de cuisines we discovered that both professions have similar skills. These similarities include skills such as "culinary," "food handling," and "customer service," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

    Some important key differences between the two careers are a few of the skills necessary to fulfill responsibilities. Some examples from pastry chef resumes include skills like "pastry kitchen," "wedding cakes," "pastry production," and "ice cream," whereas a chef de cuisine might be skilled 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. Whereas pastry chefs are paid the highest salary in the media industry with the average being $57,072.

    Chef de cuisines typically study at similar levels compared with 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.

    Description Of a 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.

    Mcdonalds crew members tend to earn a lower pay than pastry chefs by about $18,231 per year.

    While both pastry chefs and mcdonalds crew members complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like customer service, food preparation, and ice cream, the two careers also vary in other skills.

    Even though a few skill sets overlap, 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 mcdonalds crew members might include skills like "cleanliness," "food orders," "customers orders," and "front window" on their resume.

    In general, mcdonalds crew members make a higher salary in the hospitality industry with an average of $23,848. The highest pastry chef annual salary stems from the media industry.

    The average resume of mcdonalds crew members showed that they earn similar levels of education to pastry chefs. So much so that the likelihood of them earning a Master's Degree is 2.2% less. Additionally, they're less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.

    What a Pastry Chef Does FAQs

    What Are The Pros And Cons Of Being A Pastry Chef?

    The pros of being a pastry chef are the ability to be creative and be your own boss, while the cons are early wakeups and exhausting working conditions.

    Here is a more detailed look at the pros and cons of being a pastry chef:

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