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.
Sous chef responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real sous chef resumes:
- 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.
- Treat all persons with compassion, dignity and respect.
- Direct kitchen resources to reduce shrink with use of FIFO and effective interdepartmental communication.
- Direct and maintain top culinary standards for 2 caf s and a food truck.
- Use POS system, communicating with the kitchen, opening & closing the restaurant.
- Prepare soups, sauces, stocks, and heavy roasting to drive the hotels multiplerestaurants and banquet functions
- Cook soups, meats, fish and vegetables using boiling, frying, steaming, and roasting method.
- Attend BEO meetings, write and prepare menus, conduct inventory, control costs and ensure effective business operations
- Attend weekly pay roll meetings, safety meetings, food and beverage meetings, and daily BEO meetings.
- Create POS system for the store, maintain inventory, employees, bookkeeping and day to day operations.
Sous chef skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Sous Chefs are proficient in Culinary, Food Handling, and Food Preparation. They’re also known for soft skills such as Business skills, Communication skills, and Creativity.
We break down the percentage of Sous Chefs that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Culinary, 15%
Trained and managed all culinary personnel, supervised and coordinated all culinary activities, estimated food consumption and managed food cost.
- Food Handling, 8%
Monitored food prep/production/service/storage/food handling and sanitation.
- Food Preparation, 7%
Job included assisting and overseeing food preparation, implementing new safety and sanitation practices and organizing employees for services.
- Customer Service, 5%
Assist in overall accountability for all operations, including financial objectives, personnel management, and customer service and product quality.
- Fine Dining, 5%
Prepared fine dining meals in executive dining room for company executives and entertainment figures.
- Food Service, 5%
Monitored and coordinated food preparation, packaging and distribution to assure maximum quality of food service given to patients in hospital.
"culinary," "food handling," and "food preparation" are among the most common skills that sous chefs use at work. You can find even more sous chef responsibilities below, including:
Business skills. The most essential soft skill for a sous chef to carry out their responsibilities is business skills. This skill is important for the role because "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." Additionally, a sous chef resume shows how their duties depend on business skills: "produced consistent cuisine in high volume historic restaurant serving the downtown business community and residents. "
Communication skills. Many sous chef duties rely on communication skills. "chefs must convey their instructions clearly and effectively to staff so that patrons' orders are prepared correctly.," so a sous chef will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways sous chef responsibilities rely on communication skills: "maintain excellent communication between chef de cuisine, executive chef and purchasing manager to ensure proper inventory and par levels. "
Creativity. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of sous chefs is creativity. This skill is critical to many everyday sous chef duties, as "chefs and head cooks need to develop and prepare interesting and innovative recipes." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "performed inventory and purchasing functions for this establishment specializing in italian cuisine. "
Dexterity. sous chef responsibilities often require "dexterity." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "chefs and head cooks need agility to handle knives properly for cutting, chopping, and dicing." This resume example shows what sous chefs do with dexterity on a typical day: "create new recipes for hotel restaurant using hands on training techniques and proper food handling procedures. "
Leadership skills. A commonly-found skill in sous chef job descriptions, "leadership skills" is essential to what sous chefs do. Sous chef responsibilities rely on this skill because "chefs and head cooks must be able to motivate kitchen staff and to develop constructive and cooperative working relationships." You can also see how sous chef duties rely on leadership skills in this resume example: "applied leadership skills to contribute to operational efficiency of fine dining continental kitchen. "
Physical stamina. Lastly, "physical stamina" is an important element of what a sous chef does. Sous chef responsibilities require this skill because "chefs and head cooks often work long shifts and sometimes spend entire evenings on their feet, overseeing the preparation and serving of meals." This resume example highlights how sous chef duties rely on this skill: "reduced boh labor by 13%, increased profits, and physical number of items sold. "
The three companies that hire the most sous chefs are:
- Compass Group USA694 sous chefs jobs
- Great Wolf Resorts330 sous chefs jobs
- Goodwin Recruiting305 sous chefs jobs
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Compare different sous chefs
Sous chef vs. Food service specialist
The food service specialists monitor food preparation, ensuring that the guests get their correct orders, providing them the best dining experience and satisfaction. A food service specialist takes the guests' orders, processes their payments, and serves their orders timely and efficiently. They also monitor the stock inventories, coordinate with suppliers and third-party vendors for stock requests, and assist with kitchen duties as needed, especially on high volume days. A food service specialist must have a broad knowledge of the food services industry, analyzing the current food trends to make suggestions for menus, and responding to the guests' concerns.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, sous chef responsibilities require skills like "culinary," "food preparation," "food service," and "kitchen operations." Meanwhile a typical food service specialist has skills in areas such as "preventive maintenance," "mos," "patients," and "servsafe." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Food service specialists tend to make the most money working in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $39,427. In contrast, sous chefs make the biggest average salary, $52,076, in the government industry.The education levels that food service specialists earn slightly differ from sous chefs. In particular, food service specialists are 1.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a sous chef. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sous chef vs. Cook
Cooks are responsible for preparing meals for guests or employers. They must be knowledgeable about the different recipes and ingredients needed. They are also responsible for managing the inventory and ensuring that the pantry is well-stocked. They prepare meals from scratch, cutting ingredients, measuring them, and following recipes. Cooks should be creative, especially when ingredients are lacking, and they must find alternatives that will not compromise the food taste. They should be precise, imaginative, and patient. Cooks should also have good time management skills and decision-making skills.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that sous chef responsibilities requires skills like "kitchen operations," "chefs," "cuisine," and "wine." But a cook might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "basic math," "quality food," "math," and "patients."
Cooks may earn a lower salary than sous chefs, but cooks earn the most pay in the government industry with an average salary of $34,114. On the other hand, sous chefs receive higher pay in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $52,076.In general, cooks achieve similar levels of education than sous chefs. They're 0.3% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for sous chefs in the next 3-5 years?
Patti Stobaugh
Sous 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.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, sous chefs are more likely to have skills like "chefs," "quality standards," "cuisine," and "wine." But a food service coordinator is more likely to have skills like "meal preparation," "food safety," "servsafe," and "patients."
Food service coordinators earn the best pay in the media industry, where they command an average salary of $33,827. Sous chefs earn the highest pay from the government industry, with an average salary of $52,076.food service coordinators typically earn similar educational levels compared to sous chefs. Specifically, they're 3.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sous chef vs. Food service associate
A food service associate performs fundamental functions in the food industry. Food service associates prepare and serve food items. They cater to special events, which involve facility preparation, food presentation maintenance, and setting up tables. Their duties include cleaning preparation and service equipment. They restock the work stations for the essential supplies. The skills they need to perform their job include customer service, teamwork, work with diverse cultural, ethnic, and academic backgrounds, and learn safety and health regulations.
Types of sous chef
Updated January 8, 2025
