About the Chef role
A Chef leads the kitchen: designing the menu, setting quality standards, running service, and managing the cooks who bring each dish to the pass. Unlike a Restaurant Manager, who owns the front of house and the business as a whole, the Chef owns everything that happens behind the kitchen doors, from supplier orders and food costs to plating standards and food safety.
Chef titles carry real hierarchy, so match the title to the actual job. An Executive Chef or Head Chef sets the menu and manages the whole kitchen operation. A Sous Chef runs service day to day and steps in when the Head Chef is away. A Chef de Partie owns one station. If you post for a Chef but actually need a line cook, you will attract overqualified candidates and lose them at the salary conversation.
In your posting, describe the cuisine, the covers per service, the size of the kitchen brigade, and how much creative freedom the Chef gets over the menu. Chefs choose jobs based on kitchen culture and autonomy as much as pay, so be honest about the pace, the hours, and who has final say on the menu. If the role includes food cost targets or supplier management, spell that out too.
Chef job description template
Job brief
We are looking for a Chef to lead our kitchen, from designing menus and setting plating standards to running service and managing food costs. Your responsibilities will include preparing and cooking dishes to a consistent standard, training and supervising kitchen staff, ordering ingredients, and enforcing food safety and hygiene rules. To succeed in this role, you should combine genuine cooking talent with calm leadership under pressure. Ultimately, you will deliver food that keeps guests coming back while running a kitchen that hits its cost and quality targets.
Responsibilities
- Design menus and develop new dishes that fit our concept, season, and target food cost
- Prepare and cook dishes to a consistent standard of taste, presentation, and portioning
- Run kitchen service, coordinating stations so orders leave the pass on time and together
- Train, schedule, and supervise cooks and kitchen staff, and build a respectful kitchen culture
- Order ingredients, manage supplier relationships, and check deliveries for quality
- Control food costs through portioning, waste tracking, and smart menu engineering
- Enforce food safety, hygiene, and sanitation standards across the kitchen
- Manage stock rotation and storage so ingredients stay fresh and nothing is lost to spoilage
- Maintain kitchen equipment and flag repairs before they disrupt service
- Collaborate with front-of-house leadership on specials, menu changes, and guest feedback
Requirements and skills
- Proven experience as a Chef, Sous Chef, or senior cook in a comparable kitchen
- Strong command of cooking techniques, and depth in our cuisine or style of service
- Experience leading a kitchen team through busy services without losing quality
- Working knowledge of food cost control, portioning, and menu pricing
- Solid understanding of food safety and hygiene regulations, with current certification where required
- Ability to stand for long shifts and work evenings, weekends, and holidays
- Calm, clear communication under pressure, in the kitchen's busiest moments
- Culinary school training or equivalent experience earned in professional kitchens
Nice to have
- Experience opening a new kitchen or launching a new menu concept
- Advanced food safety or HACCP certification
- Experience with kitchen management software for ordering, inventory, or recipe costing
- A track record of developing junior cooks into station chefs
Generate a custom Chef job description
Need a version tailored to your company, seniority level, or industry? Describe the role and our AI job description generator will draft one in seconds.
