Chef Resume Examples
Years of Experience
- Entry-level
- Mid-career
- Senior-level
Sybil Boyd
(486) 428-7381
[email protected]
5 Linda Lane, Vienna, VA 22180
Profile
Diligent, professional, and creative line cook with three years of expertise in baking and pastry techniques. Preparation of menu items as well as innovative special orders and creation of innovative dessert items. Proven ability to work collaboratively with kitchen staff, communicate, multi-task, and follow instructions.
Key Skills
- Excellent food preparation and cooking techniques
- Baking and pastry techniques
- Ability to work under pressure
- Ability to work cooperatively with other team members
- Creativity
Education
Culinary Arts and Food Services Program
Lincoln Culinary Institute, Columbia, MD – May to December, 2017
Professional Experience
Pastry Line Cook, BlueFin Seafood Shack, Alexandria, VA
August 2017 — Present
- Set up and stock food items and other supplies needed to adhere to established recipes and presentation for bakery items including breads and pastries
- Prepare food items, including mixing, kneading, and baking
- Cook breads, dessert items, and sauces
- Comply with food sanitation requirements and maintain cleanliness of workstation and cooking surfaces through proper handling of food, practicing appropriate food storage, and adhering to personal sanitation and hygiene rules
- Perform inventory checks to ensure that bakery is fully stocked with needed items
Cook, Chick-fil-A, Vienna, VA
March 2017 — June 2017
- Manage operations of a variety of stations, including bread, grill, lemonade and fry cook in keeping with recipes, portioning, and waste control guidelines
- Collaborate with team members
- Food preparation including cutting fruit, making brownies, and cookies
- Labeled and stored raw food ingredients
Mike Kruse
(425) 824-1038
[email protected]
423 Festival Road, Indianapolis, IN 46218
Profile
Professional, reliable, team-oriented chef with seven years of high-volume kitchen and custom menu food preparation experience. Ability to work under pressure and work directly with clients to create and deliver high-quality, nutritious, and attractive selection of meals. Entrepreneurial, innovative, and creative.
Professional Experience
Private Chef, Jameson’s Elite, Indianapolis, IN
February 2016 — Present
- Travel to clients’ homes throughout Indianapolis area
- Prepare meals for clients
- Design creative meal plans
- Shop for groceries and products as needed for meal preparation
- Uphold highest sanitary and cleanliness standards
- Provide clients with instructions for reheating and preparation required for provided meals
Line Cook, Elite Health Services, Indianapolis, IN
February 2013 — January 2016
- Prepare and cook resident-specific meals as directed by staff dietician
- Handled and stored raw materials, cooked food, and non-food supplies
- Ordered, restocked, and maintained inventories for kitchen
- Clean, sanitized, and organized kitchen, as well as tools and other equipment
- Adhered to health department guidelines
Education
Bachelor of Science in Culinary Arts and Food Service Management
Johnson & Wales University Online – 2017
Associate of Applied Science in Hospitality Administration: Culinary Arts Specialty
Ivy Tech Community College, Fort Wayne, IN August 2014 — May 2016
Key Skills
- Creative cooking skills that extend to a wide range of meals and dishes
- Meal planning
- Menu design
- Mentoring and training junior chefs
- Supplier negotiation
- Inventory management
- Kitchen staff management
- Budget management
- Communication and collaboration
- Knowledge of safety and sanitation standards
- Excellent organization
- Leadership
Certifications
- CSC – Certified Sous Chef, American Culinary Federation (ACF) | 2016
Caryn Feist
(439) 499-3338
[email protected]
3 Hutchinson Ct., Bell, CA 90202
Profile
Executive Chef with experience overseeing multiple upscale, full-service restaurants. Eleven years of progressive responsibility in food preparation, menu development, and management of back-of-the-house operations. People oriented manager who is passionate about food, quality, and customer service, as well as motivating and mentoring team members.
Professional Experience
Executive Chef, Lamberti’s Cucina, San Diego, CA
March 2015 — Present
- Create menus and standards leading to exemplary dining experiences across four local dining establishments
- Lead and train culinary teams and ensure training material and processes enable delivery of exceptional dining experiences in all locations
- Collaborate with chef partners across the enterprise
- Liaise with supply chain management to identify potential supplier relationships
- Address quality and/or service gaps
- Develop food service equipment plans to meet budgetary goals
Sous Chef, Jenny’s House, N. Hollywood, CA
January 2009 — February 2015
- Supervised food preparation and presentation to ensure quality and restaurant standards
- Worked with executive chef to maintain kitchen organization and staff ability
- Led kitchen staff when chef was unavailable
- Oversaw and organized kitchen stock and ingredients
- Kept cooking stations stocked prior to prime operation hours
- Managed food and product ordering
- Hired and trained new kitchen employees
- Minimized waste and managed budgetary concerns
Education
Master Chef Certificate Program
Chef Eric’s Culinary Classroom, Los Angeles, CA 90064 October 2009 — February 2009
Associate of Science in Culinary Arts
Art Institute Of California, N. Hollywood, CA September 2016 — March 2018
Key Skills
- Highly developed culinary expertise
- Seasonal menu development
- Knowledge of a variety of ethnic/regional cuisines
- Development of special event menus
- Standardizing recipes to ensure consistent quality in preparation and presentation
- Strong personal work ethic
- Guest driven focus on quality, service, and overall dining experience
- Administer budget for costs of food, beverage, and labor
- Sound knowledge of FDA and major U.S. metropolitan city health code adherence
- Leadership in full-service restaurant environments
- Ability to anticipate problems and create innovative solutions
- Excellent communication skills and computer proficiency
- Ability to manage multiple projects under tight deadlines
Certifications
- CCC Certified Chef de Cuisine, American Culinary Federation (ACF) | 2018
Common Key Skills and Action Verbs for Chef Resumes
Today’s job application process is far different from that of day’s past. Resumes are submitted electronically and filtered through innovative Applicant Tracking systems that are programmed to search for specific terms related to the job opening. As you sit down to write your resume, one of the most effective ways to boost your chances of getting yourself noticed and receiving a call to come in is to make sure that the key skills and action verbs employers look for in a chef are included. Here are some of the most important words and skills to include:
| Key Skills & Proficiencies | |
|---|---|
| Baking | Commitment to quality |
| Culinary expertise | Customer service |
| Grilling | Health and safety |
| Hygiene and sanitation | Kitchen management |
| Knife skills | Menu design |
| Multitasking | Pastry and baking |
| Presentation | Problem solving |
| Product selection | Recipe design |
| Action Verbs | |
|---|---|
| Budget | |
| Collaborate | Communicate |
| Cook | Create |
| Delegate | Design |
| Innovate | Lead |
| Manage | Mentor |
| Plan | Procure |
| Serve | |
Tips for Writing a Better Chef Resume
Highlight your knowledge of ingredients and recipes
When applying for a chef’s position, demonstrating your knowledge of and experience with the foods the establishment serves can go a long way towards making you an invaluable asset to the team. Whether the position is responsible for meal preparation for an assisted living facility or at a five-star restaurant, if you include specific aspects of your work experience that demonstrates familiarity with the foods being cooked or the techniques that are needed, you make yourself a much more attractive candidate.
Example #1
Good
Experienced in preparation of healthy and nutritious institutional meals tailored to the individual medical needs of an elderly population.
Bad
Three years’ experience in a nursing home kitchen.
Example #2
Good
Created seasonal recipes and menu items and sourced ingredients for a farm-to-table restaurant.
Bad
Responsible for cooking for a local restaurant.
Include strengths beyond your technical expertise
Working in a kitchen involves far more than knife skills and other culinary techniques. Your ability to work collaboratively and cooperatively, to follow instructions, to think outside the box, are all skills that make you more marketable. Be sure to include these soft skills and characteristics within your profile and your description of your previous roles to make yourself somebody that any employer would want on their kitchen team.
Example #1
Good
Worked cooperatively with other culinary team members in creating recipes, procuring ingredients, planning and preparing meals for a 500-person fundraising event.
Bad
Team player
Example #2
Good
Modeled leadership, responsibility, and collaboration to a team of 12 kitchen staff members with varying levels of skill, including teaching new skills and career mentorship.
Bad
Managed kitchen staff
How to Align Your Resume with the Job Description
Your job search involves reviewing available positions to find one that is as close as possible to the job you want, and the same is true of hiring managers. The best way to catch a hiring manager’s eye is to make sure that your resume tells them that you are who they are looking for. By making some simple adjustments to the language that you use in describing previous responsibilities or roles, you go a long way to making yourself into their vision of a perfect candidate.
To do this, highlight the various aspects of the job description that make clear the employer’s priorities. These may include specific skills that you possess, a certain number of years of experience, a type of cuisine that you are familiar with making, or particular action verbs and adjectives that they have included to describe their work environment. Once you’ve found them, go back and edit those same words or tasks into your resume.
Example Chef Job Description
The Trellis Restaurant is a fine dining establishment that has been serving innovative, flavor-forward foods for over forty years. Our clientele chooses us for their most important celebrations. We are dedicated to continually delighting our guests through our innovative use of the freshest produce, locally-sourced dairy and meats, and seafood flown in daily, as well as a critically-acclaimed wine cellar. The Executive Sous Chef will report directly to the Executive Chef to ensure quality standards are met, manage the team, and ensure the satisfaction and enjoyment of our guests.
Responsibilities:
- Collaborate with Restaurant Manager, Executive Chef, and Owners to achieve creative and financial objectives
- Work with Executive Chef to create a seasonal menu
- Supervise kitchen personnel to assure quality and flavor
- Assist in hiring, training, scheduling and management of back-of-house employees
- Work with beverage manager and sommelier to create innovative wine pairings
- Supervise inventory and ordering of all kitchen ingredients
Qualifications:
- 5+ years of experience in back of house position with minimum of two years of management experience in a fine dining setting
- Bachelor’s Degree or degree from post-secondary culinary arts training program
- Knowledge of sustainable sourcing
- Knowledge of regional cuisines
The job description indicates that the perfect candidate would have the following characteristics, expertise, and experience:
- Experience in creating high-quality local cuisine
- Experience in managing and training kitchen staff
- Experience in administrative tasks necessary for kitchen operations
- Collaborative, creative, and responsible
The details that this employer has included in their description provides all of the information you need to understand exactly what the job is and what type of dining establishment and cuisine they are. By extracting the points that they have stressed and including them on your resume, you make clear that you are up to the job. Here is an example:
Chef Work Experience Example
Sous Chef
Farm and the Fisherman, March 2016 — Present
- Collaborated with restaurant management to create innovative, seasonal farm-to-table menu from locally-sourced ingredients.
- Sourced high-quality ingredients from local farmers and purveyors with an eye to budget
- Onboarded, mentored and trained new kitchen staff, ensuring that they worked collaboratively and with an eye to providing restaurant guests with an enjoyable dining experience.