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Chef Resume Example and Tips

A chef is at the heart of a restaurant, preparing meals, developing new dishes and menus, and guiding the overall direction of the kitchen. Chefs must also manage and mentor subordinates, and collaborate with restaurant marketing and sales teams to keep up with food trends and cooking styles.

Keep these tips and our resume examples in mind to create the perfect resume, helping you move forward in your culinary career.

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Chef Chronological Resume Sample

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Featured resume example: chef

Chef Chronological Resume Sample

Name: ANGELICA BRANNEN

Address: City, State, Zip Code
Phone: 000-000-0000
E-Mail: email@email.com

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Accomplished Chef with 13 years of comprehensive experience working in food service industry. Adept at strictly monitoring kitchen activities and meeting health code standards. Specialties in Italian and American cuisine. Strong organizational, leadership and management skills. Ready for new challenge creating tasty meals for successful establishment.

WORK HISTORY

Chef
Company Name, City, State 07/2014 – Current
  • Developed and cooked exciting, memorable dishes that brought new customers into establishment and bolstered restaurant revenues to $3.5 million per year.
  • Mentored more than 10 kitchen staff at all levels to prepare each for demanding roles.
  • Spearheaded menu planning, recipe development and day-today management for two locations, as well as catering operations
Chef
Company Name, City, State 03/2011 – 06/2014
  • Hired, trained and managed all kitchen staff, including employee development, issuing disciplinary action and conducting performance reviews
  • Planned promotional menu additions based on seasonal pricing and product availability
  • Introduced new market items and spearheaded production of highly popular Sunday brunch generating an increase of 15% in monthly revenue.
Sous Chef
Company Name, City, State 07/2007 – 12/2010
  • Assisted with the development of full, tasting, and special events menus to meet all establishment needs and maintain strong customer levels.
  • Plated every dish with attractive flair to meet strict restaurant standards and maintain stellar business reputation
  • Acted as head chef when required to maintain continuity of service and quality.

SKILLS

  • Recipes and menu planning
  • Signature dish creation
  • Fine-dining expertise
  • Specialty in Italian food
  • Team leadership
  • Operations management
  • Effective communications
  • Quality standards

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science : Culinary Arts And Science, City, State
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Top 4 characteristics of a best-in-class chef resume

  1. Summary The summary statement should provide a quick scan of the work experiences, qualifications and skill sets that make you stand out. In a few short sentences, describe your relevant skills, as well as accomplishments achieved in the culinary field, such as recognition in a restaurant review, being featured in a cooking blog or as a judge on a cooking contest panel.
  2. Skills Mention your specific cooking expertise alongside soft skills that are necessary for a chef role, such as efficiency and reliability in delivering meals, communicating with customers, and being adept at issue resolution. If you specialize in a certain cuisine or cooking style, such as “pastries,” “baking,” “desserts,” “Italian” or “Chinese” provide details on your particular skills in those areas (e.g., “Specializing in Hunan Chinese cuisine”).
  3. Work history Keep your work history list to the last ten years, and focus on accomplishments rather than standard daily tasks. Any awards or recognition you’ve received in previous gigs should be mentioned, such as “Featured in ABC City News’ ‘Top 10 Restaurant Chefs Across the State’ list” while creating your resume.
  4. Education Most chef roles require a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts or an equivalent course, depending on your specialization. Be sure to include any additional courses you’ve taken (e.g., baking, pastry) or any certifications you’ve gained (e.g., Certified Personal Chef), including the institutions where you’ve had these studies.

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Find the right template for your resume

To create a professional resume that also clearly displays your credentials, use these templates in our resume builder.

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Chef Chronological Resume Example

Contempo

This resume layout uses color for section headers, drawing attention to each vital piece of information on your resume.

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Chef Functional Resume Example

Esteemed

This template’s attention-catching design literally “connects the dots” from your professional summary to your skills section. Each section heading gets a color font, making your document a breeze to scan.

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Chef Combination Resume Example

Knowledgeable

This template uses simple shaded headers to differentiate each section, effectively organizing your details.

For more free resume designs you can customize, visit our resume templates page.

Do’s and don’ts for your resume

  • DO make sure your resume isn’t too long or verbose Employers take a few seconds to glance through a resume — make those seconds count by not weighing it down with excessive amounts of information. Focus on skills and experiences that most directly connect to the position you’re applying for, and do away with explaining mundane tasks in previous jobs, or mentioning activities or skills that don’t apply to the new job.
  • DO remember to proofread your resume before you submit it Punctuation, grammar or accuracy errors in a resume can leave a negative impression on hiring managers. Take the time to use a spell checker and re-read your resume, making sure all your details are correct and address the requirements of the job.
  • DO build different resumes for different job openings No job is exactly the same as another; even two chef jobs will have different requirements. Get in the habit of creating different versions of your resume for different job openings, adjusting your summary, skills and work experience sections to best fit the particular job. For example, for a job that lists “experience in a food preparation position” as a major requirement, highlight your own experiences with food preparation in your resume: “Hard-working chef with three years’ experience with all phases of food preparation and kitchen operation.”
  • DON’T forget to include industry-relevant soft skills Being a chef isn’t just about dazzling cooking techniques — it’s also about the intangible skills you bring to the table, such as being able to handle customers and work alongside other restaurant employees. Include soft skills such as time management, excellent communication skills and the ability to multitask.
  • DON’T overlook impact verbs Chefs should demonstrate leadership and proactive management, and one way to get this across in your resume is to use strong action verbs. These verbs will energize your achievements and place you at the center of your own success. For instance, “Managed a restaurant that earned recognition in national cooking blog” leaves a better impression than “Was chef in restaurant that gained recognition in national cooking blog”. Use words like “managed,” “delegated” and “assigned” to give your resume a more persuasive edge.
  • DON’T forget to list extra certifications that relate to the job For instance, a certification in business management might not seem to relate with a chef role, but such training could be a plus when it comes to assisting with restaurant management. Internship experiences and accomplishments are also worth mentioning, as they indicate your ability to learn on the job.

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