RESUME OBJECTIVE

Professional Chef with 7+ years of extensive experience in Southern Cuisine. Capable of managing dining services of up to 100 tables while managing and motivating staff to perform to the best of abilities across every service. Consistently create new recipes and menus, implementing seasonal ingredients and modern techniques.

CERTIFICATIONS

• 2019 Certified Executive Chef (CEC)
• 2014 Certified Sous Chef (CSC)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

HERBSAINT – New Orleans, LA

Executive Chef                                                                                                             November 2019–Present

• Oversaw food preparation and production during COVID-19, ensuring 100% food safety procedures were followed
• Trained 8 staff members to quickly adapt to takeout service during pandemic, resulting in sales of $10,000+ per day
• Developed process that reduced waste by 40% and improved supply turnover by 70%
• Re-developed entire menu in 2019, increasing sales revenue by 150%
• Interviewed, hired, trained, and directed all staff members since 2019, improving kitchen operational flow by 50%, while maintaining 100% employee retention

THE RUM HOUSE – New Orleans, LA

Sous Chef                                                                                                                     May 2014–Oct 2019

• Maintained an A rating with the Department of Health by standardizing cleaning procedures
• Mentored and trained 4 junior staff, improving performance by 20%
• Prepared meals for lunch and dining services with an average of 100 tables per day
• Managed relationships with vendors, negotiating prices of ingredients and equipment that resulted in 10% savings on budget
• Collaborated with Head Chef in menu design and innovative recipes

EDUCATION

SCOTTSDALE CULINARY INSTITUTE – Scottsdale, AZ

Associate’s Degree in Culinary Arts, May 2014

Food Science Certificate, May 2014

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

• Specialized in Southern Cuisine
• Currently training in Latin American Cuisine
• Deep experience with pastry and baking
• Expert in knifework
• Experienced in leadership, adaptability, and collaboration

AWARDS

TOP CHEF

Top Chef’s Magazine, November 2020

Four chef resume writing tips

Before you start writing, make sure you know how to write a resume in a way that best emphasizes your strengths.

1. Display your certifications and skills

The fastest way to boost your resume is to list your certifications, and create a strong resume skills section. You should consider earning certifications if you don’t have any.

A certifications section is only one section of a resume — you also need to understand which hard and soft skills you should include, and how.

A chef resume should always include hard and soft skills.

Hard skills are techniques or knowledge you learned from training or schooling. Chefs are experts in the culinary industry, and have extensive knowledge of food, business, and safety guidelines. Have a look at our list of hard skills for a chef resume:

• Menu creation
• Culinary expertise
• Management skills
• Customer service skills
• Supply management
• Certifications
• Food sanitation
• Knowledge of food trends

Soft skills are character traits that show how you interact with others at the workplace. Chefs need soft skills because they need to delegate many tasks and ensure everyone works harmoniously. Here’s a list of soft skills for chefs:

• Organization skills
• Time management skills
• Interpersonal skills
• People skills
• Leadership skills
• Adaptability
• Communication skills
• Attention to detail

Emphasizing these key skills on your chef resume gives you an edge, because being a good chef requires not only a talented palate but also leadership, organization, and hard work.

These are the career and salary prospects for chefs in 2020:

Employment for chefs is projected to grow 6 percent from 2019 to 2029.

2. Open your resume with a resume objective

A resume objective gives hiring managers a reason to continue reading your resume. The candidate in the sample above has written an effective resume objective, for these reasons:

• They describe their years of experience as well as the kind of food that they specialize in
• They show the scope of what they can handle by including how many tables they can serve
• They mention their innovation and creativity in using ingredients to create new menus

As you can see, they’ve persuasively demonstrated why they’d be a good candidate for the job. Hiring managers who see their resume will continue reading their resume to learn more about their skills, achievements, and experience.

3. Target your work experience bullets to the job ad

Back up the claims you made in your resume objective with examples in your work history section, listing them in a bullet format.

Below, we highlight the three strongest bullet points from the above chef resume sample. We also bold the strongest parts of each bullet point:

Redeveloped entire menu in 2019, increasing sales revenue by 150%

The above bullet point proves that the candidate can create new dishes rather than just follow instructions by only cooking the same dishes. The candidate also shows that they can create new products that attract new customers, stick to the restaurant’s budget, and increase profits.

Overall, this candidate proves they know how to make a restaurant stay profitable by providing great food.

Notice how the sales increase is quantified — you should include accomplishments on your resume in the same way by providing numerical values describing your work experience.

Developed process that reduced waste by 40% and improved supply turnover by 70%

As shown above, the chef’s ability to decrease waste not only helps with the restaurant’s profits but also supports the environment.

Managed relationships with vendors, negotiating prices of ingredients and equipment that resulted in 10% savings on budget

Here, the candidate illustrates that they understand how to cut expenses for the restaurant, helping it remain profitable.

4. Use action verbs for an impactful resume

Each bullet point should start with an action verb — a verb that begins your bullet points and adds depth and detail to your resume. We list the most common action verbs chef resumes use:

• Accomplish
• Assist
• Clean
• Cook
• Create
• Delegate
• Deliver
• Designate
• Develop

• Ensure
• Provide
• Prepare
• Organize
• Manage
• Meet
• Record
• Supervise
• Train