Chef career
by Josh Stone

The chef is an individual who takes care of the customers that are visiting to the restaurants and the hotels. He is the over all in charge of the kitchen. He has range of duties to serve. In short his nature of duties includes planning, preparation and execution. Here the word planning means the planning of food that is menu. Preparation of delicious food is his next prime responsibility and third duty is to execute all these duties in proper way.

Now days as the hotel industries are growing tremendously the job opportunities are increasing in this field. So choosing chef career is a challenging job and one can get satisfied and at the same time earn handsomely.

Nature of job

Chefs have to prepare seasonal foods ranging from soups to deserts and from Chinese dishes to continental dishes. Other workers in restaurant industry help them in cutting, peeling of the vegetables and arranging the tables and servicing the prepared dishes to the customers. Practically chefs carry out mixing and measuring the raw materials as per the recipes and cooking them according to the taste of customers. Their duty also includes assigning the various tasks to the fellow workers and estimating the raw vegetables and ordering them in prescribed time frame.

According to the survey carried out in 2004 there are 3 million jobs prescribed for the chefs and other staff of the restaurant industry. This figure is going to rise tremendously in coming years thus there are many opportunities for the young chefs to opt for the chef career. Of course there will be stiff competition to get the employment in top most restaurants and for that one has to work hard on his profession to get desired result. Restaurant industries are attracting many young people and enrolling them in major groups of hotels as pre the capabilities of the career seekers. Chef career involves great amount of money and they have more chances in acquiring promotions and other related benefits. Normally employers employ the staff and later on they train them in specific field. Chef career has various open opportunities to change one restaurant to another for the benefit of the invidual. Due to these reasons there are plenty of vacancies to be fulfilled.

Another field for chef career is of fast food as this field is improving day by day the requirement of chefs at various centers is increasing. Thus a trained chef has lot of options to enter into this career. Even though all these jobs involve hard work but at same times provide satisfaction to the chefs and also the money.

Even the bakery industries are on rise and needing specialist chefs who is master in bakery items to cater for the day-to-day requirements. Chef’s career is also available in grocery shops and at small hotels.

To have a greater scope as a chef it is better to opt for the various courses in hotel industries and such related diploma or the degree courses are available in all most all the institutions and collages. By doing such courses the chances of chef career improves and at the same time the individual has a choice to opt for the desired well-known restaurant.

This chef career also provides job security and other benefits like quarter, transportation and leave. The chefs that are employed in government restaurants have lot of benefits when compared to the private sector restaurants.

Career information

Career information for the chefs can be obtained from the following centers to have more opportunities. The following information is also helpful for the new students who have completed their collage recently and are eager to into the restaurant industries as a chef.

-National Restaurant Association,

1200 17th St

Washington , DC

This particular institution provides courses on chefs and cooks and the successful candidates are provided with certificates.

- American Personal Chef Association

4572 Delaware St. , San Diego

This above said associations caters for complete education for the chefs.

- International Council for Hotel and Restaurant,

2613 North Parham Rd. ,

2nd Floor, Richmond .

This council also provides a complete data on the chef’s career and job opportunities all over the world in major hotels and restaurants.

Categories of Chef

There are various categories of chefs that are enrolled in the restaurants to cater the daily needs of the industry. Here is a list that will help individual to select the required job that the individual as per his profession.

The sous chef

This category of chef is master the preparing activities like various dishes and also takes care over all supervision of the menu preparation. This position of sous chef requires experience of 10 to 12 years in restaurant industry.

The station chef

There are various types of the station chef and each one looks after the various dishes for example the sauce chef looks after all the different verities of sauces. In case fish chef he is in charge of all the fish related dishes. The same way are the vegetable chef, roast chef, pantry chef and the pastry chef.

There are various factors that decide the responsibilities of chef and those factors are given below for the benefit of the reader for selecting the chef career.

• The restaurants in which they are working.

• Number of restaurant staff if the staff members are less the chef has to carry out various jobs at a time. In case staff is more the chefs divide their workload among themselves.

• Type of restaurant that is a fast food, intercontinental, Chinese or the bakery.

• The area in which the restaurant is located.

• Number of average customers daily visiting the restaurant.

• Other facilities available with the restaurant like ballroom, orchestra, bar room etc.

• Status of the restaurant that is five stars, four stars or the three stars etc.

By seeing all the conditions and facilities available to chefs one can select this as a career .It is advised to all the reader that all above information is for the reference purpose only and is not to be treated as authority.


© 2005, BEST BUY UNIFORMS a division of COMMERCIAL TEXTILES CORPORATION.
All Rights Reserved.
The names, logos, taglines and icons identifying Best Buy Uniforms Online products and services are proprietary marks of BEST BUY UNIFORMS. All other trademarks and servicemarks are property of their respective owners

*e-mail steve@bestbuyuniforms.com for permission to use this article.

Chef Positions Explained   by Paul Hegeman

Ever wondered what makes a Sous Chef? Or what exactly a Garde Manger Chef does? Or whether Commis Chefs still exist after the demise of the USSR? Well look no further, all the titles and definitions are listed below.

Chef: The word in French is generally interpreted to mean boss, as when we say "chief" in English. However this can be confusing for our definitions here so please disregard this "loose" meaning.

Chef de Cuisine: A term used more so in larger restaurants, hotels and establishments with more than one location. This Chef is the CEO of the kitchen and often the restaurant. Not only are they the one who chooses the direction for the food and conceives the dishes for the menu but they are often the high profile Chef that the public will know, even though they are seldom in the kitchen and rarely cook.

Executive Chef: The top of the kitchen management structure. If there is a Chef de Cuisine present, the Executive Chef reports only to them, but since only the largest establishments actually have a Chef de Cuisine, the executive Chef is usually the top. He or she is the visionary leader, responsible for conceiving menu ideas, creating recipes, establishing standards, controlling costs and performing many administrative tasks. Due to all these responsibilities, they do very little actual cooking.

Head Chef: The title given to the Executive Chef or Chef de Cuisine of a small to medium sized operation. He or she is responsible for planning menus, liaising with suppliers, controlling budgets and managing staff. Normally you would not find a Head Chef and an Executive Chef in the same establishment.

Sous Chef: Literally translated means "under Chef". The Sous Chef is the second in charge. He or she is the hands on person; they do all the day to day management of the kitchen, are almost always in the kitchen and spend very little time in the office. They are regularly the most senior Chef in the kitchen and during busy periods often take the role expeditor. The Sous Chef's role as expeditor is to be the last checkpoint between kitchen and customer, ensuring that the restaurants high standard of food and timely delivery is being made. The Sous Chef might perform this role from the service side of the kitchen but may also do it while he or she cooks. The Sous Chef title can be preceded by the terms Executive, senior or junior, to designate a further specific hierarchy.

Chef de Partie: Literally translated means "Chef of Section" and refers to a Chef in charge of a certain section such as grill or sauté. Again this is a term that can have precedents such as Senior or Junior.

Commis Chef: These guys and gals are the junior staff in the kitchen yet do most of the work. Chances are the food you eat in restaurants has in 9 out of 10 cases been prepared by them under the watchful eye of their seniors.

Apprentice/Trainee Chefs: These are the chefs that are technically in training, although really the training never stops as all Chefs tend to continue to learn from one another. The duties assigned to Apprentice Chefs can test a young Chefs mettle, but these same duties lead to a great appreciation for their career choice as they advance up the hierarchy.

Pastry Chef: Is the king or Queen of the pastry section; they are responsible for all those decadent and impressive desserts and sweets you find in hotels and restaurants. Although listed here beneath the Apprentice/Trainee Chef, this is not the case. Depending on the size of the operation the pastry section can have its own hierarchy within, however the whole section most likely still reports to the Sous and Executive Chefs. The pastry section or often the pastry kitchen is a world unto its own and is usually separated slightly from the main kitchen. Just as the section physically differs, so to do its inhabitants. Pastry Chefs are cut of the same cloth as most Chefs and can function under high pressure and at a quick pace but they often possess a higher level of patience. Not all of the above terms will apply to all kitchens. As you can imagine a kitchen with only 3 staff has no need for a Chef de cuisine, an Executive Chef and a Senior Sous Chef.

The following titles refer to some of the many names given to chefs assigned to certain stations and not necessarily their place in the hierarchy.

Garde Manger Chef: Is responsible for the cold section and sometimes the pastry if there is no designated pastry chef.

Entre Metier Chef: Is responsible for the preparation of garnishes and vegetables.

Saucier Chef: Is responsible for sautéed items and most sauces.

About the Author

Paul is a professional Chef and has worked and travelled all over the world. He now resides full time in Sydney Australia. Paul works as a personal Chef as well as a food writer. His cooking style focuses on using the freshest ingredients possible and helping them work their magic, hi