Chef Skills for a Resume
Restaurants hire chefs who cook consistently, run a clean, organized kitchen and control costs. Show your kitchen's style and size, your covers and your results on food cost, quality and team.
Updated
13 skills at a glance
Hard skills
What the work takes, how a hiring manager judges each skill, and a bullet point that shows it.
Cooking techniques and stations
Name the stations you can run and the style of cooking.
Example bullet pointRan the grill, sauté and pastry stations in a 120-cover bistro.
Food cost and inventory control
Give your food cost against target and what you changed to reach it.
Example bullet pointBrought food cost from 34% to 29% with recipe costing, portion control and weekly counts.
Ordering and supplier management
Show how you buy well and keep the walk-in full without waste.
Example bullet pointBuilt relationships with three local farms for seasonal produce at better prices.
Food safety and sanitation
Mention your certificate and your inspection results.
Example bullet pointKept a clean kitchen with top marks on every health inspection.
Knife skills
Show precision and speed in prep that the team relies on.
Example bullet pointPrepped vegetables and broke down whole fish and poultry for 300 covers a day.
Kitchen scheduling
Show how you staff the kitchen to demand while controlling labor.
Example bullet pointScheduled a team of 12 cooks around bookings, keeping labor within budget.
Allergy management
Show the system you use so that guests with allergies are served safely.
Example bullet pointSet up an allergen chart and ticket flags so allergy orders were prepared and plated separately.
Soft skills
Shown through what you did, never claimed as adjectives.
Leadership
Show the team you lead and how the kitchen runs because of it.
Example bullet pointLed a kitchen of eight through a full menu change with no rise in ticket times.
Calm under pressure
Describe a busy service or a problem you handled calmly.
Example bullet pointKept the line running when two cooks called out on a sold-out Saturday.
Creativity
Show dishes or specials you created and how guests responded.
Example bullet pointCreated weekly specials from surplus stock that sold out most nights.
Consistency
Show that your dishes taste and look the same every time.
Example bullet pointWrote recipe cards with photos so that any cook plated every dish the same way.
Teamwork
Show how you work with the front of house and train your cooks.
Example bullet pointTrained line cooks on new dishes before each menu launch and ran tastings for servers.
Licenses and certifications
Give them a section of their own, with who issued each one and the year or expiry date.
- ServSafe Food Protection Manager
- Food handler card
- American Culinary Federation certification (such as Certified Sous Chef)
Keywords from chef job postings
Use the ones that are true for you, in your bullet points as well as your skills list.
- covers
- food cost
- specials
- menu
- health inspection
- line cooks
- stations
- kitchen
- team
Each posting has its own words. Our guide to tailoring your resume to a job description shows how to find them and where to put them.
Where to put your skills
- In a skills section: a short list of the hard skills the posting names, in its words.
- In your bullet points: every skill that matters should show up in something you did, with a result. That is where a hiring manager believes it.
- In your summary: two or three of the skills the job asks for most.
More on choosing them in how to choose and prove the skills on your resume.
Questions
What skills should a chef put on a resume?
Cooking techniques and stations, menu development, food cost and inventory, ordering, food safety, knife skills, kitchen scheduling and allergy management, plus leadership and calm under pressure.
Which numbers can a chef use?
Covers a service, food and labor cost percentages, inspection results and sales of your dishes.
Should I include a food safety certificate?
Yes. A food protection manager certificate, such as ServSafe, is often required of kitchen leaders.
Put them to work
Start from a chef resume that already uses these skills, for an invented person, and make it yours in the builder.