There’s a lot to like about becoming a chef: you have the freedom to express your creativity through food, design unique dishes, and experiment with flavors. You can push boundaries, travel the world (everyone has to eat, right?), and gain fame and fortune for your delectable delights. But that’s just what you see on the dining room floor–you may not realize everything going on behind those swinging doors. So what are the duties of a chef?
A lot of your duties will depend on the size of your kitchen or restaurant, what kind of cuisine you serve, how often you’re open, your clientele, and so on. But no matter the specifics–a small fast-paced lunch counter or an immense high-end hotel eatery (which is also fast-paced), there are certain duties that must appear on a chef’s job description.
What are the Duties of a Chef?
The duties of a chef can vary depending on the establishment and the chef’s specific role within the kitchen: an executive chef won’t do the same kind of work as a sous chef. Here is a comprehensive list of common duties–almost a job description template–that chefs typically perform:
- Menu Planning
- Food Prep
- Cooking
- Kitchen Management
- Inventory Management
- Food Safety/Hygiene
- Costing/Budgeting
- Handling Pressure
Menu Planning
Menu planning for a restaurant is a crucial aspect that determines the success of a business. It goes beyond simply listing food and beverages; menu items require a strategic and creative mindset that takes various factors into account. From the restaurant’s concept and target audience to the cuisine and pricing, everything must come together seamlessly to create a balanced and enticing menu.
Moreover, seasonal ingredients, special dietary requests or restrictions, and culinary trends also play a significant role in planning menus and creating recipes. At the end of the day, the objective is to design a menu that reflects the restaurant’s identity, meets customer preferences, and ultimately generates profits. A well-planned menu has the potential to elevate the dining experience and keep customers coming back for more.
Food Preparation
Food preparation involves the process of getting ingredients ready for cooking or serving in a restaurant or culinary setting. As part of this process, the chef or kitchen staff oversees and actively participates in the various tasks required to ensure that the food meets the desired quality and presentation standards.
This includes tasks such as washing, peeling, cutting, chopping, marinating, seasoning, and cooking the ingredients according to the recipes and culinary techniques. The goal is to ensure that each dish is prepared to its best taste, texture, and appearance. While many of these tasks will be delegated, you’ll still need to be able to tell them how you want it done.
Cooking
Being a chef means taking on many responsibilities that revolve around cooking and the presentation of dishes. Whether it’s sautéing, grilling, baking, frying, or any other cooking technique, chefs handle it all. But being a chef isn’t just about cooking.
It’s also about ensuring that dishes are presented in a creative and visually appealing manner, with the highest quality, taste, and appearance in mind. As a chef, you’ll have to multitask and keep your creative juices flowing to prepare meals that satisfy even the most discerning of customers.
Kitchen Management
As a chef, your role will encompass much more than cooking up a storm. You will be leading a team of kitchen staff, managing schedules, and coordinating the entire workflow to ensure a seamless service. This means providing guidance and training to your team to help them improve their culinary skills and efficiency.
It also involves working with front-of-house staff to deliver a dining experience that will leave your customers satisfied. Additionally, you must keep up with the maintenance of kitchen equipment to ensure it functions properly at all times.
What are the Duties of Chef? Inventory Management
As a chef, one of the most crucial aspects of your job is ensuring that there is always enough food and supplies in the kitchen. To do this, the chef is responsible for monitoring and maintaining inventory levels regularly. This means setting up procedures and systems to keep track of what’s coming in and going out of the kitchen.
Building and maintaining relationships with suppliers is vital. A trusted supplier will ensure that the kitchen always has the freshest produce, which is essential to maintaining the quality of a restaurant’s dishes. Being proactive about managing inventory and cultivating strong relationships with vendors are just two of the many skills that will make you a great chef.
Food Safety and Hygiene
Proper food handling is of paramount importance in the kitchen. This means enforcing proper food safety and hygiene protocols, including storage, handling, and sanitation of your ingredients. This is to make sure you’re complying with health and safety regulations and any legal requirements related to food service. And it will keep your customers from getting sick–that’s a reputation no restaurant wants.
Menu Costing and Budgeting
Calculating food costs and implementing cost-effective measures without compromising quality. Managing kitchen expenses within the allocated budget so you can stay in operation–including strategies to minimize food waste in the kitchen. It can be a delicate balance between getting the best ingredients while also watching the bottom line.
Handling Pressure
If you’ve ever seen The Bear on Hulu, you have a pretty good idea about how hectic a professional kitchen can be. Working well under pressure during busy service times goes a long way to keeping the kitchen in tight, working order. This includes being open to and acting upon customer feedback to improve the dining experience.
These duties highlight the diverse and multifaceted role of a chef, who not only possesses culinary expertise but also managerial, creative, and leadership skills to ensure the success of a restaurant or culinary establishment.
What are the Duties of a Chef? Learn Them All With CASA
The Chef Apprentice School of Culinary Arts boasts an invaluable learning experience for aspiring chefs. Not only do you get paired with a mentor, a knowledgeable professional in the food industry, but you also receive one-on-one education about how modern kitchens operate. Your progress is continually monitored, allowing for immediate feedback, and any questions you have are quickly answered.
And you’ll do it from an operational, real-world kitchen. A classroom kitchen may have all of the trappings of a commercial kitchen, but it just can’t emulate an actual working environment. You’ll learn from your mentor in their kitchen and eventually work during open hours. Why spend years getting a degree in culinary arts when you can get practical experience from within the industry? Get started today.
