A chef resume represents a concise synopsis of your professional career, designed to demonstrate to recruiters what makes you a good job candidate. When written correctly, this document will highlight your key qualifications to help you land a job interview and, ultimately, the role you’re after.
In this article, we’ll go step-by-step through all the key parts of your chef resume to teach you how to write it. We’ll also analyze examples to show you what works and explain the nuances of resume writing. Let’s begin!
Key Takeaways
Most candidates should use the chronological format for their chef resume, while functional and hybrid formats are good in specific instances.
A catchy resume objective or summary highlighting your key strengths will help you grab the recruiter’s attention.
Work history is usually the most important section in a resume, and it should showcase your most impressive accomplishments over everyday tasks.
Submitting a well-written chef cover letter with your resume demonstrates dedication and helps you get ahead of the competition.
Exemplary Chef Resume Example
Before we delve into the specifics, here’s a complete example of a chef resume to help you better understand the guide that follows:
Now that you’ve seen what the final product should look like, it’s time to learn how to create your own culinary resume with a step-by-step guide.
What Format to Use for a Chef Resume
The best chef resume format for most professionals looking for a job is chronological. This is an established format that presents your work history in reverse chronological order. That way, it creates an orderly depiction of your career’s progress, making it easy for recruiters to analyze your culinary achievements and gauge your competence.
On top of being easily scanned and examined by recruiters, this format is also compatible with the ATS, so it will help you pass the software screening.
In addition to the chronological, there are two other resume formats to consider in specific cases:
Two Other Popular Formats
Functional. This is the go-to format for entry-level chefs with no work history. The format puts skills front and center, helping you focus on your biggest strengths when you’re just entering the industry.
Combination. This format is great for chefs with employment gaps. It makes your skills the main section, but it backs up each skill with a list of achievements, emphasizing your experience but removing the chronological aspect.
Chef Resume Layout
Resume layout refers to the visual arrangement and aesthetic of the document. A clean and professional layout makes your chef resume pleasant to look at and easy to read.
Here are some tips on how you can achieve that:
Resume Layout Tips
Your resume should be one page long unless the job ad requires otherwise.
Pick a suitable font for your resume (e.g., Arial or Helvetica).
Set the font size between 10 and 12 pt for optimal readability.
Margins should be the same on all sides and at least 1 inch wide.
Line spacing should be 1.0 or 1.15.
Use white space to divide sections elegantly.
Chef Resume Mandatory and Optional Sections
Every chef resume consists of mandatory and optional sections.
Five must-have sections are:
Resume Mandatory Sections
Contact information
Resume objective or summary
Work experience
Education
Skills
Optional sections can vary based on your qualifications and job requirements. Some optional sections to consider are:
Resume Optional Sections
Certifications
Languages
Hobbies and interests
If you don’t want to format your resume from scratch or keep track of which sections to include, you should try using our resume builder. It’s a tailor-made software solution with professional chef resume templates designed for convenience.
Simply choose a template you like, input your details in predesignated areas, customize the layout if you want, and you’ll have a finished resume in minutes!
Chef Resume Template
Check out an example of a chef resume template that you can use when creating the document with our software:
Chef Resume Template
Name and Surname
Phone number: 000-000-0000 | Email: namesurname@gmail.com | Location: City, State
[Adjective] [your job title] with [years of experience, if applicable] in [your area of expertise, if applicable] looking for a [position] job at [company name]. Eager to apply [relevant skills] gained through [work/volunteer/other experience] to help [company name] [mention what you can do for the company].
Work Experience
Most Recent/Current Job Title Company City, State [Start date] — [End date]
For recent jobs, use 5-6 bullet points to list your top achievements and responsibilities
Use action verbs to make your responsibilities and achievements stand out
Add numbers to quantify your achievements
Previous Job Title Company City, State [Start date] — [End date]
For recent jobs, use 5-6 bullet points to list your top achievements and responsibilities
Use action verbs to make your responsibilities and achievements stand out
Add numbers to quantify your achievements
Oldest Job Title Company City, State [Start date] — [End date]
For older jobs, use 2-3 bullet points to list your top achievements and responsibilities
Use action verbs to make your responsibilities and achievements stand out
Add numbers to quantify your achievements
Education
[Degree] in [Major] [University/college name] [Start date] - [Graduation date]
Skills
Soft Skills
Skill #1
Skill #2
Skill #3
Skill #4
Skill #5
Hard Skills
Skill #1
Skill #2
Skill #3
Skill #4
Skill #5
Additional Sections
Add any relevant additional sections (languages, licenses, publications, hobbies, etc.)
Resume templates
Resume templates that are designed to help you win a jobResume Contact Information
Contact information is a straightforward section that goes in the resume header.
You want to simply list the following details:
Header Mandatory Details
Your name
Job title
Phone number
Email
Additionally, you can include your mailing address, LinkedIn, relevant social media, portfolio, or similar details that can be required by the job ad or are important for your application.
Let’s see what that looks like in an example:
Header Example
Ruth McGinty Chef + 713 291 9840 ruthmcginty@example.com linkedin.com/in/ruth.mcginty Houston, TX
You should avoid adding irrelevant details (e.g., unrelated social media accounts), unprofessional email addresses, or sensitive personal information (including your photo).
Resume Objective and Summary
The resume objective and summary are introduction sections of your document. They are meant to grab the recruiter’s attention with your key strengths, persuading them to closely examine the rest of it.
Entry-level candidates should write a resume objective to emphasize their skills and career goals. Experienced chefs should use a resume summary to highlight one or two of their most notable accomplishments.
Chef Resume Objective
A chef resume objective should highlight your skills and motivation. This is best done by listing a couple of your abilities most relevant to the role and stating your career goals.
Here’s a good example:
Chef Resume Objective Example
Recent graduate with an Associate of Science in Culinary Arts seeking an entry-level Chef position at The Lion’s Den. Exceptional customer service skills polished during three years of work as a server. Adept at working in high-volume food service environments. Looking to contribute to your establishment on the road to becoming head chef.
Let’s compare that with a bad example of a resume objective that outlines no concrete skills or career objectives:
Bad Example
Entry-level chef looking for their first job. No experience, but I’m a fast learner.
Chef Resume Summary
A chef resume summary should give recruiters a quick rundown of your accomplishments by emphasizing a couple of the most prominent ones.
Let’s start with a good example:
Chef Resume Summary Example
Detail-oriented chef with more than 7 years of professional experience looking to join The Forni. In a previous role, trained and led a team of 11 professionals with a 25% uptick in productivity. Managed the supply budget to save the restaurant $13K per year. Eager to bring in-depth expertise in Mediterranean cuisine to your esteemed establishment.
If your resume summary doesn’t have any concrete accomplishments, you’ll end up with a poorly written introduction, as shown in this example of a bad summary:
Bad Example
Seasoned chef with kitchen and management experience looking for a senior role.
How to Add Professional Chef Experience to Your Resume
Professional experience is usually the most important section in the document. It’s the best way to emphasize your competence, whether you’re writing a sous chef resume, a head chef resume, or one for an entry-level role, so let’s find out how to make it perfect.
General Tips
The most common method of showcasing your work experience is by listing your previous employment in reverse chronological order. Focus on quality over quantity and only include those jobs relevant to the one you’re applying for.
For each role, you want to add the following details:
Work Experience Mandatory Details
Job title
Company name
Employment dates
Achievements and results
Here are some additional tips on how you can turn this section from good to outstanding:
Tips to Highlight Your Accomplishments
Focus on exceptional achievements and results over everyday tasks and assignments.
Use bullet points instead of blocks of text to enhance readability and visual appeal.
Include between 3–5 bullet points for each job.
Quantify your results with numbers and statistics to add believability and make them concrete.
Leverage action verbs and power words to make your writing stand out and be more memorable.
Chef With Little to No Experience
If you have little to no professional kitchen experience, you can leverage other activities to write a compelling work history section in your cook resume. This includes internships, freelance and volunteering efforts, and previous jobs related to the chef’s role.
In this example, a candidate added their restaurant experience to a resume, demonstrating their potential to be a strong entry-level chef:
Chef With No Experience Example
Work Experience
Server The Sunflower Hotel Denver, CO
October 2022–November 2024
Knew 45+ menu items by memory, providing tailored suggestions based on customer preferences and food allergies.
Boosted sales by 7% on average by promoting high-margin food items and matching beverages.
Streamlined customer greeting and order forwarding to kitchen staff to improve efficiency and reduce food wait times by 9 minutes.
Experienced Chef
As an experienced chef, you want to demonstrate a wide assortment of skills that range from technical to organizational. This will help portray you as a well-rounded professional who can deliver exceptional value to the establishment.
Let’s see that in an example:
Experienced Chef Example
Work Experience
Chef The Greenwich Houston, TX
October 2016–Present
Expanded the restaurant menu to include exotic Mediterranean dishes, boosting sales by 21%.
Created a streamlined list of daily assignments for each culinary professional, reducing preparation times and boosting productivity by 25%.
Collaborated with the HR department to recruit seven employees and help with their onboarding, reducing time to productivity by 23% on average.
Chef Resume Education Section
The education section of your chef resume serves to validate your knowledge and expertise. If you’re an experienced cook, this section should be brief and only outline the following details:
Education Section Mandatory Details
Your degree
The institution issuing it
Years of attendance
Let’s see that in an example:
Education Example
Education
Associate of Science in Culinary Arts Houston Community College, Houston, TX 2012–2015
However, if you’re an entry-level candidate with a modest work history, this section can be more important. In that case, you should add a bullet list of academic accomplishments, including achievements like a high GPA, extracurricular activities, relevant coursework, school projects, and similar.
If you’re still a student looking for your first job, you can also add a degree that you haven’t obtained yet but are working toward. To do this, you can either mention an expected graduation date and mark it as such or simply place “current” instead.
Chef Resume Skills
Your chef resume skills should be tailored to the role you’re after. That’s why you research the company you want to join and read their job ad carefully. This will allow you to determine which abilities recruiters look for the most in candidates.
Once you have a tailored collection, you should list hard and soft skills separately in the skills section to demonstrate both your job-specific qualifications and interpersonal competence.
On top of that, you want to substantiate your skills by associating them with relevant accomplishments. This is best done in your resume summary and work experience sections. Mention a skill before pointing out an impressive result, and you’ll turn a vague claim of competence into solid proof.
Here’s a good example of a candidate validating their management skills:
Management Skills Example
Managed a team of 15 kitchen staff to achieve a 23% increase in productivity compared to the previous year.
However, if you don’t specify the accomplishment or quantify it with numbers, you’ll end up with a poor demonstration of your skills, like in this example:
Bad Example
Managed kitchen staff.
Hard Skills
Here are some job-specific hard skills you can consider adding to your chef resume:
Chef Hard Skills Examples
Food preparation
Knife safety
Fine dining
Kitchen equipment
High-volume foodservice
Customer service
Budgeting
Inventory management
Soft Skills
Soft skills are typically obtained through experience and are transferable between roles. Here are some of the most sought-after soft skills for your cook resume:
Chef Soft Skills Examples
Communication
Organization
Attention to detail
Collaboration
Problem-solving
Time management
What Other Sections Can You Add to Your Chef Resume
Optional sections complement mandatory ones to provide a complete picture of who you are as a professional. Let’s explore some of the most typical optional sections to consider adding to your resume.
Certifications
Certifications are proof of specialized knowledge and skills. They can validate different aspects of your work, including culinary skills, expertise in specific techniques, and safety proficiency.
Certifications from notable institutions, such as the American Culinary Federation, can significantly improve your chances of landing the role. When listing certifications on your resume, make sure to include the name of the certification, the institution issuing it, and the issuing and expiration dates.
Languages
Kitchens are often multicultural environments in which communication is key for optimal efficiency. Proficiency in foreign languages helps chefs interact with team members and clients and understand them on a deeper level.
When adding language skills to your cook resume, you want to use an established framework of reference and list the languages in descending order, starting with the one you’re most proficient in.
Hobbies & Interests
Hobbies and interests offer a glimpse into your personality, making your chef resume more memorable. Moreover, if a hobby aligns with your career, it can contribute to your application. For instance, traveling can expose you to different cultures and cuisines, while photography might indicate creativity and attention to detail.
Do I Need a Cover Letter as a Chef?
Submitting a chef cover letter alongside your resume demonstrates drive and commitment. You’ll show a willingness to go the extra mile to get the job by writing an additional document that’s typically optional.
On top of that, a cover letter gives you the opportunity to talk about additional skills and experiences that you didn’t mention in your chef resume. Also, a more relaxed character of a cover letter compared to the resume’s professional nature leaves room to let your personality shine through and leave a lasting impression on recruiters.
Cover letter templates
Create a cover letter by filling in a free template and sharing it for free4 Final Tips for Creating a Chef Resume
Before we conclude the article, here are several culinary resume tips that will help you perfect your document:
Chef Resume Tips
Emphasize soft skills. While not role-specific, soft skills can be the determining factor for recruiters and employers. If you’re a senior professional, you can emphasize your ability to lead and manage teams. As an entry-level candidate, you should showcase your collaboration capabilities.
Tailor your resume to each new job you apply for. Instead of writing a generic chef resume and submitting it to every application, take the time to tailor it based on the organization you want to join and the specific job requirements. It’s typically most important to modify your objective or summary, work experience, and skills sections.
Match your cover letter to your resume. Don’t just reuse the information from your resume in your cover letter, but include unique skills and accomplishments. Moreover, make sure that the tone of writing and the formats and layouts between the two documents align to create a cohesive application package.
Don’t include personal pronouns in your resume objective or summary. That way, you’re putting emphasis on what you have to contribute and how employers can benefit from hiring you, positioning yourself as a valuable hire.
Closing Thoughts
Chefs and head cooks have an 8% job outlook between 2023 and 2033, which is much faster than average. This amounts to about 24,600 new openings each year, and if you’re looking to get one of those spots, you should start with a strong chef resume.
Remember to focus on what recruiters are looking for and include the most relevant skills and experiences. Instead of haphazardly listing your qualifications, pinpoint the exact requirements through research to make your application stand out in the sea of other hospitality industry resumes. Best of luck landing your dream job!
