Commis or Demi Chef de Partie
Sections worked, kitchens trained in and consistency. Named venues and techniques carry the CV.
Job role · Hospitality
Chef CV writing
A Chef CV is judged on the kitchens you have worked in, the section or brigade you ran, and the numbers behind the pass. Cuisine and covers come first. Adjectives about passion come nowhere.
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Quick answer
A Chef CV should lead with your cuisine, the style and level of the kitchens you have worked in, and your highest position in the brigade. Each role needs covers per service, brigade size and outlet type. From sous chef upward, add food cost, GP% and waste figures, because owners hire senior chefs on margin as much as on cooking.
Overview
Chef covers commis to executive chef, and hotel banqueting to fine dining to high-volume casual. Recruiters sort on three things: the style and level of the kitchens, the volume you cooked for, and your position in the brigade. From sous chef upward, food cost and gross profit matter as much as the food, and a CV that cannot show both rarely gets a trial shift.
What employers screen for
What a Chef CV has to prove.
- Kitchen type and level: fine dining, hotel, banqueting, casual dining, contract catering or QSR
- Cuisine and techniques, stated specifically
- Covers per service or per day, and the size of the brigade
- Section held, or your position in the brigade
- Food cost, GP% and waste control from sous chef upward
- Food safety certification and HACCP responsibility
Positioning
How to position the CV.
Open with cuisine, kitchen style and your highest position, then give each role a context line: outlet type, covers and brigade size. Senior chefs should put GP% and menu engineering in the bullets, because owners and hotel F&B directors hire on margin. The trial shift will test the cooking; the CV has to earn the trial.
Skills worth naming
- Menu development and dish costing
- Food cost control and GP% management
- Brigade leadership and rota planning
- HACCP and food safety management
- Stock control, ordering and supplier management
- Banqueting and high-volume production
- Specific cuisines and techniques
- Allergen management and labelling
Keywords an ATS looks for
Use these where they are true. Keywords carry weight when the experience behind them is visible, and none at all when they are stacked in a list.
- chef
- menu development
- food cost control
- HACCP
- kitchen management
- food safety
- banqueting
- stock control
Achievement examples
What a strong bullet looks like.
These are written in the shape a Chef bullet should take: the situation, the decision, and what moved. Use them as a pattern, never as text to copy.
- 01
Sous chef in a 140-seat restaurant serving up to 350 covers on Saturdays, running a brigade of 9 across two services.
- 02
Re-engineered the à la carte menu around six higher-margin dishes, lifting food GP from 64% to 71% in one quarter without a price increase.
- 03
Introduced prep sheets and FIFO date labelling that cut weekly food waste from around $1,900 to $800.
- 04
Led banqueting production for events of up to 600 guests, including plated dinners for 400 served within a 20-minute window.
Chef Positioning
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Seniority
What changes as you move up.
Chef de Partie
Owning a section through service, training commis and running mise en place. Say which section and at what volume.
Sous Chef
Running the kitchen in the head chef's absence, rotas, ordering and the first numbers: food cost, waste and labour.
Head or Executive Chef
Menu direction, GP%, labour cost, supplier contracts and multi-outlet leadership. The CV reads like a business owner's as much as a cook's.
Mistakes
What costs Chef candidates interviews.
- No covers, brigade size or outlet type, so the reader cannot judge the level of the kitchen
- Listing every cuisine you have ever cooked instead of the ones you want to be hired for
- No food cost or GP% at sous chef level or above
- Duties like "prepared food to a high standard" in place of results
- Leaving out food safety certification and HACCP responsibility
FAQ
Chef CV questions
What should a chef put on a CV?
A chef should put kitchen style, cuisine, position, covers and brigade size for every role, plus food safety certifications and the techniques they want to be hired for. Sous chefs and above should add food cost, GP%, menu development and staff leadership. A short line describing each venue helps employers who do not know it. Skip long objective statements about passion.
How do I write a chef CV for hotel jobs abroad?
Emphasise volume, consistency and standards, because hotel kitchens run several outlets, banqueting and room service at once. Show covers, event sizes, brigade sizes and the brands or categories of hotel you worked in. Name the food safety systems you worked under, such as HACCP. Work permission and trade recognition vary by country, so check those on official government sources.
Should a chef include photos of dishes on a CV?
Not on the CV itself, but a link to a short portfolio or Instagram showing your own plates is useful, especially for fine dining and pastry roles. Keep it to work you actually produced and say which venue each dish comes from. The CV still has to carry covers, brigade and cost figures, since photos cannot show those.
How do I show food cost control on a chef CV?
Give the before and after figure and what you changed. For example: "Brought food cost from 36% to 30% over two quarters by renegotiating two supplier contracts and costing every dish on the menu." If you do not have exact figures, use weekly waste, stock variance or GP% ranges you can defend in an interview.
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