Chief Cook

**Chief Cook skills and qualifications**

Chief Cooks must exercise the following qualities and skills:

- be prepared to avoid foodborne illnessKnowledge of safety procedures, including safe temperatures at which ingredients must be kept and to which food must be prepared to avoid foodborne illness.
- Ability to work as part of a team, collaborating on complex dishes
- Interpersonal skills to interact with a variety of other people, such as waitstaff, dishwashers, management and sometimes customers
- Calm demeanor to work in a high-stress, fast-paced environment
- Accountability for the dishes they prepare measuring up to the expectations of management and customers alike
- Comprehension and organization to follow direct orders and recipes and to correctly prepare dishes to the standards of the restaurant Manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination to handle tools
- Ability to stand in one place for hours at a time, handle extreme heat and work shifts

**Chief Cook salary expectations**

A Chief Cook makes an average salary of $3,000 to S$3,600 per month. Pay may depend on level of experience, education and the geographical location.

**Chief Cook education and training requirements**

Working as a chief cook requires a minimum of a high school diploma to fulfill the basic skills and knowledge required for the job. Vocational or technical school diplomas are preferred, as is some experience in a similar position.

**Chief Cook experience requirements**

**Duties and Responsibilities of a Chief Cook in a Professional Kitchen**

A typical day for a cook can be very busy and demanding. The cook is expected to handle many different duties and responsibilities including;

Overseeing Subordinates

This is one of the key duties of a professional cook. As a cook, you are responsible for overseeing all individuals who work in the kitchen under your mandate. By effect, the cook will oversee meal and ingredients preparation, timeliness, final presentation, and sanitary issues just to name a few. In essence, the cook should ensure that everyone under his charge is upholding the high standards of the kitchen.

Planning

The chief cook does a lot of planning, particularly regarding the menu items and incase the facility wishes to offer any specials to its customers. Apart from planning the menu, the chief cook also comes up with recipes with or without the input of his assistants. The chief cook will, therefore, spend hours perfecting the recipe to ensure that it is up to the quality they want and that meal preps can execute the recipes in a timely manner.

Leadership

Having that the cook is in charge of creating the menu and the recipes, they may also choose to participate in preparing some of the menu items from time to time. This is a great way for the cook to lead their subordinates by example and ensuring that the kitchen is harmonious. It is also a great way for the cook to pass on skills and techniques.

Administration

The chief cook also performs an assortment of administrative duties as part of their daily routine. Responsibilities such as scheduling employees and ensuring that they report to work on time, placing supply orders, tracking inventory, performing payroll calculations, calculating costs as well as dealing with customer and employee complaints are all part of a cook’s day. In many cases, the cook is the buffer between the facility operations and its owners.

Training

Being that the cook is in charge of all kitchen operations, it follows that they are also responsible for training the kitchen staff and ensuring that they perform as expected. As a cook, you will, therefore, conduct training sessions regularly to equip your subordinates with the skills and knowledge they need to execute your recipes perfectly. The cook will also detail what is expected of each employee and subsequently conduct appraisals to ensure that every employee under them is upholding and standards.

Compliance

Lastly, the chief cook must ensure that all activities in and around the kitchen are conducted in full compliance with all food handling regulations. They must, therefore, make sure that everyone in their charge is aware of these regulations and that they actually follow them. The chief cook must ensure that sanitary requirements and safety standards are upheld by every employee.