Hiring a Head Chef who promotes Team Work

A Head Chef should be in a position to manage the entire staff of the kitchen, manage the food production and supervise training of kitchen staff from time to time. He should bring with him ample experience, education, knowledge, management skills and a love for food.

A good Head Chef can make a difference to the customer experience and should take up the job as a challenge. Work timings vary from one workplace to the other. If it is a restaurant, the weekends bring the best business, or if it is a beach resort, during high season. The requirements of the job could be simple buffet items for outside catering, or exclusive gourmet for lavish parties.

The Head Chef should be familiar with the requirements of the job, and should have a previous knowledge of the dishes or food which he has to prepare. One doesn't always need expensive ingredients to make an impressive impact on the customers. It is actually skill and creativity which could do the job.

The freshness of the ingredients and the appearance of the food should be of prime importance for the Head Chef of any culinary organization. The cooking style is naturally typical, ranging from a la carte dining with fancy decorations to simple lunch-time business menus.

The Head Chef often has the responsibility of hiring staff for the kitchen. He should therefore bring management skills with him, so that he can train, motivate and discipline the kitchen staff. It is important for him to have good powers of observation, for example when the cooks and pantry people are moving slow or not following instructions. Training staff and motivating staff could be done using numbers and measurements, like the speed at which you can chop a bunch of parsley, or decorate a cake, etc.

After all the Head Chef is running a "business" and enthusiasm and professionalism are the prime factors. He should be organized, make all the preparations the day before so that the food is ready at the right time. Discipline should be in his character, and he should imbibe it in his kitchen staff. And each team member is of equal importance. So whatever jobs the others do, you should be able to do it, help them if necessary, and do it even better.

When hiring a Head Chef, make sure that he is aware of his responsibilities. Normally a Head Chef is responsible for the entire food production of the organization. This would mean the responsibilities of ordering, purchasing, preparing and then supervising the day-to-day food of the kitchen. Make it clear to him whether he is also in charge of the HR issues which could arise in the kitchen.

The food standards and the service should be the responsibility of the Head Chef, but under that all the jobs related to that should be made clear to him before he is hired. All the salary benefits, profit share schemes and shared tips are offered to a Head Chef, and he should be given rewards and promotions within the system to provide him the necessary encouragement.