Sous Chef Job Description, Key Duties and Responsibilities

This post provides in-depth information on the job description of a sous chef, including the key tasks, duties, and responsibilities they typically perform.

What Does a Sous Chef Do?

The sous chef is a professional cook and also called a culinary chef.

He/she is positioned a step below the head or executive chef in the chain of command among kitchen staff members as second-in-command to the head chef.

This means he/she has a real vital role to play in a commercial kitchen.

Considering the above description, the sous chef’s responsibility is really great.

In most instances, the sous chef job description entails standing in for the head chef and may perform many of the duties assigned to the head chef.

The head chef may be forced sometimes by work pressure to delegate his/her duties to the sous chef.

Any establishment operating a commercial kitchen would require the service of a sous chef.

Some of such establishments are casinos, cruise ships, hotels and restaurants. Considering his/her position, the sous chef is expected to report directly to the head chef.

They require in-depth knowledge of kitchen’s operation; in actual fact, they should have as much knowledge as the head chef considering their position.

They should be familiar with other kitchen staff and what specific role each of them is expected to play. Subordinates usually report to the sous chef, while he/she reports to the head chef.

Whenever he/she fills in for the head chef, the sous chef will be saddled with the responsibility of tackling any problem arising on his/her watch.

He/she is expected to be authoritative, just like the head chef, and also be quick to delegate tasks when need for such arises.

Additionally, they should be comfortable with confronting and managing a sizable number of staff.

At times, the sous chef is called upon to train, enlighten, hire or even ascribe discipline to an erring junior chef and he/she must be forthcoming with right decision making.

He/she takes up the duty of directing and planning food preparation in the kitchen, especially when the head chef is not available to handle such task.

Consequently, he/she must be ready to do lots of supervising of other staff of the kitchen.

They are expected to be adequately trained and should therefore know how to take control of any form of situation immediately such situation arises.

Any kitchen staff that under performs may also have to face the “wrath” of the sous chef, especially when the executive chef is not available, since they are fully representing the head chef at such times and have exactly the same authority like him/her.

Sous Chef Job Description Example/Sample/Template

The tasks and responsibilities of the sous chef is enormous, if the truth must be told, and the job description sample presented below shows the most important parts of the functions of someone holding the post:

• Plan staff scheduling
• Contribute to organizational schemes involving apprenticeship development
• Carry out lots of kitchen administrative works along with other kitchen-related duties
• Deputize for the executive chef and run the kitchen whenever the head chef is not available
• Ensure servings have very high culinary standard
• Oversee food storage and purchase
• Ensure hygienic and very safe kitchen environment
• Help in writing menu for the kitchen and creating new recipe
• Produce high quality cuisines just like the head chef would have done
• Report directly to the executive chef on kitchen operations
• Participate in recruitment process of prospective chefs
• Participate in training and retraining of junior chefs

Sous Chef Job Description for Resume

Preparing a resume for the sous chef position can be facilitated by using content from the job description sample shown above in creating the work experience section of the resume.

Sous Chef Requirements: Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for Career Success Job

In order to perform up to expectation in the kitchen-related establishments, the sous chef is required to posses some cogent skills and abilities and have some knowledge about what the job entails. Some of the requirements required of him/her are:

• Long term experience, which could have been acquired on the job, including degree in relevant fields of study, like Food Hygiene, Health and Safety, Culinary Art, Professional Cookery and so on
• Willingness to put in long hours at work, with the length of time depending on the particular establishment
• Ability to teach junior cooks about ethics and laid down procedures of the kitchen
• Ability for effectiveness, when under intense pressure, and to remain calm even when all around is a bedlam
• Flair with and passion for different kinds of ingredients
• Ability to lead and direct others to get the job done as required by the clients and establishment’s management
• Ability to motivate the junior chefs and ensure they produce results even when the working environment is not entirely conducive
• Possession of first class culinary skills
• Ability to cook delicious meals