Sous Chef Resume Sample: Guide & 20+ Examples

A sous chef, sometimes referred to as its full name, a Sous-Chef de cuisine, is right under the executive chef in a commercial kitchen and restaurant. A sous chef resume is meant to show your cooking skills, cuisine knowledge, and leadership abilities.

Christian Eilers, CPRW

Career Expert

Updated 12/21/2022

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Sous chefs are the glue that holds the kitchen together. They know how to operate in chaos, solve a million problems at once and make it look easy. But do you know what holds together a Michelin-worthy sous chef resume?

Just as a good recipe offers step-by-step instructions and maybe a kitchen secret or two, our sous chef resume guide has all the ingredients you need to land your next dream job.

This guide will show you:

A sous chef resume example better than 9 out of 10 other resumes.
How to write a sous chef resume that will land you more interviews.
Tips and examples of how to put skills and achievements on a sous chef resume.
How to describe your experience on a resume for a sous chef to get any job you want.

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Sous Chef Resume Sample

Ralph A. Lawrence

Executive Sous Chef

ralph.lawrence@gmail.com

(347) 777-1234

linkedin.com/in/ralphlawrence

Summary of Qualifications

Executive sous chef, Grand Diplôme recipient, and culinary school graduate with over 3 years experience in commercial kitchen management. ”Executive Sous Chef of the Year” award winner. Reduced kitchen expenses by $5,000/month by locating new suppliers and menu items. Seeking to further professional career as the sous-chef de cuisine for Le Bernardin.

Work Experience

Executive Sous Chef
May 2016–June 2019
Pierre Gagnaire, New York, NY

Key Qualifications & Responsibilities

Assisted executive chef in kitchen operations, food and stock ordering, and kitchen supervision.
Co-managed busy kitchen of over 50 line cooks, fry cooks, pastry chefs, grillers, and prep cooks.
Planned menu items and directed food presentation and expediting.
Acted as liaison between executive chef and back-of-house employees.
Hired and trained new kitchen staff on weekly fare and promotional specials.

Key Achievements

Awarded the 2017 ”Executive Sous Chef of the Year” from the CEA.
Reduced kitchen expenses by $5,000/month by locating new suppliers and menu items.

Junior Chef de Partie / Line Cook
February 2015–May 2016
Auberge de l’Ile Barbe, New York, NY

Key Qualifications & Responsibilities

Supported sous chef and head chef in food preparation and expediting.
Planned rotating weekly Sunday brunch buffet for 500+ dining customers.
Stocked the line and maintained sufficient levels of ingredients and supplies throughout busy dinner shifts.

Education

Grand Diplôme with Culinary Management

Le Cordon Bleu, London, UK

Graduation: 2015

Relevant Coursework: Classical Cooking Techniques, French Cuisine, Kitchen Organization and Management, Food and Wine Pairing, Culinary Management, Restaurant Operations, Baking and Pastry Arts, Seasonal and Market Influences on Cuisine, Viennoiserie.

Key Skills

French Regional Cuisine
Kitchen & Staff Management
Food & Kitchen Safety & Hygiene
Food Presentation
Wine & Cheese Pairing
Food & Supplies Ordering

Certifications

Career Studies Certificate in Kitchen Management, NYCCS
Certified Sous Chef, American Culinary Federation
Worldchefs Global Culinary Certification

Awards

2017 Executive Sous Chef of the Year, Chef Excellence Awards

Memberships

American Culinary Federation (ACF)
World Association of Chefs' Societies (WACS)

Languages

French: Limited Working Proficiency

We just gave you our recipe for the tastiest sous chef resume example.

Now, this is how to write a sous chef resume of your own:

1. Choose the Best Format for Your Sous Chef Resume

You can often tell a cheap diner from a pricey restaurant by how crammed their menus are.

Resumes are like menus, in a sense—

Like a fine dining restaurant menu, a proper resume format keeps everything neat, orderly, and legible.

Here are formatting rules to follow on an executive sous chef resume:

Begin at the top with the address on your resume in the professional header.
Utilize bold resume section titles to make each section stand out.
The ideal resume format to use is most often the reverse chronological resume format.
What size font for a resume is just as important as the typeface you choose.

Pro Tip: Send the resume in PDF format unless the sous chef job ad says otherwise. Like a paper plate bending from an oily dish, Microsoft Word documents often render in weird ways on different devices.

2. Write a Sous Chef Resume Objective or Summary

A sous chef resume objective or summary is also known as a professional resume profile.

This introduction is a paragraph that is 3–4 sentences in length. It gives executive chefs and restaurant owners an elevator pitch to announce your eligibility.

Like those teppanyaki chefs at Benihana, this heading statement has to grab the employer’s attention from the start.

The resume summary is perfect when you have solid sous chef experience. A summary statement “sums up” your sous chef skills and experience, and it proves them with a numbered achievement.

The resume objective is ideal when you have little to no sous chef experience. An objective statement gives your restaurant career goals, instead. However, it also includes a quantifiable accomplishment to verify your kitchen skills on a junior sous chef resume.

Pro Tip: Save the summary or objective as the last thing you write. This way you’ll have the other resume parts over and done with to help you identify the choicest, meatiest nuggets of information to include here.

3. Create the Perfect Sous Chef Job Description Resume Section

The work experience description on your resume is the main course.

It should be crafted with as much care as the menu items you’ll prepare.

How?

Here’s how to garnish your sous chef job description:

Place your most recent kitchen job first, then the one before that.
Add your job titles, dates you worked, the restaurant name, and several (5 or 6) bullet points describing your kitchen responsibilities and restaurant duties.
Pick strong resume words (e.g., ordered, supervised, etc.) to start off each entry.
Show off quantifiable achievements to verify you’re as skilled as you say.
Always tailor your resume to one sous chef job description. Head chefs will no doubt throw a generic resume into the bin.

Pro Tip: Writing a resume for the first job as a sous chef? No problem! When you list other jobs in your work history, go hard on listing kitchen-related responsibilities and leadership duties.

4. Make Your Sous Chef Resume Education Section Shine

Think your educational background on a resume for restaurant jobs is a waste of time?

Think again.

The executive chef wants to see a poor education section like they want to see a negative restaurant review in the New York Times.

So—

Here’s how to cook up a mean academic resume section:

Begin by listing the most recent schooling first.
Include your certificate or degree, graduation date, culinary school name, and college location.
Add extra, relevant points, such as coursework and extracurriculars.
Skip adding high school if you’ve finished college or culinary school.

Pro Tip: As a sous chef is a leadership role, emphasize any restaurant management coursework as well as any standard kitchen-related studies.

5. Highlight Your Sous Chef Skills on a Resume

According to the BLS, employment of sous chefs, chefs, and head cooks is expected to increase by 10% between 2016 and 2026.

With over 14,000 cooks aiming for your job, competition is as fierce as Hell’s Kitchen.

So—

Serve up a plateful of resume skills that are cooked to perfection.

Sample Sous Chef Resume Skills List

Kitchen & Staff Management
Food & Supplies Ordering
Inventory Management & Rotation
Knowledge of Food Ingredients
Cuisine & Menu Experimentation
Food & Kitchen Safety & Hygiene
Food & Product Presentation
Wine & Cheese Pairing
Able to Work Well Under Pressure
Attention to Detail
Local & State Food Handling Regulations
Great Communication Skills
Management Skills
Time Management Skills
Creative Thinking Skills
Leadership Skills
Decision Making Skills
Problem Solving Skills
Teamwork Skills
Interpersonal Skills
Critical Thinking Skills

Now—

You can’t just take this list and put it right into your resume.

Rather, here’s how to tingle their taste buds on a skills resume section:

Write down the various kitchen and restaurant skills and abilities you know you have.
Don’t forget to jot down both soft skills and hard skills.
Bring out the restaurant job description for the sous chef job you’re applying for.
To find the best resume keywords to add to your resume, highlight skills they require in the job ad.
If something you wrote earlier is equivalent to something you highlighted, include that in your sous chef skills list.

Remember that, as an assistant chef, you’re applying for a leadership role. Be sure to add manager skills and abilities, as well.

Pro Tip: Regional and national cuisines and specialties (e.g., Chilean cuisine, Italian cuisine, Ethiopian cuisine, Indonesian cuisine) are important to list, as well! If you have a background in a particular style or region of food, add it to your skills list.

When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.

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When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.

6. Add Other Sections to Your Sous Chef Resume

Like the rest of the sous chef applicants, you have an okay resume.

But it lacks flavor.

Spice it up by adding extra resume sections to stand out above the other restaurant job candidates.

Here are a few great choices for sous chef jobs:

7. Attach a Sous Chef Cover Letter to Your Resume

How important is a cover letter?

Well, like a badly-cooked meal, most restaurant managers will return a resume without a covering letter.

So—

Here’s how to write a tasteful sous chef cover letter:

Learn how to format a cover letter before you dive in.
The first paragraph of a cover letter should be super compelling.
Talk yourself up by including relevant kitchen experience and skills.
Add key cooking achievements with quantifiable numbers.
The cover letter ending should sign off with a call to action.

Finally, stop by our articles on cover letter tips, cover letter length and cover letter sections.

Pro Tip: After some time has passed, send an application follow-up email to remind them you’re waiting, and practice for the interview during that time!

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Got any questions on how to write a resume for sous chefs? Not sure how to talk about sous chef resume skills, food handling certifications, or cooking achievements? Get at us in the comments below, and thanks for reading!

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Sous Chef Resume Sample: Guide & 20+ Examples