What Are The Key Points to Look for When Finding a Chef for Your Restaurant?

You might have been the chef and owner of your restaurant for a long time, but now you are planning to open a new branch and are looking for a chef.

You might be a restaurant owner buying a bigger space and require a head chef to manage the restaurant operations and an executive chef to oversee the marketing, contracts, finance, and administration.

Whatever the scenario may be, which demands the hiring of a new chef for your restaurant, making a hasty decision, or hiring just by looking at brilliant resumes might cost you a lot – your business will be at stake.

What is the best way to find a chef? What to look for when hiring a head chef for restaurants? What is the process to hire a chef for a restaurant?

Get answers to all these questions in this blog.

What To Look For Before You Hire A Chef For A Restaurant For Specific Positions?

Head Chef

The head chef makes your culinary vision a reality. The position needs to be held by a chef who can work on any concept and create a menu that attracts people to your restaurant.

The ability to map culinary expectations from a certain dish with the target audience is among the strongest characteristics of a head chef. The flavor and texture of fish tacos enjoyed in an area in Manhattan, NY, might not be appreciated in Escondido, CA.

Even in a similar area, if your restaurant in the UK attracts more Asians, creating dishes that are more enjoyed by native Italians or Greeks might not work well.

When hiring a head chef for a restaurant, focus on the culinary aspects and the management of food preparation and delivery that maps with your target audience.

Executive Chef

You need to hire an executive chef for restaurant businesses for which you, as an owner, do not have the time or the professional background to administer, monitor, and manage.

The executive chef is the manager of the entire restaurant operations – kitchen, administration, inventory, finance, sales, recruitment, and training. The best way to find a chef for a restaurant for this top-level position is to identify someone with the right certifications, academic background, business sense, and a track record of excellent restaurant management.

Specialized Chefs

These are chefs with professional training and specialized expertise in a specific range of dishes of a particular cuisine, region, or type of food item. The best way to find a chef for a restaurant for such roles depends on whom you want to serve, the availability and demand for such food, and the costs of having those dishes on your menu.

For example, if you are looking to hire a chef for a restaurant specializing in Italian food, find out what type of specialized chefs you would need. Someone specialized in Italian seafood and Italian desserts or in the ethnic cuisine of a region in Italy. Would there be an alternative menu based on the interest of local customers ordering from your restaurant?

The Best Way To Find A Chef For Your Restaurant!

The statistics of most regions in the USA, Canada, the UK, the UAE, GCC countries, Asia-Pacific countries, and Australia indicate that the number of restaurants far exceeds the availability of qualified chefs locally. In some regions, the ratio is as low as 2:10.

How to hire a chef for your restaurant in such a competitive market?

1. Expand Your Horizons

One way is to open your horizons beyond the local. For example, for your restaurant in Dubai, you can find chefs from other emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, Bangladesh, Japan, the USA, Canada, Australia, or the UK.

If your target audience is multicultural and urban, you can easily explore options and find a specialized chef for a restaurant from anywhere in the world. Consult with a chef recruitment agency, and they will be able to help you fill the chef position within weeks.

2. Map Chef Qualities and Expertise With Restaurant Culture and Goals

Different chefs bring something different to the table, from cooking methods to specialized flavors and artistic ability.

A head chef is a position for which you need someone with 10-15 years of experience and innovative skills to play with flavors and ingredients and create dishes within the budget and with a focus on profitability. They need to supervise the food production lines and ensure quality control.

An executive chef needs to engineer menus in a way that revenues are steady. They need to manage inventory planning and accounting, hiring and training, monitor compliance with health and safety standards, and troubleshoot problems that customers present.

3. Take Assistance From a Chef Recruitment Agency

An established and resourceful chef recruitment agency can do wonders for you when it comes to finding and hiring a chef for your restaurant. Their chef headhunters are experienced in mapping chef job specifications and restaurant owner expectations with the chef talent available from strategic locations.

It takes them hours to narrow down the right chef talent. They personalize their chef candidate approach and create a shortlist of the best-qualified candidates who are interested in working for you. Excellent chef recruiters can streamline and optimize the screening, testing, and interview processes.

Your chances of attracting and hiring a great chef for your restaurant get 10x better.

Conclusion

The best way to find a chef for your restaurant is to create a checklist of your requirements (core, secondary, and preferred) and share it with a competent chef recruiter. You will be able to find the best-fit candidates without any hassles. The agency also helps you with relocation processes, helping the candidates file papers for visas and work permits.

Alliance International

Alliance International is a chef recruiter of choice for thousands of restaurant and hotel businesses worldwide. We have a 12-year background in chef recruitment. Our chef talent networks cover 30+ global locations.

Find a shortlist of pre-vetted, background-checked chefs and meet urgent chef hiring needs with efficiency. We offer a customized hiring solution that helps you find brilliant chefs through a fast and smooth process.

Connect with us by clicking here and getting a free consultation!