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Selection For The Post of Sous Chef

A vegetable stir fry with protein, sauce, and rice or noodles. A pasta primavera dish with assorted vegetables and protein in a light cream or tomato sauce over pasta. A frittata or quiche made with various vegetables, cheese, and protein baked in an egg custard.

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Sourabh Chavan
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67 views3 pages

Selection For The Post of Sous Chef

A vegetable stir fry with protein, sauce, and rice or noodles. A pasta primavera dish with assorted vegetables and protein in a light cream or tomato sauce over pasta. A frittata or quiche made with various vegetables, cheese, and protein baked in an egg custard.

Uploaded by

Sourabh Chavan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Selection for the post of Sous Chef

Sous Chef
The sous chef will be senior to everyone in the kitchen besides an executive chef. With more of a
presence within the kitchen, a sous chef will likely serve as the hands-on manager of the kitchen
team from day-to-day.

Along with cooking, the sous chef will ensure the quality of the food and plating. The sous chef
will also manage the kitchen staff. This includes making schedules, maintaining inventory, hiring
new staff and fixing any appliances. The sous chef is arguable the most important job in the
kitchen.

There is absolutely no doubt that talented and professional chefs ensure the success of any
culinary business. So it is extremely imperative that there is a very dynamic, detailed and
focused approach when it comes to recruitment of chefs.

Here are a few trigger points which would be beneficial to be kept in mind while conducting the
interview:

   Role/Position : Do not go by the fancy titles on the resume. The vital focus is the quality and
reputation of their place of work, their length of service, what role and position they are in, and
how large is the team that reports to them. Fancy positions mean very little. Traditionally, the
kitchen roles can mainly be listed as: culinary director (overlooks F&B responsibility too);
executive chef (heads a large team, often with multiple restaurants, catering, banqueting);
executive sous chef, who is the second in line reporting to the executive chef; chef de cuisine;
sous chef (usually manages a shift); chef de partie (heads a section of the kitchen), demi chef de
partie, commis chef (which is the entry level position).

Clarity of Role: One must always have clarity of the role you need the candidate to fulfill;
whether you need a hands-on chef to do the cooking or you need a kitchen administrator, who
would do all the documented paperwork in terms of recruitment, appraisals, roster, and other
administrative functions related to the kitchen. Once you have this clarity early on in the
selection process, then the process will be easier and you can look for the right skillset
accordingly.

Visual Images:  In these days of digital imaging technology, a visual presentation of their
culinary creation is an important guide of their talent. Ask for at least a dozen images of the
candidates’ special and unique creations from the last few years. Once received, cross-check
online that the images shared are in fact related to the place/s that the chef concerned has worked
prior. This is to ensure that it is not just fancy images being shared from other sources.

 Commercial Understanding: A vital asset to have is a chef with a clear understanding of the
business acumen vis-à-vis food cost, smart and competitive selling pricing of menu content,
competition awareness, location, demographics, who the target audience is, as well as a cultural
understanding of the region, especially when it comes to halal items and sensitivity to pork items
on the menu — both from the guest perspective as well as the team working under him/her.

 Trial of Culinary Skills: A traditional way to recruit chefs is to conduct a food tasting trial after
the interview to assess the real culinary skills. It is a known fact that a chef in a strange kitchen,
without the knowledge of the support team — not the quality of products supplied — cannot be
fairly judged. Ideally, the best way would be to discreetly visit the place the chef works. If that is
not feasible, then make sure ample time is given, and a list of required ingredients is sought prior
to the trial, so that the real culinary skill is put to test in a welcoming atmosphere.

Conducting reference checks with colleagues and professional chefs who have worked with the
candidate would be recommended – especially focusing on the work attitude, talent in culinary
skills, duration of service and completion of the contracted period, as well as the reason for
leaving.

Another vital point to be kept in mind is to agree with the candidate on his/her future course of
development within your company. Be clear of what is expected of the chef once he/she hired.
Mutually agree on a set minimum of three areas of focus on both sides, so that there is no
disappointment on the way ahead. Leave no room for ambiguity and be crystal clear about the
expectations on either side.
Questionnaire for selection of Sous chef

 Please tell us something about your experience from the kitchen.

 Why do you want to work in our restaurant, and not somewhere else?

 During peak times a kitchen can be a very hectic place. What do you do to maintain order
and to ensure that all your assistants know what they should be doing?

 How would you rate yourself as a teacher? Can you teach cooks and another kitchen
stuff?

 Look at our menu. Do you see any areas for improvement?

 How do you feel about working 14 hours a day, or working on Sunday?

 What do you do to adhere to all hygiene and safety standards in the kitchen?

 What do you expect from your cooperation with the chef?

TASK: Surprise basket and make a standard dish out of it dish

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