Fundamentals in Lodging Operations Page 1 of 8

The Kitchen Department

MODULE 11
LESSON PROPER

What is a Kitchen?
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in
a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove,
a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator, and worktops and kitchen cabinets arranged
according to a modular design. Many households have a microwave oven, a dishwasher, and other
electric appliances.
The main functions of a kitchen are:
 To store, prepare and cook food (and to complete related tasks such as dishwashing).
 The room or area may also be used for dining (or small meals such as breakfast), entertaining
and laundry. The design and construction of kitchens is a huge market all over the world.

Commercial Kitchens are found in restaurants, cafeterias, hotels, hospitals, educational and workplace
facilities, army barracks, and similar establishments. These kitchens are generally larger and equipped
with bigger and more heavy-duty equipment than a residential kitchen. For example, a large restaurant
may have a huge walk-in refrigerator and a large commercial dishwasher machine. In some instances
commercial kitchen equipment such as commercial sinks are used in household settings as it offers ease
of use for food preparation and high durability.

There are two types of kitchen

1. Main kitchen
2. Satellite kitchen

Main kitchen Satellite kitchen

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF KITCHEN DEPARTMENT

 Also known as Brigade de Cuisine

 George Auguste Escoffier established the kitchen hierarchy
 Exhaustive list of the different members of the kitchen
 Shows the positioning of staff
 Helps to know the command
 Keeps distance between the position
 Developed for the smooth operation in past and is also functioning same even now
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The Kitchen Department
Small Hierarchy
Chef de cuisine

Chef de partie Chef hot range

Butcher
Commis I

Entremetier Rotisserie
Commis II

Garde manger cook

Reliever cook
Commis III

Medium Hierarchy Chef de

Cuisine

Sous Chef

Chef de Chef de Chef de Chef de Chef de

Saucer Entremetier Gardemanger Rotisserie Patisserie

Commis I Commis I Commis I Commis I Commis I

Commis II Commis II Commis II Commis II Commis II

Commis III Commis III Commis III Commis III Commis III

Trainee Trainee Trainee Trainee Trainee

Large Hotel Kitchen Hierarchy

Chef de Cuisine

Sous Chef
Saucier, rotisserie, Entremetier, potage, Patisserie
Larder/Gardemanger
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The Kitchen Department

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES OF KITCHEN STAFF

Executive Chef
Top most position in kitchen department
Chief of command in kitchen
Also known as head chef and has the following Job responsibilities
1. Develops the recipes and menus for operation.
2. Supervise food production.
3. Maintain food cost standards and cost control
4. Promotes safety and sanitation
5. Assists in taking inventory and purchasing supplies
6. Introduces new product
7. Handles customers concern and suggestions
8. Maintain coordination between departments and kitchen sections.
9. Control spoilage, breakage, wastage and misuse of material, manpower and machine
(MMM).
10. Inspect the daily supplies of the kitchen.
11. Handles employee concern issues.
12. Schedule/assign work of the staff
13. Set production goals or job expectation
14. Participates in determination of salary and salary changes.
15. Identify new equipment, new product & enhance the product standard.
16. Ensure the availability of stock, raw ingredients by proper planning and coordination with
store.
17. Recommend menu pricing by coordination with F&B Directors.
18. Ensure practice of hygiene & safety precaution.

Executive Sous Chef

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The Kitchen Department

Takes charge of kitchen in absence of EXECUTIVE CHEF

Known as deputy chef or second chef
The principal assistant of the chef de cuisine
Supervise the work related to preparing food

1. Represent the executive chef in his absence

2. To make work schedule of junior staff under him
3. Act as liaison between executive head chef and kitchen staff
4. Ensure smooth flow of dishes from the kitchen
5. Maintain coordination between different section of kitchen
6. Report to executive chef
7. Attend the meeting in absence of chef
8. Monitor portion control & assigned par stock are kept at minimum level
9. Supervise, food testing, preparation & sampling in all production phase.
10. Follow up any issue regarding to the employee to executive chef
11. Ensure all the food are prepared & presented to customer according to the international standard
12. Ensure safety and security, hygiene are followed correctly
13. Assist in menu planning
14. Assist executive chef in any new cuisine concept.

Sous chef

Exist in large hotels or the busiest kitchens

Charge of a given section

1. Ensure the proper work flow from preparation to the presentation off all dishes
2. Report to chef de cuisine and executive sous chef
3. Control the breakage and wastage within his department

Kitchen Executive

Is responsible for overseeing the entire operation of the kitchen department

Make sure that the kitchen area meets healthy and safety requirements as
mandated by law.
1. Ensure adherence to organizational standards of food quality
hygiene, preparation and presentation in kitchen
2. Make sure all equipment work well
3. Ensure prompt service to the entire guest
4. Responsible for maintaining records\ document of his\her area.
5. Check the quality and availability of raw ingredient at all times
6. Check attendance & punctuality of every team member
7. Provide cross training to employees of other department
8. Work in close relation & coordination with F & B service team
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The Kitchen Department
Chef de Partie

Controls a section of the kitchen

Third in command after head chef and sous chef (if there is no
sous chef for department)
Often the position is referred to as a ‘section chef’ or a ‘line cook’

1. Ensure prompt service by all kitchen staff under his control

2. Responsible for hotel standard on food quality preparation & presentation
3. Recommend changes in system & change in menu by implementing new dishes
4. Take care of hygiene & cleanliness of the kitchen & maintain its standard
5. Be aware of maintaining wastage without compromising on food quality
6. Check and keep record properly
7. Brief team member on menu change & new dishes
8. Make sure that hygiene and cleanliness are maintain according to HACCP

Commis
Commis is the basic chef in large kitchen
Works under chef de partie
Don’t need higher qualification
may have completed the simple culinary trainings and experience of the couple of years or may
be more.
There are commis I, II and commis III. Commis I is bigger in post

Some other specialization

 Chef garde-manger; responsible for preparation of cold hors

d’oeuvres, organize large buffet display, prepares salads and
prepares charcuterie items.

 Chef legume (vegetable chef); Also report to chef entremetier and

prepare the vegetables and farinaceous dishes

 Chef patisserie (pastry chef); Prepare dessert and other meals-end

sweets, and also prepare the vegetable and farinaceous
 Chef Boulanger (bakery chef); In large kitchen prepare bakery items

 Boucher (butchery chef); Butcher meats, poultry, sometimes fish;

may also be in charge of breading meat and fish items
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The Kitchen Department

 Chef entremetier (entrée chef); Prepare soups and other dishes

including vegetables dishes, and egg dishes but not meat or poultry

 Chef potage (soup chef); In larger kitchen report to

chef entremetier and prepares soup

 Confiseur ; Prepare candy and petit fours instead of

the patisserie
 Glacier; Prepares ice cream and cold dessert instead of the patisserie
 Chef rotisserie (roast chef); Roast, broil, and deep fries dishes

 Chef gaillardia (grill chef); Prepares grilled food instead of rotisserie

 Chef friturier (fry chef); prepare fried food instead of rotisserie
 Chef poissoiner (fish chef); prepare the fish and seafood dishes
 Chef tournant (reliever spare hand); moves throughout the kitchen, assisting
other position on kitchen
 Chef communard (staff chef); prepare meal serve to hotel/restaurant staff
 Aboyeur (announcer); takes order from dining room and distributes them to
the various stations. May also performed by chef de partie

KITCHEN COORDINATION DEPARTMENT

Is very much important for the smooth operation of kitchen organization
Coordination of kitchen is separate in two different groups
i.e. internal customers & external customers

1. Internal Customers
 Coordination in daily basis
 Most important for kitchen department for smooth operation
 Providing food to them is also the major function of kitchen
 Provide food through the staff cafeteria
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The Kitchen Department
 Chef are dependent in many things with them so kitchen department always deal with them
 They are:
Engineering
Department
Purchase and
Finance
Receiving

Sales and
Housekeeping
Marketing
Kitchen

Food and
Front Office
Beverage

Hiring /Training Security

2. External Departments

 As the kitchen coordinate with internal for its smooth operation external also have its one
importance. i.e.
 Helps to maintain the standard of hotels through the various inspection
 Health inspection also raise the hotels goodwill
 Smooth operation through smooth supply
 To promote new foods media plays the vital role
 Kitchen also coordinate to the guest itself to know about the guest comment about the foods
 Dealing with the diplomats helps to build the goodwill as well as popularity

Food Tasting with Media Food Inspection

Chart of coordination with external department

Food
Inspector

Suppliers Diplomats

Kitchen

Media Guests
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The Kitchen Department

Quality of Good Chef

To be the good chef some points must be in chef
1.Creativity; A good chef always should be creative. Creative about food
items, creative about menu planning.
2.Passion; A chef most be willing to do some things and have willing to
achieve the goal in passion
3.Business sense; Chef with the good business sense always generate the
profit in kitchen as well as to hotel i.e. cost control or wastage control
4.Attention to detail; Sense about the detail ingredients and measurement for which chef should always be
aware
5. Team player; chef plays a vital role in kitchen as the perfect leader and always encourage his team
member for efficient work
6.Practice; practice make the man perfect so practice always help chefs for the efficient works
7.Multi task; A great chef always have multi task capacity so why he/she is chef
8.Dedication to quality; Preparation of the higher quality food in kitchen is always the hotel concern
9.Quick decision; quick decision making capacity for satisfaction of guest most be possessed in quality
chef.
10. Handle critics; Good chef most have capacity to handle the critics and maintain good relation with
every customer.