Chefs and Head Cooks

Career Overview

Chefs and head cooks oversee the daily food preparation at restaurants and other places where food is served. They direct kitchen staff and handle any food-related concerns.

Education

Completing a two-year college program or four-year bachelor's degree in culinary arts or a related field may be required to obtain this position.

Future Outlook

Employment of chefs and head cooks is projected to grow 6 percent from 2019 to 2029, faster than the average for all occupations. Income growth will result in greater demand for high-quality dishes at a variety of dining venues. As a result, more restaurants and other dining places are expected to open to satisfy consumer desire for dining out.

Work Environment

Chefs and head cooks work in restaurants, private households, and other establishments where food is served. They often work early mornings, late evenings, weekends, and holidays. The work can be hectic and fast paced. Most chefs and head cooks work full time.

Recommended High School Courses

Math
Art
Communication
Culinary courses

Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Management of Financial Resources - Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
Management of Material Resources - Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Quality Control Analysis - Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.

Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Finger Dexterity - The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Manual Dexterity - The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Number Facility - The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Perceptual Speed - The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Time Sharing - The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Trunk Strength - The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing.
Visual Color Discrimination - The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Check quality of foods or supplies.
Estimate supplies, ingredients, or staff requirements for food preparation activities.
Train food preparation or food service personnel.
Coordinate activities of food service staff.
Inspect facilities, equipment or supplies to ensure conformance to standards.
Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
Coordinate timing of food production activities.
Create new recipes or food presentations.
Manage food service operations or parts of operations.
Determine prices for menu items.
Cook foods.
Perform human resources activities.
Plan menu options.
Schedule equipment maintenance.
Communicate with customers to resolve complaints or ensure satisfaction.
Plan special events.
Record operational or production data.

Schools

Alfred State College

Bob Jones University

Cascade Culinary Institut...

Coastal Alabama Community...

Columbus State Community...

Cuyahoga Community Colleg...

Delaware Technical And Co...

Des Moines Area Community...

Dominican University

Durham Technical Communit...

El Centro College- Dallas...

Emily Griffith Technical...

Florida State College At...

Forbes Road Career And Te...

Francis Tuttle Technology...

Hillsborough Community Co...

Indian Hills Community Co...

Jefferson State Community...

Johnson County Community...

Kapiolani Community Colle...

Lake Washington Institute...

Lanier Technical College-...

Lincoln Culinary Institut...

Manchester Community Coll...

Miami Dade College- Wolfs...

Montana State University-...

National Louis University

New England Culinary Inst...

Nicholls State University

Northwest Louisiana Techn...

Pikes Peak Community Coll...

Red Rocks Community Colle...

San Bernardino Valley Col...

Seattle Central College

St. Philip’s College- Mar...

Sullivan University- Lexi...

Sullivan University- Loui...

Suny Adirondack

Suny At Cobleskill

Suny Broome Community Col...

Suny Finger Lakes Communi...

Suny Nassau Community Col...

Suny Niagara County Commu...

Suny Schenectady County C...

Suny Sullivan County Comm...

Suny Tompkins Cortland Co...

Suny Westchester Communit...

Tidewater Community Colle...

Wake Technical Community...

Washburn University- Inst...

Westmoreland County Commu...

Academy Canada- St. Jo...

Canadore College- Coll...

Centennial College

Coast Mountain College...

College Of The North A...

College Of The Rockies...

Conestoga College- Wat...

Confederation College

Culinary Arts School O...

Durham College- Oshawa...

Durham College- Whitby...

Fanshawe College- Lond...

Fleming College- Suthe...

George Brown College-...

Lasalle College

Manitoba Institute Of...

New Brunswick Communit...

Niagara College- Niaga...

North Island College-...

North West College- Me...

Northern Alberta Insti...

Nova Scotia Community...

Okanagan College- Kelo...

Portage College- St. P...

Professional Career De...

Red Deer College- Main...

Sait - Southern Albert...

Saskatchewan Polytechn...

Sault College

Southern Alberta Insti...

Vancouver Island Unive...

Vancouver Island Univer...

Potential Scholarships

5 Strong Scholarship

Agnes M. Lindsay Scholars...

Curt Pozan Trades Scholar...

Approx Salary Expectation

Currency:

Low End:

$28,370.00 /yr

Avg/Med:

$51,530.00 /yr

High End:

$86,990.00 /yr

Related Careers

Bakers

Concierge (Resort)

Tour Guide

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.