Skills
Chef Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in chefs, and how to build and show them.
What skills do chefs need?
Chefs need technical skills such as cooking techniques, menu planning, and food cost control, plus people skills like leadership and creativity. They also use tools such as Chef’s knives and cutlery and Ranges, ovens and grills.
Technical (hard) skills
- Cooking techniques
- Menu planning
- Food cost control
- Kitchen management
- Food safety
- Inventory and ordering
People (soft) skills
- Leadership
- Creativity
- Composure under pressure
- Communication
Tools, equipment and technology
- Chef’s knives and cutlery
- Ranges, ovens and grills
- Combi ovens and sous vide
- Thermometers
- Inventory and recipe costing software
- POS and kitchen display systems
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how chefs put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Cooking techniques” and “Menu planning.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “leadership,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as ServSafe Food Protection Manager near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our chef glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Chef training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.