How Do I Hire The Right Chef For My New Restaurant?
Restaurant patrons frequent restaurants for cuisine.
In a survey, 58 percent of diners stated that pricing, service, and menu variety were less important in comparison to the quality of the food.
Thus, a chef has the power to build or break a restaurant. Therefore, you must be sure that the chef you select will be qualified to propel your restaurant to the pinnacle of success and leave your patrons hankering for more after they finish a particular dish.
Many restaurant owners frequently ask the question, “how to get chef for restaurant?” or “how to hire a chef for a restaurant?”
Restaurant owners often advertise “need chef for restaurant” in several newspapers (online and print). Finding a chef for a restaurant need not be a difficult task when you have the right support – an experienced chef recruitment agency.
In this blog, finding information shared by top chef recruitment consultants on the topic “how to hire a chef for a restaurant.” We have started right from the beginning, the steps to be followed before starting a chef search.
Steps Before Hiring A Chef For Your New Restaurant
1. Define The Culinary Needs – What will be your restaurant’s specialty and offerings
It is important to define your requirements. For that, you need to be very specific about culinary needs. You would know what you want to offer in your restaurant but does your job description and the restaurant description in the job advertisement clearly define what kind of specific expertise is needed? Ambiguity often drives away good chef candidates.
2. Number of Chefs Required – Positions And Requirements
Instead of posting “hire a chef for a restaurant” and giving a description of what your restaurant does and the number of years of experience you seek, plan out different descriptions for different chef positions.
You might be looking for pastry chefs, fish chefs or vegan chefs. Let readers know how many vegan chefs you need, and what would each profile entail. There might be levels of seniority. The more direct and honest your job post is, the more candidates you can take.
3. Salary Range Per Position
Here comes the most important role. Though, the hiring process is much easier. But it is important to consider your budget to offer the salary range to the candidates. Attracting the right candidates is one thing and retaining their interest in applicants is another. You do not want to drive away more candidates than you attract.
4. For Hiring Chefs From Other Countries – Work Permits, Visa, And Other Rules
If you want to hire chefs from different countries then it is quite challenging as it requires several procedures. With the services of an expert recruiter, finding a chef for a restaurant from other countries becomes a fast and easy process.
5. Type Of Employment Contracts
Make sure to follow the contract. For that, you will need legal advice and help from a lawyer. Make sure to create a contract for the deal and to work it out with the chef you are hiring.
How To Hire A Chef For A Restaurant? The Best Way!
1. Consult With A Chef Recruitment Agency
An experienced chef recruitment agency like Alliance Recruitment Agency is constantly approached by thousands of chef candidates worldwide. We have full-time chef recruiters worldwide to screen and vet each candidate and have over the years acquired a rich talent pool of chef candidates across expertise and seniority levels for different kinds of cuisine. Finding a chef for a restaurant from anywhere becomes a fast process.
2. Share Chef Manpower And Business Requirements
You need to share your specific requirements in detail with a chef recruiter to enable him or her to identify the best-match candidates. Share your restaurant brochures, the restaurant’s specific offerings along with a checklist of chef position-based requirements with the chef recruitment agency.
3. Finalize Best-Match Chef Identification Criteria
This is one of the best tips that top chef recruiters have shared. Work with the chef recruiter to finalize a best-match chef candidate persona or criteria. This will help you to identify the right chef candidates for specific roles.
4. Choose Target Geographies From Where You Want To Hire the Best Chefs
You can directly target specific locations from where you want to hire a chef for your restaurant. For example, if you are looking for a Greek chef, and you might not find many in your city, choose locations and let the chef recruiter know.
5. Screen Best-Match Chef Candidate Details Shared By The Agency And Shortlist
Put in place a correct screening procedure which is not weighing all factors equally. Choose the best-suited candidates who fits the key criteria and who is interested in working with you. The next section details what to look for before finalizing your future chef hires.
What To Look For When Hiring Chefs For Your New Restaurant?
1. Culinary Expertise – Knowledge, Competencies, Skills,
The ability to cook well and understanding the kitchen are the two most essential hard skills for chefs. Chefs must have a strong sense of taste and the ability to assess how well seasonings are balanced. It’s great to have a chef that has earned a degree from a reputed culinary school or has years of expertise! A chef should, however, share the owner’s perspective on what constitutes excellent customer service.
2. Industry Experience – Rules, Standards, Best Practices,
Chefs should have a good knowledge of industry rules, standards, and best practices so that your restaurant earns a good reputation and is compliant.
3. Restaurant Experience To Yours – Cuisine, Schedules, Kitchen Assemblies, Food Preparation, Inventory Management
You should only work with people who pay close attention to the quality of the food served. Professional chefs should be experts in all fields like scheduling, inventory management, preparation, etc. Unless the chef has experience similar to the scenarios in your restaurant, managing the kitchen would be difficult.
4. Excellent Eye For Detail – Use of Ingredients, Sauces, Food Presentation, Taste, Etc.
An excellent chef has in-depth understanding of different ingredients and accompaniments for any dish so that variations can be made depending on customer orders without negatively affecting taste and quality.
5. Creativity, Passion, And Soft Skills
Make sure to consider chefs who are more creative with their work and more skilled as well. A chef needs to be imaginative when it comes to creating a menu, how the food appears on the plate, and how the dish tastes to the patrons. Don’t be hesitant to try new things with your originality because a chef’s reputation for inventiveness is frequently what draws people to your restaurant!
6. Technical Skills
In addition to paying close attention to detail, chefs need to be proficient computer users. Excel spreadsheet expertise will enable them to manage costs and calculate menu profitability. Furthermore, if they understood how to use social media, they could contribute significantly to your restaurant’s marketing efforts.
Your cooks need to be aware that your restaurant has a spending limit and that you can’t go overboard. The position that has the most responsibility is that of a chef. They must be proficient with restaurant software as well as this will enable the cooks to monitor menu profitability and keep track of recipe costs. This will support the restaurant’s cost-control strategies.
Conclusion
The success of your restaurant can be significantly impacted, either positively or badly, by hiring a new chef. Decide how you’ll approach your search, be aware of the qualities you’re searching for in a candidate, and prepare your interview questions in advance to ensure that you’re ready for the transitional period.
Alliance Recruitment Agency
Alliance Recruitment Agency is a company that is always maintaining a high quality of hire ratio, enabling hotels and restaurants to get the best people to grow their business. We have served the hospitality industry for over 12 years and have the expertise and resources to source the best-suited chef based on position specifications.
Looking for a chef? Reach out to us!
