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The head chef, also considered an executive chef is the supreme position in the chef hierarchy. It takes to learn a wide variety of skills and abilities to be a head chef. They need to know how to prepare quality food apart from having excellent communication and leadership skills.
It takes not only skills but years of hard work, excellence, and experience to be a head chef. Besides, a head chef should also have the skills to train the junior chefs to make them capable of rising to upper positions and performing the roles of senior chefs in a food setting.
Whether you are a restaurant owner or the one who is an aspirant to become head chef, you need to know the key skills and abilities to be a head chef. This blog discusses the top 15 skills every head chef should master. It’ll help you know, implement, and be the one suitable to conduct the tasks of head chef in a food setting.
15 Key Skills to Learn for Head Chefs
Before you head up to become one of the types of chefs “head chef”, you should know all the head chef’s duties and responsibilities to become the same. From leadership to having creativity, menu planning, and know-how on food safety and hygiene, there are certain skills you should learn to be a head chef. Following are the top 15 skills every head chef should learn to perform their role with ease and convenience:
Leadership Skills
A head chef is responsible for managing the team in a kitchen. As the kitchen is more likely to be a loud, hot, chaotic, and stressful working environments, a head chef should have strong leadership skills. Yes, it takes a strong leader to manage a team of chefs and support all of them to work through services.
Furthermore, when it comes to hiring junior staff, a head chef needs to have robust leadership and management abilities. It helps them hire efficient chefs for junior positions and integrate them into the wider kitchen.
Next Level of Creativity
As the role involves creating menus and designing new dishes that appeal to customers, creativity is one of the essential traits for any head chef. When a restaurant has a head chef with creativity, they can prepare menus for food offerings, setting your restaurant apart from the rest.
This may mean being creative with new ingredients and flavors and finding ways to make classic recipes attractive to dinners. Head chefs also need to create skills for contributing to the business side of the restaurant work. This involves active involvement in marketing and restaurant presentation, from signage to crockery and cutlery inside the dining room.
Menu Planning and Development
As we have already discussed above, the head chef’s duties and responsibilities also include the responsibility for creating innovative and balanced menus that align with the restaurant’s concept and customer’s needs and preferences. It helps you keep your food offerings, and thereby, the restaurant ahead of your competitors.
Therefore, be it a restaurant owner, or someone aspiring to be a head chef, having skills to create a menu is a must-have skill.
Knowledge of Food Safety and Hygiene
Apart from all the above, a head chef must know about food safety and hygiene. These chefs are responsible for implementing and enforcing strict compliance with health and safety regulations, ensuring the smooth operation of a restaurant. So, if you’re aspiring to be a head chef, you should focus on developing knowledge of food safety and hygiene.
Problem-Solving
Problem-solving skills are among the many skills needed to be a head chef. Yes, as they are in a senior position in a restaurant, a head chef should have next level problem-solving skills and abilities to handle complex tasks. It involves challenges relating to supply shortages, equipment failure, staff absence, and the like.
It ensures a seamless operation of a restaurant, ensuring an enhanced experience for customers.
Ability To Work Under Pressure
Professional kitchens tend to be high-pressure work environments. Therefore, head chefs should have the ability to work under pressure and ensure services run smoothly and customers receive high-quality foods timelessly.
The competency to work under pressure allows head chefs to navigate through a busy service. This may involve meeting tight deadlines and being concentrated on multiple tasks and activities while making sure the entire team in the kitchen performs its duty as needed.
Excellent Communication skills
The soft skills of a chef are also a key aspect to look for in a head chef. The success of a professional kitchen depends upon the quality of the communication among staff. The head chef set the tone for communication among the staff in the kitchen, offering vocal direction and updates on various aspects of food preparation during services.
What’s more, a head chef also encourages their team members to open and clear communication, so that all the elements of a dish come together in real-time. It helps them prepare food excellently and provide them to the customers in the best possible state.
Knowledge Of Professional Kitchens
Head chefs tend to have a robust understanding of how professional kitchen work is conducted. They have years of experience and expertise in running professional kitchens. This involves the procedures of delivering high-end food to customers, various tasks and roles of kitchen staff, and health, hygiene, safety, and quality procedures that make sure kitchen ingredients are safe to serve.
A head chef also needs to understand ISO 9001 quality assurance processes as well as the legislation of health, hygiene, and safety in a professional kitchen.
Food Preparation Skills
Head chefs need to have excellent food preparation skills and expertise that is generally gained from years of training and experience working in a professional kitchen. These food preparation skills and abilities include knowledge of the types of kitchen knives and their uses, different cooking methods, how to prepare food using different ingredients, and a working understanding of kitchen appliances and technology.
An Understanding Of Ingredients And Flavour
Alongside the technical skills, a head chef also needs to have knowledge and understanding of flavor, ingredients, and a variety of cuisines. Having a refined palette and being able to differentiate among flavors, ingredients, and seasoning can assist head chefs in preparing complex yet balanced dishes, making the most out of the ingredients they make use of.
So, if you’re an aspiring head chef, you should focus on understanding ingredients and flavor, and if you’re a restaurant owner, you should find one having the same skills and abilities to ensure the kitchen delivers its best.
Excellent Business Skills
Alongside cookery skills, a head chef needs to develop business skills. It includes understanding how a restaurant operates and how to make it successful. It becomes excessively essential when a head chef is itself an owner. This is because the success of a restaurant depends on more than just the quality of the food. However, there are many other skills to consider, a head chef in general needs to have a strong command of these aspects apart from having just culinary abilities.
Budgeting and Cost Control
Budgeting and cost control are also among the top skills that it takes to be a good chef, especially head chef. Yes, a head chef needs to have excellent command over budgeting and cost control. These chefs tend to manage food costs, and labor costs along with managing the cost of inventory to ensure maximized profitability of a restaurant business.
Discipline And Dedication
Discipline, dedication, and commitment to hard work are some of the key abilities that help a junior chef to rise to the position of a head chef. It might take years of working and experience to become a head chef that they spend developing skills and abilities and gaining experience working in a professional kitchen.
Head chefs, in general, are passionate and immensely driven to succeed in this competitive and high-pressure restaurant industry. It helps them succeed in the competitive era.
Attention To Detail
Having attention to detail and meticulous nature helps a head chef to concentrate on the complex and intricate elements of cooking food of a higher standard. This very skill includes understanding various cooking temperatures, and identifying when food gets ready and is safe to be consumed. It also includes presenting plates of foods that look appealing and taste amazingly to the customers.
Training and Mentorship
Apart from all the above, training and mentorship skills are some of the key skills a head chef needs to have. Yes, a head chef, apart from performing various roles and responsibilities, puts optimal efforts, into training junior chefs. They provide training and mentorship to develop the skills and careers of junior chefs and other kitchen staff to upgrade their competencies.
Wrapping Up!
That’s all about the top 15 skills to learn for a head chef. These chefs are responsible for conducting a wide variety of roles and responsibilities in a professional kitchen. Be it the one who is an aspiring head chef or the owner of a restaurant, having or seeking these above-mentioned skills and abilities are essential in a head chef. Hopefully, you have got the answers to your question! So, apply this knowledge and take your career to the next level!
