Sous Chef Resume Example
Professional Sous Chef resume example. Get hired faster with our ATS-optimized template.
Sous Chef Salary Range (United States)
$52,000 - $78,000
Why This Resume Works
Brigade size with rank breakdown
Sous-chef leadership signal needs the rank breakdown, not just headcount. State station leads, line cooks, and prep cooks separately. Hiring chefs match those numbers to their own brigade.
Food cost is the sous-chef P&L
Food cost held inside a tight band on a real dollar spend, with the mechanism named (mix re-balance, purveyor renegotiation), is the strongest sous-chef metric. Lead with the percentage band and the dollar denominator.
Health-department score with rubric
Inspection scores only mean something with the rubric named. Citing NYC DOHMH and the FDA Food Code 2022 retail rubric tells a hiring chef the kitchen really runs that way, not just on the audit day.
Menu engineering with a P&L outcome
Menu engineering with a measurable food cost shift across a real cover count is what gets a sous chef on the chef-de-cuisine track. Lead with the before-and-after percentage on a defined cover count.
Sous-vide program metrics on returns
Returns per week is one of the few hard-data signals a sous chef can put on protein quality. Tie it to the equipment program (Vac Master, Anova) and the cooks cross-trained.
Essential Skills
- ServSafe Manager Certification
- HACCP plan ownership
- Brigade leadership (10-15 cooks)
- Food cost ownership at $1M+ scale
- Recipe costing and menu engineering
- Restaurant365 or MarginEdge or iiko BackOffice
- Toast or iiko KDS
- Sous-vide program (Vac Master VP215, Anova Pro)
- Pacojet 2 Plus dessert program
- Banquet and buyout execution
- Choco or BlueCart purveyor management
- Apprentice and stagiaire training
- Compeat or xtraCHEF cost reporting
Level Up Your Resume
A chef CV is read by people who can spot a fake at a glance, executive chefs and corporate F&B directors who know the difference between somebody who has actually held food cost at 28% on a $2M food spend and somebody who copied bullets off Indeed. The strongest chef résumés do three things consistently: name the cover count and station they ran (220 covers Saturday, protein station, not 'busy weekends'), cite real food-cost and labor numbers tied to a real dollar denominator, and reference the specific equipment they actually closed (Hobart H600, Rational SCC, Pacojet 2 Plus, Vac Master VP215). Generic 'managed kitchen' bullets are filtered out before a callback. ServSafe Manager and HACCP currency are baseline at sous chef and above; an ACF certification (CCC, CEC) is what separates a chef-de-cuisine candidate from a senior sous.
Best Practices for Sous Chef CV
- Lead with food cost and labor cost ownership. A sous chef's value is measurable: food cost held in a band, labor cost held against a target, on a stated dollar food spend. State the percentage and the dollar denominator together.
- Quantify brigade size with rank breakdown. '14 cooks (3 station leads, 8 line cooks, 3 prep cooks) across lunch and dinner' tells the executive chef how to map you onto their kitchen. 'Managed brigade' tells them nothing.
- Show health-department score with rubric named. A 99 on the most recent NYC DOHMH inspection (or Rospotrebnadzor in RU) under the FDA Food Code 2022 retail rubric is the credibility line. Generic 'passed inspections' is filler.
- Surface menu-engineering wins as P&L. A tasting menu that drove second-quarter food cost from 32.4% to 28.1% across 1,400 covers is what gets a sous chef on the chef-de-cuisine track.
- Name the HACCP plan ownership. Sous chefs at the top of their level usually own the HACCP plan or the ServSafe re-cert calendar. State it explicitly.
- Reference the cost software. Restaurant365, MarginEdge, xtraCHEF, Compeat. Naming the tool signals you've been responsible for the numbers, not just the cooking.
- Show sous-vide, Pacojet, or specialty programs. A Vac Master VP215 sous-vide program with measurable returns reduction is a strong signal for a tasting-menu kitchen.
Common CV Mistakes for Sous Chefs
- Brigade size without rank breakdown. '14 cooks' is half the signal. '14 cooks (3 station leads, 8 line cooks, 3 prep cooks)' is the full one.
- Food cost percentage with no dollar denominator. 28% on what spend? $400K is a small bistro, $2M is a real kitchen. Always state the dollar volume.
- 'Implemented HACCP'. Implemented is vague. 'Own the HACCP plan and the ServSafe Manager re-cert calendar, scoring 99 on the most recent DOHMH inspection' is the strong version.
- Generic 'menu development'. Replace with the cover count and the food cost shift: 'engineered a 7-course tasting at $185/cover that drove Q2 food cost from 32.4% to 28.1% across 1,400 covers'.
- Missing software names. Restaurant365, MarginEdge, Toast, Choco. Sous chefs without named software are doing the cost work in their head.
- Listing recipes alongside metrics in the same bullet. Pick one. Either the recipe is the bullet (R&D win) or the metric is (P&L win). Mixing both reads like padding.
- No certification. ServSafe Manager is non-negotiable for a sous chef. If you don't have it, get it before sending the CV.
Practical Tips for Sous Chef CV
- Lead with the percentage band, not a single number. '27.8-29.4% across 8 four-week periods' is more credible than '28%'. A band shows operational consistency, not luck.
- State HACCP plan ownership in the summary, not skills. Owning the plan is a job, not a skill. Put it in the opening summary.
- Brigade in the experience bullet, not skills. 14 cooks broken out by role belongs in the lead bullet of your most recent job, not a skill list.
- Two columns for skills. Leadership/cost in one, techniques/equipment in the other. A wall of skills is hard to scan.
- Reference cost-software experience by name. Restaurant365, MarginEdge, xtraCHEF, Compeat. One line, comma-separated.
- Promotions sign-off as a quantified count. 'Signed off on 4 line cooks for promotion to junior sous' is bench-building. Quantify it.
- Avoid the Apprentice Bowery / Top Chef name-drop unless you actually competed. It reads as exaggeration if there's no public record.
Frequently Asked Questions
Recommended Certifications
ServSafe Manager Certification
National Restaurant Association
ServSafe Allergens
National Restaurant Association
HACCP Certification
International HACCP Alliance / NEHA
ACF Certified Sous Chef (CSC)
American Culinary Federation
WSET Level 1 Award in Wines
Wine & Spirit Education Trust
Interview Preparation
Chef interviews are usually conducted by the executive chef and the chef de cuisine you'd report to, plus a tasting test in the actual kitchen. Expect a mix of technique questions (how do you break down a whole fish, what's your method for risotto), cost questions (how do you hold food cost on a $2M spend), and scenario questions (what do you do when a station goes down mid-service). At sous-chef and above, expect tasting and a paid working-trail night where you cook with the brigade. Bring your knives, your ServSafe Manager card or equivalent, and references including a current chef de cuisine and a recent purveyor.
Industry Applications
How your skills translate across different sectors
Fine Dining (Independent & Restaurant Group)
Tasting menus at $150-300+/cover, ACF CCC at chef-de-cuisine level, lineage-based hiring (which Michelin or 50 Best house you trained at). Food cost held tight (27-29%), brigade size 12-22, internal promotions to sister properties. Recognition by Michelin, James Beard, World's 50 Best matters.
Hotel & Resort F&B
Multi-outlet P&L, banquet and in-room dining revenue ownership, ACF CEC at executive level, AHLEI CHE valued. Brigade scaling 40-80 cooks across 3-5 outlets. Hyatt, Marriott, Four Seasons, Kimpton corporate audits. Property GM and VP of F&B as primary stakeholders.
Corporate Dining & Contract Foodservice
Compass Group, Aramark, Sodexo, Bon Appétit Management, Guckenheimer at flagship Google/Meta/Apple campuses. High-volume, lower per-cover spend, strong sustainability and dietary-program emphasis (vegan, gluten-free, allergen-segregated). HACCP plan ownership, ServSafe Manager non-negotiable. Less Michelin lineage, more operations-and-cost focus.
Catering & Banquet
ThinkFoodGroup, Wolfgang Puck Catering, Kosherica, regional banquet halls and hotel banquet departments. Per-event scale: 200-2,000+ covers, off-premise execution, mobile equipment (CombiOven Mini, Cambro, sous-vide for transport). Contribution margin per cover is the operating metric; food cost more flexible on private-buyout pricing.
Casual & Fast Casual Dining
Chipotle, Cava, Sweetgreen, Cheesecake Factory corporate, Lettuce Entertain You's casual brands, Boka Restaurant Group casual concepts. Higher cover counts (300-600/day), lower per-cover spend, kitchen-display-system (KDS) execution speed paramount. Sous chefs and chefs de cuisine here are operations-focused. Multi-unit growth path into area chef and regional culinary lead roles.
Institutional (Hospital, School, Senior Living)
Compass Group's Morrison Healthcare, Sodexo Healthcare, Aramark Higher Education, Sunrise Senior Living. Strong dietary-restriction execution (renal, cardiac, diabetic), high-volume cook-chill (Cambro Camchiller, Irinox blast chillers). HACCP and HHS regulatory currency essential. Stable hours, less night service, often union-affiliated brigade.
Salary Intelligence
NEGOTIATION STRATEGYNegotiation Tips
Chef compensation is rarely transparent and varies wildly by segment, geography, and ownership structure. Within fine dining, leverage comes from: ACF credentials (CCC, CEC), recognition (Michelin, James Beard, 50 Best) tied to your specific role, food-cost-held-under-target streak, and the brigade you've built and promoted. Always ask separately about: completion bonus (typically 1-3% of food revenue for chef de cuisine, 2-5% of F&B revenue for executive chef), relocation, knife/uniform allowance ($800-2,000 first year), and continuing-education stipend. In hotel F&B, ask about the property's Q4 performance and the bonus pool history before signing. Chef-de-cuisine and executive-chef roles increasingly include equity-style bonuses tied to multi-year P&L, especially in restaurant groups.
Key Factors
Top pay drivers for chefs in 2025: (1) segment, hotel/resort F&B and Michelin-recognized fine dining at the top, casual chains and institutional at the bottom; (2) market, NYC, LA, Miami, Vegas, SF, Chicago pay 20-40% over national mean; (3) ACF/AHLEI credential, CEC commands $15-30K premium over equivalent unsigned executive chef; (4) recognition, Michelin star or James Beard nomination tied to current role can be worth $20-50K base plus completion bonus uplift; (5) brigade size and bench-building track record, sous chefs you've placed into chef-de-cuisine roles is the single strongest signal at executive-chef level.