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As a chef, you do much more than cook. You design and plan menus, order ingredients and supplies, oversee staff, and create tasty dishes for hungry restaurant patrons to consume and enjoy. You ensure that produce, meats, and seafood are fresh, and you follow nutrition and safety guidelines. Your plate is full as a chef, but the outcome can be delicious. Interested in this rewarding career path? Take a look at the duties and responsibilities you might have as a chef.

Chefs Have Different Roles

To become a chef, you need training, experience, and a passion for the profession. As you rise through the ranks you will have different roles and responsibilities. You may start as a prep cook, helping to slice and dice ingredients to hand off to a line cook. The more you learn and prove yourself, though, the more you will be able to take on additional responsibilities. As a head chef, you’re in charge of everything that comes in and out of your kitchen.

Chefs Plan Menus

Among your top responsibilities as a chef is to build a menu that satisfies your restaurant’s theme and the preferences of your customers. Before you plan any menu, you need to understand the age, culture, dietary preferences, and price points of your consumers. You need to consider food costs, plate portions, menu variety, cooking methods, recipe standardization, and budgets. You may also want to use seasonal produce and local sourcing and consider culinary trends and innovations. And as a chef, don’t forget to be creative!

In addition to the food items that go onto your menu, you also need to think about the look and feel of the menu itself. Is your restaurant part of a chain with strict guidelines? Or is it family owned and operated? You may get to help decide on whether your menu will look traditional or fun and whimsical, fancy, or casual. Your menu needs to be visually appealing, easy to read, and with descriptions that make people want to try each and every item.

Chefs Prepare Appetizers and Entrees

The menu is the blueprint for all you create in your kitchen. But how you conduct the plans is the difference between a so-so meal and those that have patrons lining up at your door before you even open. You need to properly prepare all kinds of fish, poultry, and meats. You may need to braise, roast, and smoke meats, or prepare sausage from scratch. You may shell and descale fish or stuff lobsters. Will you prepare chicken a l’orange or under a brick? Will your appetizers be fried, baked, blanched, or poached? You need to use all your skills to make meals that are consistently delicious.

Create Desserts

In addition to cooking amazing main courses and appetizers, you need to envision, plan, and prepare fabulous desserts. You may source desserts from area bakeries and suppliers, or you may hire a pastry chef with the specific role of pâtissier. Or you may be the one to mix different ingredients to make breads, Danishes, and pastries. You need to understand the science of baking and the various techniques to prepare dough and batter, decorate cakes and pastries, and plate every item so it looks as good as it tastes. You’ll create classic restaurant-style desserts like cakes, pies, and torts. Or will you dream up your very own creative concoctions that become famous!

Ensure Food Safety as a Chef

Another critical duty you have as a chef is to ensure that the food you serve is fresh and all workstations are sanitary, so customers don’t get sick. You order the freshest ingredients and check them when they arrive. You wash your hands frequently, use gloves when appropriate, and instruct the other staff to do the same. You clean the kitchen regularly, wipe down counters constantly, and ensure that plates, pots, pans, and utensils are washed and sanitized properly before they are used. You also ensure that food is stored at the proper temperatures and reorder food storage and cooking equipment that may not be working correctly. And you make sure that your kitchen complies with all local, state, and federal health and safety regulations.

Chefs Manage Inventory and Control Costs

Your work may be a creative endeavor, but it won’t last if you don’t understand the business of running a restaurant. As a chef, you manage inventory, making sure to keep track of ingredients and kitchen supplies, and do your best to avoid waste. You collaborate closely with vendors to get the best products at the best price. You also consider costs when you plan your menu. You don’t buy costly out-of-season produce when fresh local offerings are tasty and available. You also tightly control portions and deliver consistent meals that satisfy your customers while making your business a profit.

Chefs Oversee Kitchen Staff

As a head chef, you also oversee the kitchen and its staff. That means you find, hire, train, teach, and mentor employees, helping them to develop their own skills and be good representatives for the kitchen and the business. You manage schedules and make sure you have adequate coverage, understanding the peaks and valleys of the industry and your restaurant. And you coach your staff during their shifts, making sure they perform their jobs to your high standards.

Market Yourself as a Chef

Part of making a restaurant a success is getting the word out. When you post amazing dishes online, you help build a restaurant’s following and you also build your own brand. Whether you work your way up in a restaurant you love or move to another opportunity over time, you need to be your own marketer. Develop your own Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok brand and grow your fan base. Let everyone know you love what you do, and you do it really well.

Are you ready to take on the duties and responsibilities of a chef or do you need to start from scratch? Lincoln Culinary Institute offers training in the Culinary Arts that can prepare you for entry-level work in the food service industry. The program is taught by instructors with real-world experience who can share their knowledge and skills with you, and you can train in kitchens that mimic commercial kitchens. Fill out the form to learn more.