Sous Chef Resume

Sous chef resume example

A sous chef resume should explain the kitchen you worked in, the service responsibilities you held and how you supported the team. Name the cuisine, venue type and sections you know. Then show how your decisions helped preparation and service run smoothly.

Illustrative example: this is a fictional sample, not a client resume. Replace brackets with your own details and use only statements you can support.

Profile

Sous chef with [length of experience] in [venue type and cuisine]. Experienced in coordinating preparation, supervising service and supporting stock ordering. Works with the head chef and front-of-house team to communicate priorities, maintain agreed standards and develop junior cooks.

Experience

[Actual job title] — [Venue], [month/year–month/year]

• Allocated preparation tasks across [sections] and checked readiness with section leads before service.
• Coordinated the pass during [service type], communicated changes to the team and escalated delays to the head chef.
• Reviewed stock use and waste records with the head chef to adjust preparation quantities for the following service.
• Showed new team members the venue's recipes, portion guides and cleaning records, then checked their work during supervised shifts.

Skills and qualifications

Service coordination; section supervision; stock rotation; ordering; recipe costing; staff training; [cuisines and techniques genuinely used]. List your actual cookery qualifications, providers and completion dates. Include relevant current training requested by the employer without treating an overseas certificate as an Australian requirement.

Choose evidence that shows your level

Describe what you owned and what you supported. Covering the head chef's leave is useful experience, but it should not become a permanent executive-chef title on your resume. If you supervised a section rather than the whole kitchen, make that clear.

• Service: explain the type of operation, the sections you coordinated and how you handled changing priorities.
• People: describe induction, allocation of work or coaching, including team size only if accurate.
• Costs: connect an ordering or preparation change to records you can explain. Separate your contribution from the venue's overall financial results.
• Standards: show how you followed the venue's food-safety, allergen communication and record-keeping procedures within your responsibilities.

Moving from chef de partie to sous chef

Keep your current title and show the additional responsibilities you have taken on: briefing colleagues, coordinating more than one section, helping train a new cook or supporting orders. These examples make the transition credible without suggesting you already held the target job.

Compare your draft with the advertisement. A hotel banqueting role may need different evidence from a small restaurant. Move the most relevant example higher and shorten detail that does not help explain your fit.

Final checks before applying

Check employment dates, qualification names and availability. Use readable headings and the employer's requested file format. Do not copy a sample's numbers or claim a reduction in waste without a reliable comparison. Ask yourself whether you could explain every bullet to the head chef in an interview.

Get help with your sous chef resume

Have a draft ready? Request a free resume review and include a target job advertisement. If you want help writing your application, compare our resume writing packages and check the documents and support included in your selected option.