The full example
Everything below is fictional. The venues are described rather than named, and the achievements are the kind of thing a real chef does — written the way they should appear on a CV, not inflated.
Chef CV — example
Header
[Full Name] [Town, UK] · [phone] · [email]
Professional summary
Chef with six years in hotel and pub kitchens, currently one of four chefs in a 70-bedroom country hotel covering breakfast, à la carte, the bar menu and weddings for up to 120 guests. Comfortable moving between sections as the day needs, holding the food safety paperwork on a shift and writing the prep list for the next one. Level 3 Food Safety. Looking for a senior chef or junior sous role in a kitchen with a bigger brigade, or a head chef role in a small one.
Core skills
Working across sections (breakfast, sauce, grill, larder, desserts) Weekly changing menus and specials · Function and wedding dining up to 120 Prep lists and mise en place for the next shift · Butchery and fish prep Stock rotation, labelling and dating · Ordering against par levels HACCP records and temperature logs · Allergen matrix and dietary requests COSHH and kitchen deep cleans · Supervising a commis and a kitchen porter
Experience
Chef — 70-bedroom country hotel, Shrewsbury Jun 2023 – present · Cook across breakfast, the 60-cover à la carte restaurant and the bar menu, moving section to section as the rota and the bookings require. · Run the pass for weddings and functions of up to 120 guests when the head chef is plating, working to the function sheet and its timings. · Write the prep list at the end of each shift from the bookings and the function sheet, so the morning chef starts from a known position. · Break down whole lamb and prep the fish delivery for the restaurant, portioning to spec and logging yields for the head chef’s costing. · Keep the HACCP records, fridge and probe logs and the allergen matrix for the shift, and raise anything out of range before service. · Supervise a commis chef and the kitchen porter on shift, including the deep-clean rota. Chef — 80-cover gastropub, Ludlow Mar 2021 – May 2023 · Worked grill and fryer through Friday and Saturday service and the Sunday roast, which ran to around 200 covers. · Prepped the week’s specials with the head chef from what the butcher and greengrocer had, and costed each one on its spec card. · Took deliveries, checked temperatures and dates, and rotated the walk-in. · Covered the larder section through two months of long-term sickness. Commis Chef — contract catering staff restaurant, Telford Sep 2019 – Feb 2021 · Prepped and served a fixed-cycle menu for around 250 staff covers a day, across the salad bar, the hot counter and a weekly theme day. · Completed Level 2 Food Safety and the site HACCP induction in the first month.
Education and certifications
Level 3 Award in Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering — 2024 Level 2 Award in HACCP for Catering — 2023 COSHH Awareness — 2023 Level 2 Award in Allergen Awareness — 2022 Fire Marshal training — 2024 Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery (City & Guilds) — 2019
Additional
Systems: Procure Wizard (ordering), Navitas digital HACCP Driving licence: full, clean — useful for a rural site Availability: split shifts, weekends and bank holidays
Templates that suit this example
- Station — A side rail for sections covered, certificates and systems, with the main column kept for service detail.
- Essential Serif — One column with a quieter typeface — suits hotel and country-house kitchens that expect a formal document.
- Compact Grid — Fits several kitchens, a long certificate list and a cookery qualification on one page.
Want this structure with your own experience in it?
Build your chef CVWhy each section is written that way
Professional summary
- Why it matters.
- A plain "chef" title tells a head chef nothing about level. The summary has to say what kind of kitchen, how many of you there are, and what you actually cover, or the reader will assume the smallest version of the job.
- A strong version.
- Kitchen type, brigade size, the sections and services you cover, one line on paperwork, and the move you want to make. Four or five sentences.
- Common mistake.
- "Passionate chef with a love of fresh ingredients". Every chef applying says it, and it uses the space where the brigade size and the wedding count should be.
Core skills
- Why it matters.
- An all-round chef is hired for range. The skills block is where you show it — the sections you can step onto, the paperwork you can be trusted with and the prep you can do without being shown.
- A strong version.
- Sections named, function sizes stated, butchery and fish prep if you do them, and the HACCP, allergen and COSHH vocabulary a head chef checks for.
- Common mistake.
- A list of cuisines and "creativity". A head chef short on a Saturday wants to know whether you can run grill and keep the fridge logs, not whether you like Thai food.
Experience
- Why it matters.
- Covering several sections is the whole point of this CV, so each role has to show what you covered, at what scale, and what happened when the head chef was elsewhere.
- A strong version.
- Covers, function sizes, the sections you moved between, and the moments you ran the pass or held a section on your own. Say what you did in the kitchen, not what the kitchen did.
- Common mistake.
- Writing "responsible for food preparation and cooking" under every job. It describes every chef who has ever lived. Name the sections and the numbers.
Certifications
- Why it matters.
- A hotel or pub kitchen with a small brigade needs every chef to be able to hold the food safety paperwork on their own shift. Level 3 Food Safety and HACCP say you can be left with it.
- A strong version.
- Level 3 Food Safety, HACCP, allergen awareness, COSHH and anything fire or first aid related, each with a year, then the cookery qualification.
- Common mistake.
- Listing only Level 2 Food Safety when you have done the Level 3, or leaving the dates off so nobody can tell whether a certificate is current.
Additional
- Why it matters.
- A country hotel or a pub out of town will quietly check two things before anything else: can you get there for a 6am breakfast, and can you work the shifts the bookings demand.
- A strong version.
- A driving licence if the site is rural, honest availability, and the ordering or digital HACCP system you have used, named.
- Common mistake.
- Leaving availability off and letting the reader guess, or listing hobbies in the space where a driving licence would have answered the real question.
If your experience looks different
Most people are not the candidate in the example. Three common situations, and what to change for each.
No experience — first chef job from college or the pot wash
Your summary. Say plainly that you are looking for a first chef role and lead with the kitchen hours you already have, whether from a college kitchen, an apprenticeship placement or a kitchen porter job where you were given prep.
What to emphasise. Hours in a working kitchen, food safety training already held, the sections you have been shown, and early starts and late finishes you have already done.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Completed [X] hours of supervised kitchen placement as part of a Level 2 cookery course, across larder and veg prep.
- ·Prepped vegetables and basic stocks for a [X]-cover kitchen while working as a kitchen porter.
- ·Worked breakfast service at a [X]-bedroom hotel on weekends alongside college.
Certifications. Level 2 Food Safety first, then allergen awareness. If a college cookery qualification is in progress, give the expected completion date rather than leaving it off.
Some experience — going for chef de partie or junior sous
Your summary. Name the step. "Chef with four years across hotel and pub kitchens, looking for a first chef de partie role" tells the reader what to assess you against, and the sections you have covered are your evidence.
What to emphasise. The sections you have held on your own, functions you have run the pass for, paperwork you have owned, and anyone junior you have supervised or trained.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Held the sauce section on my own through [X] covers a night for a full season.
- ·Ran the pass for functions of up to [X] guests when the head chef was on annual leave.
- ·Kept the HACCP records and allergen matrix for the kitchen across [X] shifts a week.
Certifications. Level 3 Food Safety and HACCP if you do not already hold them. They are the two certificates a head chef looks for before handing over a section.
Moving into kitchens from another industry
Your summary. Name the transferable spine — pace, working to a standard, physical shifts, food safety if you have it — and state the move directly. A care home cook, a school kitchen assistant or a food production worker is closer to this job than the titles suggest.
What to emphasise. Volume you have cooked or produced for, any food safety or HACCP training you already hold, early starts and weekends you have already worked, and what you have done in a kitchen since deciding to move.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Cooked a fixed-cycle menu for [X] residents a day, working to allergen and texture-modified diet requirements.
- ·Worked to HACCP critical control points on a food production line producing [X] units a shift.
- ·Completed Level 2 Food Safety and [X] weekend shifts in a pub kitchen ahead of moving into hospitality.
Certifications. Level 2 Food Safety and allergen awareness before you apply. HACCP if you held it in a previous job transfers straight across — put it on with the year.
Next steps
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