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 de partie does — written the way they should appear on a CV, not inflated.
Chef de partie CV — example
Header
[Full Name] [Town, UK] · [phone] · [email]
Professional summary
Chef de partie with four years in professional kitchens, most recently running the larder section in a 90-cover restaurant. Confident with mise en place planning, section handover and working to a set spec under pressure. Building towards a sous chef role.
Core skills
Section ownership (larder, grill) · Mise en place planning · HACCP records Stock rotation and FIFO · Portion and spec control · Allergen management Training commis chefs · Deep clean and close-down
Experience
Chef de Partie — 90-cover restaurant, Leeds Jan 2024 – present · Run the larder section across lunch and dinner, plating starters and cold desserts to the agreed spec. · Complete daily HACCP temperature and cleaning records for the section. · Plan the section’s mise en place around the day’s bookings. · Show commis chefs the prep for the section and check their work before service. Commis Chef — 140-cover hotel restaurant, Leeds Aug 2022 – Dec 2023 · Prepped across larder and pastry, supporting breakfast, lunch and banqueting. · Took deliveries, checked them against the order and rotated stock. · Covered the grill section during holiday periods. Kitchen Assistant — contract catering site, Leeds Feb 2022 – Jul 2022 · Supported prep and service for a staff restaurant serving around 300 covers a day.
Education and certifications
Level 3 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering — 2024 Level 2 HACCP — 2023 NVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery — 2022
Templates that suit this example
- Compact — Fits a full brigade history and certifications on one page.
- Classic — Formal structure that suits fine dining and hotel kitchens.
- Essential — One column, standard headings — nothing to get in the way of the detail.
Want this structure with your own experience in it?
Build your chef de partie CVWhy each section is written that way
Professional summary
- Why it matters.
- A head chef reading CDP applications is deciding one thing: can you be left on a section during service? The summary should answer that before they reach your experience.
- A strong version.
- Names the section you run, the cover count, and the direction you are heading. Four sentences.
- Common mistake.
- Listing cuisines you admire. Nobody is hiring on taste; they are hiring on whether the section goes out on time.
Core skills
- Why it matters.
- Kitchen CVs are scanned for the operational vocabulary — HACCP, allergens, stock rotation, spec control. Those words carry real meaning, and their absence is noticed.
- A strong version.
- The sections you have run, the compliance you own, and what you do outside service: ordering, prep planning, training.
- Common mistake.
- A list of dishes. Dishes belong in your experience, tied to a section and a service.
Experience
- Why it matters.
- Cover counts and venue type do the work here. "Larder section, 90 covers" tells a head chef the pace you are used to in a way that "worked in a busy kitchen" never will.
- A strong version.
- Section, covers, what you were accountable for, and who you trained. Keep each role to four or five lines.
- Common mistake.
- Copying the job description back. "Responsible for food preparation" describes every chef who has ever lived.
Certifications
- Why it matters.
- Food safety level and HACCP are checked at interview and often at audit. On a kitchen CV they are load-bearing, not decorative.
- A strong version.
- Level, awarding body and year, in their own section near the top for senior roles.
- Common mistake.
- Writing "food safety certified" without the level. Level 2 and Level 3 are not the same conversation.
If your experience looks different
Most people are not the candidate in the example. Three common situations, and what to change for each.
Commis chef writing a first CDP CV
Your summary. Say you are ready to take a section, and point at the evidence — the times you covered one, or ran prep unsupervised.
What to emphasise. Any section you have covered, deliveries and stock you have handled, and your food safety level. College kitchen work counts; say which kitchen and what volume.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Covered the larder section on the head chef’s day off across a 12-week period.
- ·Ran the morning prep list unsupervised, working to the section’s written spec.
- ·Completed NVQ Level 2 Professional Cookery alongside full-time kitchen work.
Certifications. Level 2 Food Safety at minimum, Level 2 HACCP if you can. Both are expected before you are handed a section.
CDP going for sous chef
Your summary. Shift the emphasis from cooking to running things: ordering, rotas, training, deputising, and what happened when the head chef was not there.
What to emphasise. Any ordering or stock responsibility, rota input, training you have delivered, and weeks you covered a senior absence.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Deputised for the sous chef across a six-week absence, running the pass on weekday services.
- ·Placed daily fresh orders against covers forecast and tracked wastage on the section.
- ·Trained three commis chefs through their first six months, including HACCP recording.
Certifications. Level 3 Food Safety and Hygiene, plus Level 2 HACCP. At sous level these are usually a requirement.
Moving into a professional kitchen
Your summary. Be direct about where you are coming from and what you have already done to prepare — training, stages, or volume cooking elsewhere.
What to emphasise. Any high-volume food work, food safety training, and physical reliability. A stage or trial shift is worth naming.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Completed a two-week stage in a 70-cover restaurant kitchen, working the larder section.
- ·Cooked to order for up to 150 covers a day in a high-street food outlet.
- ·Completed Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering before applying for kitchen roles.
Certifications. Level 2 Food Safety first. Without it, most kitchens cannot put you on prep at all.
Next steps
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