The full example
Everything below is fictional. The venues are described rather than named, and the achievements are the kind of thing a real sous chef does — written the way they should appear on a CV, not inflated.
Sous chef CV — example
Header
[Full Name] [Town, UK] · [phone] · [email]
Professional summary
Sous chef with five years in professional kitchens, currently second to the head chef in a 120-cover restaurant and running service on their days off. Owns the ordering, the prep plan and the food safety paperwork. Comfortable covering any section when the brigade is short. Looking for a sous role in a kitchen with a head chef worth learning from, or a first head chef job.
Core skills
Running service in the head chef’s absence · Section coverage (larder, sauce, grill) · Prep planning and mise en place schedules · Ordering and stock rotation HACCP records and temperature logs · Allergen control · Supplier deliveries and spec checks · Briefing and training junior chefs · Waste tracking Handover and close-down · Kitchen deep-clean rota
Experience
Sous Chef — 120-cover restaurant, Sheffield Feb 2024 – present · Second to the head chef across a brigade of [X], running service on their days off and through their annual leave. · Cover whichever section is short on the day, most often sauce and larder. · Build the prep list for each service from the booking sheet, and check it off at handover so the next shift starts from a known position. · Place the daily produce order and the weekly dry goods order, and rotate stock on delivery. · Keep the HACCP records, temperature logs and allergen matrix up to date. · Brief the team before service and run the close-down check at the end. Chef de Partie — hotel restaurant with functions, Leeds Aug 2022 – Jan 2024 · Ran the sauce section through à la carte service and plated banqueting. · Trained two commis chefs on section prep and plating standards. · Checked deliveries against spec and temperature, and rejected what failed. Commis Chef — gastropub kitchen, Leeds Jun 2021 – Jul 2022 · Worked larder and vegetable prep, and covered grill on quieter services. · Followed the daily cleaning schedule and the weekly deep-clean rota.
Education and certifications
Level 3 Award in Supervising Food Safety in Catering — 2023 Level 2 Award in HACCP for Catering — 2022 Level 2 Award in Allergen Awareness — 2022 Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering — 2021 NVQ Level 2 in Professional Cookery — 2021
Additional
Availability: split shifts, weekends and bank holidays
Templates that suit this example
- Brigade — A timeline layout built for chefs with several venues and a clear progression to show.
- Station — A working side rail for sections, certificates and languages, keeping the main column for service detail.
- Essential — One column, standard headings — the plainest option when you are applying into a large group.
Want this structure with your own experience in it?
Build your sous chef CVWhy each section is written that way
Professional summary
- Why it matters.
- A head chef reading a sous CV is asking one question: can I leave this person in charge of my kitchen? Answer it in the first three lines, or the rest of the page is doing unpaid work.
- A strong version.
- Covers, brigade size, what you own when the head chef is off, and the move you are making. Four sentences at most.
- Common mistake.
- Listing every section you have ever worked as though breadth were the point. At sous level the reader assumes breadth; what they are buying is judgement when something goes wrong mid-service.
Core skills
- Why it matters.
- This is where a sous CV separates itself from a very good chef de partie CV. Ordering, HACCP ownership, prep planning and briefing are the things a CDP does not usually touch.
- A strong version.
- The controls you actually hold, named plainly — the order, the prep plan, the records, the handover — alongside the sections you can cover.
- Common mistake.
- A list of cuisines and techniques. Nobody hires a sous chef because they can make a beurre blanc; they hire one because service runs without them having to watch it.
Experience
- Why it matters.
- "Sous chef" covers a second-in-command of two and a second-in-command of twenty. Cover count, brigade size and what you run unsupervised are what place you.
- A strong version.
- Say what you own rather than what you helped with. "Place the daily produce order" is a fact about your job; "assisted with ordering" could mean anything.
- Common mistake.
- Inventing a food-cost saving or a waste reduction. If you did not measure it, do not put a number on it — an interviewer will ask you to reconstruct it, and the answer will be worse than having said nothing.
Food safety and certifications
- Why it matters.
- At sous level food safety stops being something you comply with and becomes something you are responsible for. Level 3 supervising food safety is the line between the two.
- A strong version.
- Level 3 supervising food safety, HACCP and allergen awareness with years, plus your cookery qualification. Say if something is booked but not yet sat.
- Common mistake.
- Leaving HACCP off because it feels administrative. It is the part of the job a head chef most wants to hand over, and the part they will ask about.
If your experience looks different
Most people are not the candidate in the example. Three common situations, and what to change for each.
Your first sous chef role — moving up from chef de partie
Your summary. Name the step plainly: "Chef de partie with four years, looking for a first sous chef role." A head chef would rather read that than work out what you are asking for.
What to emphasise. Everything you already do that is sous work without the title — running a section unsupervised, covering the sous on their days off, training commis chefs, checking deliveries, taking the close.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Covered the sous chef’s shifts during annual leave, including the prep plan and the close-down check.
- ·Trained [X] commis chefs on section prep, plating standards and the cleaning schedule.
- ·Checked deliveries against spec and temperature, and logged what was rejected.
Certifications. Level 3 Supervising Food Safety is the single strongest addition — it is what most job adverts for sous roles ask for, and many CDPs do not have it yet.
Experienced sous — going for a head chef job
Your summary. Shift the emphasis from running service to running a kitchen. Lead with the menu, the ordering and the people, not with your sections.
What to emphasise. Menu input, costing, recruitment and training, supplier relationships, and any period you ran the kitchen outright while the head chef role was vacant.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Wrote [X] specials a week and costed each one before it went on the board.
- ·Ran the kitchen for [X] months while the head chef role was vacant, including ordering and rotas.
- ·Interviewed and inducted new chefs alongside the general manager.
Certifications. Level 4 Managing Food Safety if you can get it funded, plus first aid — both are expected at head chef level more often than at sous.
Moving into a sous role from a different kind of kitchen
Your summary. Name the transferable spine — volume, food safety, leading a shift — and be specific about what is new. A contract catering or care kitchen background is closer to this job than restaurant snobbery suggests.
What to emphasise. Scale and consistency from your previous kitchen, any HACCP or supervising food safety you already hold, and the parts of restaurant service you have not done yet. Do not pretend otherwise; say what you are ready to learn.
Bullets you could adapt
- ·Produced [X] covers a day to a fixed menu cycle, working to allergen and dietary requirements.
- ·Held responsibility for HACCP records and temperature logs across the kitchen.
- ·Supervised a team of [X] through service and signed off the close-down.
Certifications. Level 3 Supervising Food Safety and HACCP travel between kitchen types unchanged, and they are the fastest way to close the gap on paper.
Next steps
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