Does A Chef Just Cook?

If a Chef doesn’t cook, what else does he or she do? Yes, you are right, a Chef definitely needs to know how to cook the best food. The question is other than cooking, what else does a Chef need to do? In the past, being a Chef is nothing more than just a cook. But things have certainly changed now. You need to be doing more than just cooking as a Chef.

A Chef’s job function is no longer limited to kitchen work. In fact, some of the world’s most successful Chefs actually run big corporations and some are serving as the CEO or Director of world biggest food chains companies. As such, business skills such as financial management, marketing, accounting, computer skills, leadership are essential in helping a Chef to better prepare them to assume managerial roles in the food industry and to manage large, complex food service corporations. In the current food industry, a Chef definitely needs to know more than just carrying out his or her culinary work in the kitchen.

Some of you may argue that a Chef should just do what he or she is supposed to do which is to cook and prepare the world’s best food, not some finance or business management jobs. You might be right to some degree. But if your career as a Chef has advanced to some point where you are in a management position such as assuming a position as an Executive Chef managing tens to hundreds of people under your group, leadership and management skills are necessary in this case. Being a leaders are no easy task. You need to be creative and know how to inspire your kitchen staffs to develop new dishes and inventive recipe.

Even if you were just a Chef who only do what is necessary as a Chef such as cooking and preparing dishes in the kitchen, your job responsibility is not just limited to these simple tasks. You need to know that people now are more health conscious and they usually demand to know what is being served to them on the table. Changing food trends and eating habits are some of the challenges for a Chef today. In order to adapt to these challenges, aside from carrying out culinary work in the kitchen, a Chef must know a wide variety of food preparation techniques and cooking styles. They also must know how to prepare foods to accommodate various dietary restrictions, to satisfy health-conscious eating styles and to meet the needs of an increasingly international clientele.

Take for example, other than working as a cook, a restaurant Executive Chef is also responsible for some of the following work.

• Menu planning. Develops dining room menus and revises twice annually.
• Purchasing and inventory management. Sets appropriate purchasing specifications and stocks are available on timely basis.
• Food production and presentation. Accurately forecast food production needs and records them within guidelines.
• Financial. Manages and controls food costs as well as budget preparation.
• Supervision/Human Resources. Supervises, motivates, train and evaluate cooking staffs.
• Leadership. Serve as a role model for employees though teamwork support, attention to detail, quality control and interactions with guests and team members.

The above job responsibility is not just limited to an Executive Chef. A Pastry Chef is also assuming more or less the same job functions. In short, a Chef does not just cook now. You need to be more than just being a Chef. It’s as simple as that.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 12:29 am and is filed under Chef Career. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.