What is a cooking chef and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Tonya Whitfield

A cooking chef specializes in preparing and cooking meals. They are trained in various culinary techniques, such as baking, grilling, sauteing, and frying. A cooking chef typically works in a restaurant or food service establishment, where they oversee the kitchen staff and preparation of dishes. They create menus, order ingredients, and maintain kitchen hygiene. The role of a cooking chef requires culinary expertise, creativity, attention to detail, and strong leadership skills.

What general advice would you give to a Cooking Chef?

Tonya Whitfield

Professor Culinary Arts/ Culinary Management San Diego Mesa College, San Diego Mesa College

The more skills you can obtain while in college and/or training the higher the wage. For example, I trained in classical culinary techniques. My college offers certificates that specialize in Meat & Seafood fabrication and Baking & Pastry. Why not take that extra class or two to gain more technical training to make me more of a value higher. My pay is higher due to my skill being more. Plus, I am saving the employer training hours which will benefit for higher pay.

ScoreCooking ChefUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $34,973

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.2

Growth Rate 15%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.83%

Asian 12.03%

Black or African American 10.57%

Hispanic or Latino 17.87%

Unknown 5.51%

White 53.19%

Gender

female 23.69%

male 76.31%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress Level

9.2

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.4

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

0.2

Work Life balance is

6.4 - fair

What are the pros and cons of being a Cooking Chef?

Pros

Job satisfaction
Team collaboration and bonding
Good salary potential
Flexibility in schedule
Ability to open own restaurant or business

Cons

Physically demanding work
Low starting salary
Tough competition for jobs
Limited social life due to work schedule
Difficulties balancing work and personal life

Key steps to become a cooking chef

Explore cooking chef education requirements

Most common cooking chef degrees

Associate

30.9 %

High School Diploma

30.1 %

Bachelor's

18.5 %

Start to develop specific cooking chef skills

Skills	Percentages
Food Service	22.74%
Food Handling	19.04%
Kitchen Equipment	16.00%
Culinary	9.95%
Cleanliness	8.91%

Complete relevant cooking chef training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New cooking chefs learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a cooking chef based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real cooking chef resumes.

Gain additional cooking chef certifications

Cooking chef certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific cooking chef certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for cooking chefs include Food Safety Manager Certification and Certified Food Manager (CFM).

More About Certifications

Research cooking chef duties and responsibilities

Manage a kitchen of military personal and Japanese civilian chefs.
Assist culinary instructor in food preparation.
Cook foods by baking, roasting, broiling, frying, saut? ing, steaming, grilling.
Travel to various locations throughout the city to perform culinary task.

Prepare your cooking chef resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your cooking chef resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a cooking chef resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Cooking Chef Resume templates

Build a professional Cooking Chef resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Cooking Chef resume.

Apply for cooking chef jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a cooking chef job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do cooking chefs rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Cooking Chef reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2020

Pros

Design & creating food making customer happy cooking every area as line, prep, steam, broil, grill, creating comfort food desserts and catering. Ordering and managing a kitchen

Cons

Nothing to complain about love being a chef

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020