Requirements and skills Proven work experience as a head chef, excellent track record in kitchen management, ability to detect and solve problems efficiently, able to delegate multiple tasks, communication and leadership skills, keeping up to date with culinary trends and best practices. Once you're an established senior chef, you'll also need to be the marketing director of your own brand. Creating that brand starts in the kitchen with what's on the plate, but it also includes the dining room, where you'll connect with your guests and develop relationships with members of your community. Today's chefs should also engage their community through Instagram, Facebook and other social media sites, showcasing their creations to their loyal culinary fans.
A good chef is great at grassroots marketing. No matter where their career takes them, they can dedicate themselves to a concept and gain recognition for themselves and for the companies in which they work. The fast-paced world of the culinary industry welcomes expert professionals, passionate about the trade and innovators in their creations. So, let's take a look at these 10 key features that will help in a chef's work.
The kitchen is often referred to as the symbiosis of science and art. A chef may be well educated and have brilliant culinary skills, but creating impressive dishes also requires developed creativity. It's a constant struggle with established rules and an attempt to go beyond the usual limits, a craving for culinary experiments and a desire to surprise. The masters of the profession try to make even the most common dishes with a signature touch, contributing a part of their personality and creativity.
A true chef, like a good artist, must be guided by creative freedom, without fear of leaving his comfort zone. Serving dishes in the food industry plays a very important role, and that's where creativity should focus in the first place. A chef's workday is far from being anything like an entertaining Gordon Ramsay show. It's hard and tiring work that requires enormous endurance and perseverance.
It is not superfluous to also recall a longer working day compared to many other professions. A person who is willing to put up with it and who is able to endure all the difficulties of work with ease must be carried away by something. The burning eyes of a chef are the best guarantee of not getting stuck and staying still. Only passion will drive a chef to spend years honing his skills, learning and applying new techniques and recipes.
If a chef has no passion, it will become increasingly difficult for him to keep up to date, which means that the chances of success in the profession will diminish. From early morning until late at night, the chef spends his working day on his feet. This can be a challenge even for people in good physical shape. In busy restaurants, it's not uncommon for a chef to spend more than 12 hours preparing food for diners.
All that time is spent constantly working with kitchen utensils, mixing ingredients and moving between the stove and the tables. Dexterity and agility will help maintain such a high pace of work. As an executive chef, you should try to provide your team with resources to help them continue their own learning. Chefs are rarely trained to develop corporate culture, but that will be a fundamental characteristic for successful chefs to learn to succeed in the coming years.
The difference between a good chef and a great chef is the ability to manage your kitchen like a profitable business. As an executive chef, you are responsible for the profitability of the kitchen, which depends on sales. An executive chef who promotes a philosophy of continuous learning is more likely to create a positive, collaborative work environment and a sense that it can be done and cannot be done in their entire team. Today's executive chefs need to possess some of these classic traits, but more are needed to ensure success.
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