Head Chef

☛ How many employees report to you? How many of those are managers?

☛ Who do you report to?

☛ What is the volume/revenue your establishment is doing in a year?

☛ What is your favorite food to eat?

☛ What is your favorite cuisine to cook? Why? (Look for use of ingredients)

☛ Give me an example of a Springtime menu you would prepare for me? (Look for use of in-season ingredients)

☛ Why did you choose to become a Chef?

☛ What do you do to stay educated about new trends?

☛ What do you do to insure the quality of the food going out to customers?

☛ Give me an example of someone you have trained or mentored. Where did they start and where are they now?

☛ How do you take ownership in your position there at ________ (company)? (look for guest interaction, financials, organization, cleanliness, quality)

☛ How do you insure/test the quality of your ingredients?

☛ Tell me about an accomplishment that you are most proud of in your career.

☛ Describe to me a problem you had with an employee and how you handled it.

☛ Tell me about your management style.

☛ Tell me 3 things that you consider to be your strengths.

☛ Tell me something you would like to learn or improve upon.

☛ How involved are you in the beverage aspect?

☛ Tell me about your wine knowledge.

☛ How involved are you in the financial aspect of your business? Budgets/forecasting?

☛ How involved are you in executing labor cost? If your labor is running high, what measures do you take to control it?

☛ How involved are you with the menu development and overall design? Who do you feel should be involved in the decision?

☛ How involved do you get with Purchasing and Receiving?

☛ How involved are you in the risk management side of the business?

☛ What are your thoughts on progressive discipline?

☛ Do you prefer working on your own or within a team, and why?

☛ How would you describe your personality?

☛ Can you give an example of when you went out of your way to help someone?

☛ Outside of work, what do you enjoy doing?

☛ Do you play sports?, if so which

☛ Someone you are working with is having a bad time outside of work, what would you do?. Can you given an example of this.

☛ If someone else was to describe your personality, what would they say.

☛ Towards the end of a shift, what do normally start thinking about?

☛ If you had to tell me about you in 3 words, what 3 words would you use?

☛ What motivates you?

☛ What demotivates you?

☛ How would you motivate others in your team?

☛ Do you have any holidays pre booked

☛ What is your current salary

☛ What salary are you looking for

☛ Where can you see yourself in 5 years time

☛ If they need to drive to get to the site, ask about driving / travel arrangements

☛ What is your current notice period

☛ Why did you decide to become a chef? What other back-of-the-house positions have you previously held?

☛ Did you go to culinary school? What credentials did you earn through your culinary studies?

☛ What did you like best about the education experience? What did you like least?

☛ Where and how were you trained?

☛ What is your management style? What management style do you prefer for your supervisor to have?

☛ How many employees report to you? What levels are the employees who are your direct reports?

☛ Are you a team player? Describe your usual role in a team-centered work environment? Do you easily assume a leadership role?

☛ Do you have a sense of humor?

☛ Tell me about a difficult situation and how you handled it?

☛ Describe the relationship between back-of-the-house and front-of-the-house operations.

☛ Tell me about your experience with employee and workforce management. Describe the last time you had to discipline a subordinate.

☛ Are you able to work flexible hours?

☛ Is there a chef you admire the most? Who and why?

☛ What is your favorite cuisine? How many different types of cuisine are you capable of producing?

☛ What is your favorite cuisine to cook?

☛ What is your favorite wine?

☛ Tell me about your wine knowledge.

☛ Tell me about pairing wine and food.

☛ What trends are you noticing regarding wine and food pairings?

☛ What is an example of a springtime menu you would prepare for me?

☛ If you were asked to reduce fat and sodium in a menu, what would you do maintain flavor in the quality of the dish?

☛ What do you do to stay current on new trends? Describe two or three of the most interesting industry trends.

☛ How do you test the quality of your ingredients?

☛ Describe your knowledge of food safety.

☛ How involved are you in the beverage component of your establishment?

☛ How involved are you with menu development and overall design?

☛ When are you happiest at work?

☛ If you were told that your food cost was high, what five things would you look at first?

☛ What is the average annual revenue of the restaurants you have worked in?

☛ How involved are you in the financial aspect of the business?

☛ Tell me about your budgeting, purchasing and inventory control experience.

☛ How do you train others

☛ how will you ensure the high standards when the head chef is off

☛ what kind of support would you give to the head chef

☛ what value would you bring to the kitchen

☛ how do you manage the kitchen?

☛ have you an knowledge of menu planning

☛ what would you do if the dishwasher breaks down?

☛ what would you do if one of the ovens stopped working

☛ if you have a function for 200 chicken dishes and only 180 was delivered this morning and was signed for by the breakfast chef, what would you do?

☛ what would you do if the KP called in sick

☛ when you become a head chef, what type of kitchen would you want?

☛ why do you want to be a sous chef here, what will this do for your career?

☛ Describe the training that you have and how it relates to this position.

☛ In your experience, how does food cost factor into menu creation?

☛ What is your involvement with Purchasing and Receiving?

☛ List some of your favorite food vendors and why you like to with them.

☛ What foods do you like to pair together and why?

☛ How does your winter menu differ from your spring menu?

☛ How do you control the quality of the food that goes out to customers?

☛ How do you take ownership over customers' experience of your restaurant?

☛ What do you do when customers request ingredient substitutions?

☛ How do you handle special diets (such as gluten free diets)?

☛ Recall a time you handled a situation with a disappointed customer.

☛ How do you keep labor costs under control?

☛ Describe your approach to hiring staff. What do you look for?

☛ Recall a time that you fired someone. Why did you do it?

☛ How involved are you in managing your cooks?

☛ Describe your experience with multicultural and multilingual teams.

☛ Recall a time you resolved a conflict with a difficult employee.

☛ Recall someone who you have trained or mentored. Where did they start? Where are they now?

☛ How would you improve our establishment?