Thisweek, we share some top reasons as to why you might consider enrolling in our commercial cookery courses. 1. The industry is positively booming! "We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly. ". For the past few years, the sentiment has been much of the same: chefs are in high demand! whydo i want to be a chef. Post author By ; Post date December 26, 2020 Thinkingfrom the end and going back is a great way to approach answering questions about why you'd make an excellent titleholder. Making a year-long plan for your reign is a strong tool for ensuring that you hit all of your target goals and make the most of the 365 days you'll have as a titleholder. Planning in advance also helps get you in a Forpeople who do their research and don't think of them as cuddly pets, donkeys are good companions and easy to care for. They require far less veterinary and farrier attention than a horse. Ray costs me less to care for than my dogs. Khekadebelieves that india already has the best payment it is not clear why the government would want to conflict with its own successful system. Many governments are concerned about tokens. In india, over 10 million people are said to be involved in the trading of digital, decentralized currencies, despite no clear regulations governing the Credit Courtesy of Spicewalla. "I'd always bring my masala dabba with me whenever I was invited to do collaborative dinners with other chefs," says Meherwan Irani, whose resume includes chef, restauranteur, five-time James Beard nominee, and the founder of Spicewalla. His stainless dabba bursting with bright, fragrant spices was always Ifdefense experts are to be believed, then this strategy of India is completely opposite from the earlier governments. Afghanistan is about to complete Thereis a rise in interest in the culinary arts, and we are taking part fully in the culinary renaissance. Last November, India made international headlines when Garima Arora received the Michelin Star award for her restaurant GAA. Gaggan Anand, Vineet Bhatia, Atul Kochhar, Ritu Dalmia, and Manish Malhotra, who have been breaking culinary boundaries and inspiring the next generation of chefs Great but Don't Overlook Disabled Individuals. On this 32nd anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, make hiring workers from all backgrounds a priority. Money Melissa Angell. Fewer Gelbs show, in 2016, is what turned Anand from relative obscurity — an Indian chef in the middle of Thailand — into an emblem of defiance and a food-world antihero. More twists followed. In sTCaGqn. s_bukley/Shutterstock Many children of celebrity chefs follow their parents into the "family business." For example, Wolfgang Puck's son, Byron Puck, was recently named general manager of two restaurants, Merois and Ospero, in the Puck empire in Los Angeles via Los Angeles Magazine, and Puck's youngest son, Oliver, has shown he can scramble an egg like a master — and even handle a Tomahawk steak via Instagram. Furthermore, Emeril Lagasse's son EJ followed in his father's footsteps and graduated from the acclaimed culinary school Johnson & Wales University via Instagram. Then there's Matilda Ramsay, who's hosted a cooking show for the CBBC and co-authored a cookbook for kids via Parade. And although not a chef, Sophie Flay followed dad Bobby Flay into the TV business as a reporter in Los Angeles and co-host of the food-centric podcast, "Always Hungry." Although a child might feel some pressure to live up to a famous parent's career, Giada De Laurentiis is not putting those expectations on her daughter, Jade Thompson, whom she shares with her former husband, fashion designer Todd Thompson. Giada understands better than many what it's like to have relatives who are famous for their talents and successful careers. Her grandfather is famed filmmaker Dino De Laurentiis, and her grandmother and parents also had acting careers via Biography. Giada tried her hand at acting and took various jobs in the film business but ultimately decided it didn't suit her. Instead, she went to college and then enrolled in culinary school to pursue her passion for cooking via Milk Street. Jade Thompson is her own person When Giada De Laurentiis was pregnant in 2007, she joked with Redbook that her child would probably be born with zero interest in cooking via People. That's not entirely true. Jade enjoys being with mom in the kitchen, especially when they're baking via Giadzy. But as for a career as a chef? Giada doesn't see that happening. And that's absolutely fine. As the "Everyday Italian" host told People, "There's not one single part of her that's like, 'I'm going to be a cook like my mom." Instead, Jade has plenty of her own interests and dreams for her future, says Giada. "One day she wants to be a professional horseback rider, the next day she wants to be a gymnast in the Olympics and the next day she wants to sing. It changes every day," the celebrity cook has explained. However, Giada notes that cooking never makes Jade's list of possible careers. And coming from a family of famous people, Giada can relate. "She can have her own identity," De Laurentiis said, adding, "This is a big identity to deal with so I can understand that." One thing is for certain De Laurentiis beams with maternal pride and regularly features her only child on Instagram. Giada recently congratulated and celebrated with a Nutella crepe! Jade for being chosen as speaker at her 8th-grade graduation, and on International Women's Day last March, De Laurentiis posted a mother-daughter photo writing, "So proud of the woman you are becoming." There is a high demand for chefs in kitchens with many business owners offering good salaries and extra holiday days to entice good candidates. However, the best jobs out there will draw a lot of applicants, so you need to stand out from the crowd. Whenever you decide to apply for a new job, it is always a good idea to prepare yourself. Try and have some examples of your previous experiences ready to showcase your strengths. This article is brought to you by… Our Sales and Development Manager, Jamie Hogg, who has an extensive background in hospitality. With more than 15 years of experience as a General Manager of several bars, restaurants, hotels and pubs, Jamie has recruited many chefs and enjoys seeing how they develop with the role. I worked in restaurants and bars for over 9 years before setting up a cafe with a business partner. I’ll use my experience from the shiny, the sharp and the downright bluntest of interviews, to make sure you’re as prepared as possible. The contents of this article are Interview Questions for Chefs Interview Questions for Kitchen Managers Use the links above to jump to each section of the guide. Interview Questions for Chefs Being a good chef requires use of both hard and soft skills. You need to show attention to detail, be able to multitask, have an excellent understanding of cleanliness and allergens as well as cooking techniques and culinary expertise. You may be asked about your ability to cope under pressure, your decision-making ability and your creativity. Senior chefs will also be asked about P&L reports, average GP% and management style. To help you prepare for your interview, we’ve compiled a series of common questions along with the answers your interviewer will be looking for. Question Why do you want to be a chef? Answer This question is often asked to establish your passion for your job and what ambitions you have. Think about what it was that made you become a chef. Do you want to produce Michelin star food? Run your own business? Or perhaps you want to write cook books? Whatever it is that drives you, allow your love of food to shine through. Having genuine passion for your career inspires confidence in your desire to do well – a must for any chef. Question Who is a chef you admire, and why? Answer This is another question where the interviewer is looking for passion, as well as testing your knowledge on the industry. Be aware of key players that are relevant to what you want to do. For example, if you are applying for a chef job in a school, Jamie Oliver and his opinions on school dinners might come up. Similarly, if you are going for a job in a Michelin star establishment, have an opinion on worldwide renowned chefs. This question also determines who inspires you and why, it could be Michel Roux Jr., it could be your mum – likely for very different reasons! We all take inspiration from different places so there is no right or wrong answer here. Question Why are you leaving your current role? Answer The interviewer is on the lookout for any red flags here. Remember to stay positive and focus on sounding motivated for the opportunities a new role will bring you. Don’t focus on any negative reasons why you want to leave your current job. Never bad mouth your previous employers it looks unprofessional. Question How is your food hygiene knowledge? Answer Here, the interviewer is looking to see you are aware of food safety. If you have a food hygiene certificate, let them know, but make sure it is up to date! Your food hygiene training should be refreshed at least every 3 years. Explain how you use good kitchen practice to make sure the food you produce is safe, such as sanitising equipment. You may get bonus points for talking about HACCP, or demonstrating knowledge of allergens in dishes. Question What would you do if you saw a co-worker break food safety practice? Answer Breaking food safety practice can have dire consequences. If a customer was to become sick because of consistently bad food safety procedures, it could lead to business closure. Every reputable business will take food safety very seriously. If you see something that could harm customers or the business, you should take steps to rectify this. You may need to stop a dish from going out to the customer and you may need to have a talk with the staff member in question, or their senior. Food safety is everyone’s responsibility and the interviewer will want to know you take it seriously enough to do what is required. Question How is your knowledge on allergens and dietary requirements? Answer With this question, it would be helpful to give examples of times you have worked with allergenic and dietary requirements. Do you understand the importance of avoiding contamination, and communicating allergen or dietary information with serving staff and customers? Perhaps you have had a request come to the kitchen to make a dish with no nuts, were you able to guarantee the safety of the dish? How did you do this? The interviewer will want to see that you have excellent knowledge on allergens, and that you can confidently identify ingredients in a dish when a customer has a dietary or allergenic request. Question Can you tell me about a time when you’ve had a dish returned to the kitchen? Answer As chefs, most of us will have had a dish returned at some point. This question seeks to understand how you cope under pressure, and how you work to put the customers’ needs first. A good answer will show how you prioritise replacing the dish immediately, whilst staying cool and calm. Be wary of blaming others for making mistakes as it isn’t helpful to point fingers during service and will make you look unprofessional. If you did need to speak with a fellow staff member after the incident, make sure you mention doing so professionally, and in a constructive way. Question Can you tell me about a time you’ve accepted a delivery? Answer A question about receiving deliveries may seem simple at first, but it will actually reveal a lot about your capabilities. A good answer here will mention checking the temperature of the delivery and of the vehicle, the condition of the delivery vehicle, and of the goods themselves are there any signs of damage on any of the products or packaging? The food should be within a good best before or use by date. There should also be a delivery note accompanying the products – each item needs checking off to ensure it has been delivered. If there are any discrepancies within the delivery, the order may require an invoice adjustment or credit note. The delivery needs to be put away correctly and you could mention stock rotation here. What seems like a straightforward answer could actually be quite detailed, so don’t be afraid to show off your knowledge. Question Do you follow trends in food, do any trends excite you? Answer The hospitality industry moves so quickly and staying on top of trends is a key topic for business owners. It is therefore likely you will be asked a question around the future of food. There are many ways of staying on top of trends in food. Following inspiring chefs on social media is a good way to get started, or you could aim to visit new eateries that interest you. There is a big trend around sustainability of menus at the moment so having knowledge of where food comes from is appealing. Perhaps you even have ambitions to start your own farm – producing carbon neutral beef for your restaurant! No matter what trend excites you, having a well-thought-out answer will highlight your passion and ambition for the industry you work in. It will also show you are committed to staying current in a fast-paced industry. All of these are desirable traits for any chef at any stage in their career. Back to Top Kitchen Supervisor & Manager Interview Questions As a more senior chef, you will likely face questions designed to discover more about you as a manager of a team, and of a business. Consider the following as sous chef interview questions and beyond, gearing towards kitchen supervisor and head chef interview questions. Question Can you provide an example of a time when you successfully organised a diverse group of people to accomplish a task? Answer Often a busy kitchen will have chefs working in it from all over the world, meaning there may be language barriers and different schools of thought. As a senior member of the kitchen team, it will fall to you to get your staff working cohesively. Use this question to demonstrate your ability to lead and get the best out of a team. Your prospective employer will be looking to see you build teams based on trust, mutual respect and co-operation. Also, consider the front of house team. A kitchen manager may need to help cover problems faced by front of house, requiring adaptability and a unified outlook. These are excellent traits to demonstrate in your interview. Question How are your computer skills, do you have experience of stock checking software? Answer The higher up the chef hierarchy you go, the more paperwork you can get! Being asked about your computing skills is as important as being asked about your cooking skills. Make sure you have some experience, or at least show a desirability to learn new computing skills. Question What GP% do you work at and how do you maintain this? Answer An experienced chef will work their menus to a target GP% gross profit percentage. Explaining your reasonings behind your target will give you a chance to highlight your knowledge of costing menu items. You could use this question to demonstrate knowledge of the menu prices at the place you are interviewing for, and how you expect to achieve a good GP in this new setting. Question Can you read a P&L report? Answer The Profit & Loss report is essentially the bookkeeping of the business. Being able to understand the report is useful for seeing which menu items customers have repeatedly ordered, and the GP on these dishes. It can be a key source of information when it comes to designing new menu items. It is also helpful to see where expenditure is high so you can work towards reducing business costs. As a senior member of the team, this is your responsibility too, and your interviewer will be keen to see you taking this on. Question What do you look for when hiring chefs? Answer If you are successful in your job application, it may fall to you to build a team of your own. A question like this will tell your interviewer a lot about you. For example, do you prefer to hire new chefs with a positive attitude and not much experience? Or perhaps you prefer to hire chefs who have learnt in certain schools? Whatever you look for in a chef it will inform your employer on your personality and demonstrate your commitment to the role. Question Give an example of a time when your advice to management led to an improvement in the business, or otherwise helped your employer. Answer This question is looking to see if you can think outside the box and come up with helpful business solutions. Have some examples ready of times you were able to help previous businesses and employers. It could be anything from developing an early bird menu to drive mid-week sales, to finding a way to incorporate what would have been bar wastage into menu items, such as using short shelf-life stout beer to make a chocolate stout cake. The interviewer wants to see your willingness to work for the benefit of the business, and that you can be creative in your solutions. Back to Top What Should I Wear for the Interview? As with any interview, you should always dress smartly with clean and ironed clothes. First impressions do count so it’s a good idea to demonstrate your knowledge of food safety through your appearance. Make sure long hair is tied back, keep jewellery to a minimum and make sure your hands and nails are clean, with no nail polish. If you have been invited for a trial shift you should expect to be in the kitchen, so bring your chef whites with you – these too should be clean and ironed! Your chef whites should only be worn in the kitchen to ensure you don’t become a source of cross-contamination, so you do not need to wear chef whites for an initial interview. Learn more about the importance of a chef uniform here. Back to Interview Questions for Hospitality Staff Whether you are looking for entry level commis chef interview questions, through to head chef interview questions, we hope you found some of these examples useful. Remember to draw on your experience and ideas to make your answers your own. Be sure to highlight your key skills and your transferable skills. Most of all, Good Luck! What to Read Next Brigade de Cuisine What Are the Different Types of Chefs? Is There a Difference Between Food Hygiene & Food Safety? Level 3 Supervising Food Safety in Catering Training