Executive Chef Job Description Templates for Restaurants and Hotels
6 free templates for the kitchen’s top job: independent restaurant, small head chef kitchen, hotel and resort, multi-unit group, private club, and catering. Download as DOCX.
The first executive chef posting I ever helped an owner write was three lines long. It said the restaurant was looking for a creative chef with a passion for seasonal food. Forty applications came in, and not one of them could answer the only question the owner actually cared about, which was how they would move food cost by two points before the winter.
That is the gap in almost every executive chef job description online. They describe cooking. The job is cooking plus a profit and loss statement plus a hiring pipeline, and the postings that get strong chefs say so in the first paragraph. A chef who owns numbers wants to know which numbers, and a chef who does not want that responsibility should self-select out before you spend a week interviewing.
At FirstHR we write hiring templates for small operators who do this without an HR department. The six below cover an independent restaurant, a small head chef kitchen, a hotel or resort, a multi-unit group, a private club, and a catering company, each with the classification and compliance notes generic versions leave out.
TL;DR
An executive chef job description covers four things: the menu, the food cost, the brigade, and the food safety standard. State the covers, the salary, the food cost target, and the days off. Classify by duties, not by title, and remember a supervisor cannot share a tip pool. Six templates below, downloadable as DOCX.
What an Executive Chef Actually Owns
An executive chef owns the kitchen as a business unit, not a station. The role sets what goes on the menu, what that menu costs to produce, who cooks it, and whether the operation would pass an unannounced health inspection tonight. Everything else in the job description is detail hanging off those four pillars.
The reason this matters for a posting is that most chefs have deep experience in one or two pillars and thin experience in the rest. A chef who came up through fine dining kitchens may have extraordinary menu instincts and have never negotiated with a purveyor. A chef out of a hotel banquet program may be excellent at forecasting and staffing and cautious about creative risk. Naming all four pillars explicitly lets candidates place themselves.
The menu
Creative authority with a price ceiling
Concept, dish development, recipe cards, spec sheets, portion sizes, plating standards, and the seasonal rotation. The executive chef decides what the kitchen is capable of producing at your price point and at your volume.
The food cost
The number the owner reads first
Purchasing, purveyor negotiation, inventory, yield, waste, cross-utilization, and recosting when a key ingredient moves. A chef who cannot explain a food cost swing is a cook with a bigger title.
The brigade
Hiring, training, scheduling, discipline
Recruiting cooks, certifying stations, writing the schedule against a labor budget, coaching, documenting, and deciding who stays. In a small restaurant this is the single largest driver of whether service holds together.
The standard
Food safety and inspection readiness
Person in charge for food safety, temperature and cooling logs, allergen controls, line checks, and a kitchen that would pass an unannounced inspection on any random Tuesday night.
The pillar small operators underweight is the third one. Kitchen turnover is relentless, and the executive chef is the person who either builds a bench or spends every Friday covering a call-out personally. If the posting never mentions hiring and training, you will attract chefs who see recruiting as somebody else's job, which in a small restaurant it is not.
Executive Chef, Head Chef, and Sous Chef
In a single independent restaurant, executive chef and head chef usually describe the same job, and the choice of word is a market signal rather than a difference in duties. Executive chef becomes a genuinely distinct role once there is more than one kitchen, more than one outlet, or a head chef reporting upward.
Scope is the honest test, not the title. Ask four questions before you write the posting: how many kitchens or outlets, how many direct reports, whose menu it is, and who is accountable for the food cost number in the owner meeting. Two of those pointing upward makes it an executive chef role at market pay.
For a general overview of every chef title in one place, including line cook and pastry, see our chef job description templates. This page goes deeper on the one role that carries the profit and loss statement.
What Belongs in an Executive Chef Posting
A strong executive chef posting does four jobs: it describes the restaurant honestly, it states the numbers the chef will own, it filters candidates who want a different job, and it protects you legally. Most postings only do the first, which is why they generate volume and not fit.
The single most effective addition is a number the chef will be accountable for. Covers per week, average check, and a food cost target tell a serious candidate more about your operation than three paragraphs of adjectives. It also filters hard, in the direction you want.
What a chef reads first
Concept, cuisine, and service style in two sentencesCovers per week and average checkWho the chef reports to and who reports to the chefWhether the menu is theirs or inherited
What decides whether they apply
Base salary as a real number or a good-faith rangeBonus structure and what it is tied toConsecutive days off and closed holidaysBenefits start date and shift meal policy
What separates you from a generic posting
The food cost target this chef will ownThe labor budget the schedule is built toMenu change frequency and who signs offPurchasing authority and the spend limit
What protects you
FLSA classification stated explicitlyFood protection manager certification requirementPhysical requirements with an accommodation clauseEqual opportunity statement and a named contact
Our general guide to writing a job description covers the structural basics that apply to any role. For kitchens specifically, the additions above are what turn a generic posting into one that a working chef takes seriously.
6 Executive Chef Job Description Templates to Download
Download all six as one file or copy them individually. Each follows the same structure: restaurant overview, position summary, menu and culinary ownership, food cost and purchasing, people, safety and compliance, qualifications, what you offer, a classification note, an equal opportunity statement, and how to apply. The bracketed fields are the only parts you need to change.
Download All 6 Executive Chef Job Description Templates
Independent restaurant, small head chef kitchen, hotel and resort, multi-unit group, private club, and catering. All in one download.
Independent Restaurant
One kitchen, full ownership
The core version: menu, food cost, brigade, and safety in one salaried role reporting to the owner or the general manager.
Head Chef, Small Kitchen
Hands-on, short chain of command
Same job under the more common small-restaurant title, written for a chef who cooks the line most services and runs the kitchen around that.
Hotel or Resort
Multiple outlets plus banquets
Adds outlet menus, banquet event orders, forecasting against occupancy, and a brigade split across restaurant, room service, and events.
Corporate, Multi-Unit
Systems over stations
For a restaurant group: master recipes, group purchasing, unit chef accountability, opening teams, and travel across markets.
Private or Country Club
Members, committees, seasons
Adds committee governance, member preferences, a heavy event calendar, and a seasonal staffing curve most restaurants never face.
Catering and Events
Production and pack-out
For off-premise work: sellable menu catalog, per-event costing against a quoted margin, transport and holding, and on-site execution.
The core version, written for an owner-operated restaurant. Menu ownership, food cost reporting, brigade hiring, and food safety are all spelled out as duties rather than implied.
Executive Chef Job Description (Independent Restaurant)
EXECUTIVE CHEF JOB DESCRIPTION
Restaurant: __ ([City, State])
Concept: [cuisine, service style, average check, covers per week]
Reports to: [Owner / General Manager]
Direct reports: [sous chef, line cooks, prep, dish]
Employment type: Full-time, salaried
FLSA status: Exempt (executive exemption; see classification note)
Compensation: $_ per year plus [bonus tied to food cost and labor cost]
ABOUT [RESTAURANT NAME]
[Restaurant Name] is an independent [cuisine] restaurant in [City, State] serving
[number] covers a week across [lunch / dinner / brunch]. We are owner-operated,
we buy from [named purveyors or region], and we change the menu [frequency].
POSITION SUMMARY
The Executive Chef owns the kitchen: the menu, the food cost, the schedule, and
the people. This is a leadership role with real authority over what we serve,
what we pay for it, and who cooks it. You will spend part of every week on the
line and part of every week on numbers.
MENU AND CULINARY OWNERSHIP
•Design, cost, and launch menus [frequency], within the concept and price point
•Write and maintain recipe cards and spec sheets for every dish on the line
•Set portion sizes, plating standards, and photo references for each item
•Run tastings with ownership before any menu change goes live
•Build daily and weekly specials from what is in house and in season
•Handle allergen and dietary requests with documented substitutions
FOOD COST AND PURCHASING
•Own the food cost percentage and report it [weekly / period] to ownership
•Negotiate with purveyors, review invoices, and approve credits and returns
•Run inventory [frequency] and reconcile theoretical to actual usage
•Recost the menu whenever a key ingredient moves more than [X] percent
•Manage waste, yields, cross-utilization, and family meal within budget
•Approve all kitchen purchases against a [monthly / period] budget
PEOPLE AND THE BRIGADE
•Interview, hire, and onboard sous chefs, line cooks, prep cooks, and dish
•Build the kitchen schedule to forecasted covers and the labor budget
•Train every station to a written standard and sign off before solo service
•Run daily line checks and a pre-service meeting with the team
•Coach, document, and discipline performance issues in writing
•Recommend pay changes, promotions, and terminations to ownership
SAFETY, SANITATION, AND COMPLIANCE
•Serve as person in charge for food safety and hold a current food protection
manager certification [required / to be obtained within X days of hire]
•Maintain temperature, labeling, and cooling logs and keep the kitchen ready
for an unannounced health inspection at all times
•Enforce allergen controls and cross-contact procedures
•Keep the kitchen compliant with our safety program and report all injuries
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years leading a kitchen as executive chef, head chef, or senior sous
•Demonstrated food cost ownership: you can explain how you moved a number
•Able to build a schedule to a labor target and defend it
•[Number] consecutive days off, [closed holidays], [menu autonomy]
CLASSIFICATION NOTE
This position is classified as exempt under the executive exemption. The role
manages the kitchen as a recognized department, customarily and regularly
directs the work of other full-time employees, and the chef's hiring and firing
recommendations are given particular weight. Because this employee is a
supervisor for tip purposes, the Executive Chef may not receive any share of a
tip pool.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
[Restaurant Name] is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on
the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability,
genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.
HOW TO APPLY
Send a resume and [two sample menus you built and costed] to [name] at [email].
We respond to every applicant within [X] business days.
Template 2: Head Chef, Small Owner-Operated Kitchen
The same job under the title most small restaurants actually use, written for a chef who works the line during peak service and runs the kitchen around that. It includes an honest note on when the head chef role is not exempt.
Head Chef Job Description (Small Owner-Operated Kitchen)
HEAD CHEF JOB DESCRIPTION
Restaurant: __ ([City, State])
Reports to: [Owner]
Direct reports: [line cooks, prep, dish]
Employment type: Full-time, salaried
FLSA status: [Exempt / Non-exempt: decide by actual duties, see note]
Compensation: $_ per year
ABOUT THE ROLE
In a single-location kitchen, head chef and executive chef usually describe the
same job. We use head chef because the person in this role cooks on the line
most services and runs the kitchen around that. If you are hiring for a group
with multiple kitchens, use the corporate executive chef description instead.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Head Chef runs day-to-day kitchen operations at [Restaurant Name]: cooking,
menu, ordering, scheduling, and the standard on every plate that leaves the
pass. This is a hands-on role in a small kitchen with a short chain of command.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Work the line during peak service and expedite the pass
•Build the menu with the owner and cost every dish before it goes on
•Order product, receive deliveries, and check invoices against the order
•Count inventory [frequency] and report food cost to the owner
•Schedule the kitchen to the labor budget and cover call-outs
•Hire, train, and develop cooks and prep staff
•Run opening and closing checklists and daily line checks
•Own sanitation, temperature logs, and health inspection readiness
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years of professional cooking, with [X] years leading a station or
a shift
•Comfortable ordering, costing, and scheduling without a support office
For a property with multiple outlets plus banquets: outlet menus, banquet event orders, forecasting against occupancy, and a brigade split across restaurant, room service, and events.
Executive Chef Job Description (Hotel or Resort)
EXECUTIVE CHEF JOB DESCRIPTION, HOTEL AND RESORT
Property: __ ([City, State])
Outlets: [restaurant, lobby bar, room service, banquets, pool]
Reports to: [Director of Food and Beverage / General Manager]
Direct reports: [executive sous chef, outlet chefs, banquet chef, stewarding]
Employment type: Full-time, salaried
FLSA status: Exempt (executive exemption)
Compensation: $_ per year plus [incentive plan]
POSITION SUMMARY
The Executive Chef leads culinary operations across every outlet on property,
including banquets and room service. The job is as much forecasting, costing,
and staffing across variable volume as it is cooking.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Own menus for [each outlet], plus banquet and catering menus and pricing
•Cost every banquet event menu and hit the contracted margin
•Forecast covers by outlet and by event, and staff to the forecast
•Manage food cost, labor cost, and stewarding cost against the budget
•Run the banquet kitchen: pre-cons, BEOs, timing, and plate-up execution
•Lead a multi-outlet brigade: hire, train, cross-train, and develop leaders
•Partner with [sales, catering, front office] on group business
•Own sanitation, HACCP-style controls, and inspection readiness on property
•Manage capital requests for kitchen equipment and repair schedules
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years in hotel or resort culinary leadership, including banquets
•Proven multi-outlet cost control and budget ownership
•Experience staffing to a fluctuating occupancy and event calendar
•Food protection manager certification required
•[Culinary degree or equivalent experience]
WHAT WE OFFER
•$________ per year, [incentive plan], [benefits], [relocation]
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
[Property Name] is an equal opportunity employer.
HOW TO APPLY
Send a resume and a banquet menu you priced and executed to [name] at [email].
Template 4: Corporate Executive Chef, Multi-Unit Group
For a restaurant group where the role builds systems rather than plates: master recipes, group purchasing, unit chef accountability, opening teams, and travel across markets.
Corporate Executive Chef Job Description (Restaurant Group)
CORPORATE EXECUTIVE CHEF JOB DESCRIPTION
Company: __ ([City, State])
Locations: [number and concepts]
Reports to: [Owner / President / VP of Operations]
Direct reports: [unit executive chefs and head chefs]
Employment type: Full-time, salaried
FLSA status: Exempt (executive exemption)
Compensation: $_ per year plus [bonus tied to group food cost]
Travel: [percent] across [markets]
POSITION SUMMARY
The Corporate Executive Chef sets culinary standards across every location and
holds unit chefs accountable to them. This role builds systems: recipes, specs,
purchasing agreements, training paths, and the numbers each kitchen reports.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Develop and roll out menus across [number] locations with consistent specs
•Maintain the master recipe and costing database and recost on price moves
•Negotiate group purchasing agreements and manage vendor performance
•Set food cost targets by concept and review results with each unit chef
•Standardize prep, plating, and line checks so a dish travels between units
•Build the culinary training path and certify unit chefs against it
•Lead openings: kitchen design input, equipment lists, hiring, and training
•Coach, evaluate, and hire unit executive chefs and head chefs
•Run quarterly culinary reviews and unannounced quality audits
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years leading culinary across multiple locations
•Documented experience building recipe and costing systems from scratch
•Comfortable holding peers and unit leaders accountable to a number
•Willing to travel [percent] and to open locations on a schedule
•Food protection manager certification required
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer.
HOW TO APPLY
Send a resume and one example of a system you built that survived your
departure to [name] at [email].
Template 5: Executive Chef, Private or Country Club
For club dining, where members are repeat guests and a committee reviews the food and beverage budget. Adds member events, seasonal staffing, and committee reporting.
Executive Chef Job Description (Private or Country Club)
EXECUTIVE CHEF JOB DESCRIPTION, PRIVATE CLUB
Club: __ ([City, State])
Outlets: [main dining, grill, halfway house, member events, weddings]
Reports to: [General Manager / Clubhouse Manager]
Direct reports: [sous chefs, cooks, banquet kitchen, stewarding]
Compensation: $_ per year plus [performance bonus]
POSITION SUMMARY
The Executive Chef leads all club dining: a la carte outlets, member events, and
private functions. Club members are repeat guests who know the staff, so
consistency, personal recognition, and handling standing preferences matter as
much as menu creativity.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build seasonal menus for [each outlet] and rotate frequently enough for
members who dine here weekly
•Plan and execute [number] member events per year plus private functions
•Cost menus and events to the club's food and beverage budget
•Present at [house committee / food and beverage committee] meetings
•Manage a seasonal staffing curve: recruit, train, and retain across peaks
•Track member dietary restrictions and standing preferences
•Own sanitation, inspection readiness, and kitchen equipment planning
•Manage the culinary payroll to the approved budget
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years of club, hotel, or high-volume banquet culinary leadership
•Experience with committee governance and member-facing communication
•Seasonal staffing experience in a market like ours
•Food protection manager certification required
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
[Club Name] is an equal opportunity employer.
HOW TO APPLY
Send a resume and a member event menu you designed and costed to [name] at
[email].
Template 6: Executive Chef, Catering and Events
For off-premise production: a sellable menu catalog, per-event costing against a quoted margin, transport and holding controls, and on-site execution. Pair it with the food and beverage manager template if you also staff the sales side.
Executive Chef Job Description (Catering and Events)
EXECUTIVE CHEF JOB DESCRIPTION, CATERING AND EVENTS
Company: __ ([City, State])
Volume: [number] events per year, [guest count range per event]
Reports to: [Owner / Director of Operations]
Direct reports: [production cooks, event chefs, prep, drivers]
Employment type: Full-time, salaried
FLSA status: Exempt (executive exemption)
Compensation: $_ per year plus [per-event or margin bonus]
POSITION SUMMARY
The Executive Chef owns menu development, production planning, and on-site
execution for every event we sell. Off-premise work adds transport, holding,
and reheating problems that a restaurant kitchen never faces, and this role owns
those too.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
•Build a sellable menu catalog priced to our target margin per guest
•Cost custom proposals with sales before they go to the client
•Plan production schedules by event, including prep, pack-out, and load lists
•Design menus that travel: hold, transport, and reheat without quality loss
•Lead on-site execution, timing, and plating at the venue
•Staff each event: core team plus [temporary or on-call] event cooks
•Manage food safety in transport, including time and temperature control
•Reconcile actual food cost per event against the quoted cost
•Debrief after each event and update the catalog and specs
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
•[Number] years leading off-premise catering production and execution
•Proven per-event costing against a quoted margin
•Comfortable managing a variable crew across a busy season
•Food protection manager certification required
•Valid driver's license [and ability to drive a box truck]
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
[Company Name] is an equal opportunity employer.
HOW TO APPLY
Send a resume and a plated dinner menu for [guest count] that you produced
off-premise to [name] at [email].
Menu Ownership and Food Cost Accountability
Menu authority and food cost accountability are the same conversation, and separating them in a job description is how operators end up with a beautiful menu they cannot afford to serve. If the chef designs the dish, the chef owns the plate cost, the yield, and the decision to reprice or pull it.
Write the loop into the posting explicitly. A chef who has run it before will recognize it immediately and will tell you in the interview which step they are strongest at. A chef who has never run it will go quiet, which is useful information you would rather have in week one than in month six.
Cost the dish before it goes on
Every item gets a recipe card with weights, yields, and a plate cost. A dish that has never been costed is a guess wearing a price.
Control what comes in the back door
Purveyor terms, order guides, receiving against the invoice, and credits for short or substituted product. Most food cost leaks start here, not at the stove.
Protect the yield at the station
Butchery yields, prep specs, portion tools, and cross-utilization so trim from one dish becomes the base of another instead of going in the bin.
Count, reconcile, and explain the gap
Inventory on a fixed cadence, theoretical usage against actual, and a written explanation of the variance. The explanation is the job, not the count.
Recost when the market moves
When a core ingredient jumps, the chef either reprices, re-engineers the dish, or pulls it. Waiting for the period close to notice is how a good month turns into a bad quarter.
Put the Target in the Posting, Not in the First Review
Write your actual food cost target into the job description as a bracketed number, and state the reporting cadence. Chefs who own cost are proud of it and will apply harder to a posting that treats them as a business partner. Chefs who want purely creative authority will pass, which saves you both a month. Pair the target with the labor budget the schedule has to fit, because the two numbers trade against each other every week and a chef who is only measured on one will quietly move the other.
Food cost never sits alone. It shares the profit and loss statement with labor, and our guides to restaurant payroll percentage and to calculating labor cost cover the other half of what your chef is actually managing when they write a schedule.
Hiring and Building the Brigade
The executive chef is your kitchen recruiter, and the job description should say so in the responsibilities rather than burying it. In a small restaurant nobody else screens line cooks, runs a stage, or decides whether a prep cook is ready to work a station alone.
Turnover in food service is high enough that a chef who cannot recruit will spend the season covering shifts personally, and quality collapses from there. Our guide to the restaurant employee turnover rate covers the scale of the problem, and restaurant hiring tips covers the pipeline side.
Sous chef
Second in command
Runs service when the chef is off, owns a section of the standard, and is the first person you promote from. Hire this one for judgment, not speed.
Line cooks by station
Grill, saute, garde manger, fry
Hire to the station the schedule actually needs. A posting that says line cook without naming the station gets applicants who fit nothing you are short on.
Prep cook
The yield lives here
The least glamorous hire with the largest food cost impact. Prep specs and portion tools turn this role into a cost control, not just labor.
Dish and stewarding
A high-turnover seat
Treat it as a real posting with a real rate and a path to prep. Kitchens that constantly lose dish staff have often never written a job description for the role.
Pastry or baker
Often part-time or shared
Separate skill set, separate schedule, and frequently a separate posting. Fold it into the chef's scope only when volume genuinely supports it.
On-call and event cooks
Peak coverage
Build the bench before the season, not during it. Employees on an on-call roster still need onboarding paperwork and a documented rate.
Give the chef the authority the job requires. If they interview candidates but cannot extend an offer, cannot set a starting rate within a band, and cannot end a bad hire, you have created a bottleneck and weakened the executive exemption argument at the same time. Write the hiring authority into the posting as a specific spend and decision limit.
The paperwork side is where small kitchens leak. Every new cook needs an offer, a handbook acknowledgment, Form I-9 verification, tax forms, and a record of station training, and in many states and localities a food handler card as well. Running that as a repeatable restaurant onboarding checklist instead of a folder on the office desk is the difference between a clean file and a scramble during an audit. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
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An executive chef is usually exempt from overtime, but the exemption rests on duties, not on the title or on the fact that you pay a salary. The federal executive exemption regulation sets four tests, and a working chef in a small kitchen can fail the last two.
The salary floor is $684 per week, or $35,568 a year, and the highly compensated employee threshold is $107,432. The Department of Labor restored those 2019 figures by technical amendment in May 2026 after the 2024 increase was vacated in court, so any posting or offer letter written against the higher number needs a second look.
Test
What it requires
Where a small-kitchen chef fails it
Salary basis
Paid a predetermined salary of at least $684 per week that does not vary with quality or quantity of work
Docking pay for a slow week or paying an hourly rate with a salary label
Primary duty
Management of the enterprise or of a customarily recognized department or subdivision
The chef cooks a station nearly every shift and someone else builds the schedule and the orders
Directs others
Customarily and regularly directs the work of at least two other full-time employees or the equivalent
A kitchen so small the chef works alone or with one part-time cook
Hiring authority
Authority to hire or fire, or recommendations on hiring and firing that are given particular weight
The owner interviews and decides everything and the chef is not consulted
Federal law bars employers from keeping employee tips and bars managers and supervisors from keeping any portion of another employee's tips, whether or not the employer takes a tip credit. The Department of Labor defines manager or supervisor for this purpose by reference to the duties prongs of the executive exemption, so the same facts that make your executive chef exempt also make that chef ineligible for a mandatory tip pool. A narrow exception lets a supervisor keep tips a customer gives directly for service the supervisor personally and solely provided. State rules are often stricter. See our guide to tip pooling rules before you build a kitchen tip-out.
Food safety authority belongs in the same section. The FDA Food Code is a model that states and localities adopt in their own versions. Section 2-102.11 requires the person in charge to demonstrate food safety knowledge to the inspector, and section 2-102.12 requires that person to be a certified food protection manager, except in operations the regulatory authority treats as minimal risk. Name the certification in the posting, say whether it is required at hire or within a set number of days, and record the expiration date on file.
What to Pay an Executive Chef
Benchmark to your market, concept, and volume rather than to a national average, because the published category blends a two-person cafe kitchen with a resort culinary department. Use the national figure as a floor reference and adjust upward for outlets, direct reports, and revenue responsibility.
National Medians for Chefs and Head Cooks
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the national median annual wage for chefs and head cooks was $62,470, or $30.03 per hour, across about 200,040 jobs. The same survey put first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers at $44,080 and restaurant cooks at $37,390. The agency projects employment of chefs and head cooks to grow 7 percent from 2024 to 2034, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 24,400 openings a year (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook).
Setting
How to position against the national median
What else closes the candidate
Independent restaurant, one kitchen
At or modestly above the median, adjusted for your market
Menu autonomy, consecutive days off, a bonus tied to food cost
Small owner-operated kitchen, head chef title
Near the median, closer to it in low-cost markets
Short chain of command and a real say in the concept
Hotel or resort, multiple outlets
Above the median, scaled to outlet count and banquet volume
Incentive plan, benefits, structured career path
Corporate or multi-unit group
Well above the median, priced as a management role
Equity or profit share, travel policy, opening bonuses
Private or country club
Above the median, with a seasonal pattern to explain
Predictable calendar, closed periods, family-friendly hours
Catering and events
Around or above the median, often with per-event upside
Margin bonus, defined busy season, no nightly line service
Publish a good-faith range wherever pay transparency laws require it, and write the bonus mechanism into the posting rather than describing it as competitive. A chef comparing two offers will pick the one where the upside is spelled out, because in this trade a vague bonus usually means no bonus.
Running the Search Without an HR Department
Chef searches fail in predictable places: the posting is generic, the process takes three weeks longer than a competing operator's, and nobody tests the candidate against the actual numbers. Each has a straightforward fix, and none of them requires an HR department.
1
Write the posting with numbers in it
Covers, average check, salary, food cost target, days off. A chef can tell within one paragraph whether your kitchen is serious.
2
Screen on food cost, not on resume names
Ask every candidate to walk you through a food cost number they moved and how. The answer sorts the field faster than any credential.
3
Run a paid stage, then a menu exercise
One service on the line tells you about the cook. A costed three-course menu for your concept tells you about the chef.
4
Check references who saw the numbers
Call the owner or general manager, not only the chef they worked under. Ask what the food cost did during their tenure.
5
Move fast and put the offer in writing
Good chefs are usually employed and are usually talking to two other operators. Speed is the advantage a small restaurant actually has.
Structure the interview before you start rather than improvising at the table. Our executive chef interview questions and scorecard pairs directly with these templates and covers the culinary, food cost, leadership, and behavioral sets with a rating scale, so two owners interviewing the same candidate reach comparable conclusions.
Key Takeaways
An executive chef job description covers four pillars: the menu, the food cost, the brigade, and the food safety standard. A posting that only describes cooking attracts cooks.
In a single independent restaurant, executive chef and head chef usually describe the same job, so define scope by outlets, direct reports, menu authority, and food cost ownership rather than by the title.
Put real numbers in the posting: covers per week, average check, salary or a good-faith range, the food cost target, the labor budget, and the days off.
Classify by duties, not by title. The executive exemption requires a salary of at least $684 per week plus management as the primary duty, regular direction of two or more employees, and weight given to hiring recommendations.
An exempt executive chef is a supervisor for tip purposes and cannot share in a mandatory tip pool, with a narrow exception for tips a customer gives directly for service the chef personally provided.
The national median for chefs and head cooks was $62,470 in the BLS OEWS survey (May 2025), so treat that as a floor reference and scale upward for outlets, direct reports, and revenue responsibility.
Kitchen hiring never stops, and the paperwork stops for nobody. FirstHR runs the same onboarding sequence for every hire from the executive chef to the newest dish position, with e-signature for offers and handbook acknowledgments, document storage for food protection manager certificates and food handler cards, and renewal dates tracked so nothing expires quietly. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an executive chef do?
An executive chef runs the entire kitchen operation rather than a station. The job has four pillars: the menu, including dish development, recipe cards, spec sheets, portion sizes, and plating standards; the food cost, including purchasing, purveyor negotiation, inventory, yield, waste, and recosting when ingredient prices move; the people, including hiring, training, scheduling to a labor budget, coaching, and discipline; and the standard, including food safety, temperature logs, allergen controls, and inspection readiness. In a large hotel or restaurant group, the role tilts toward forecasting, budgets, and developing other chefs. In an independent restaurant, the same person is on the line during peak service and on the numbers the rest of the week. The posting should say which version of the job you are hiring for, because chefs self-select on exactly that.
What is the difference between an executive chef and a head chef?
In most small restaurants there is no real difference, and treating them as separate roles wastes your time. Head chef is the more common title in a single independent kitchen where the chef cooks the line most services. Executive chef is the more common title when the role oversees more than one kitchen or outlet, sits above a head chef or an executive sous chef, and spends more of the week on menus, budgets, and people than on a station. Some operators use executive chef purely as a recruiting signal for a single-unit job, which is legitimate as long as the responsibilities in the posting match the pay. What matters far more than the word is scope: how many outlets, how many direct reports, whose menu it is, and who owns the food cost number. Write those four things down and the title argument resolves itself.
How much does an executive chef make?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), the national median annual wage for chefs and head cooks was $62,470, or $30.03 per hour, across about 200,040 jobs. That category blends every kind of chef job, so an executive chef running an independent restaurant typically sits above the median, and a corporate or hotel executive chef with multiple outlets sits well above it. For context on the ladder below the role, the same survey put first-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers at a median of $44,080, or $21.19 per hour, and restaurant cooks at $37,390, or $17.98 per hour. Benchmark to your own market, concept, and volume rather than to the national figure, publish a good-faith range wherever pay transparency rules require it, and remember that consecutive days off and closed holidays close chef candidates as reliably as base pay does.
Is an executive chef exempt from overtime?
Usually yes, but only if the duties actually match the executive exemption. Under the federal regulation, an exempt executive must be paid on a salary basis of at least $684 per week, have management of the enterprise or of a customarily recognized department as the primary duty, customarily and regularly direct the work of at least two other full-time employees or their equivalent, and have the authority to hire or fire or have hiring recommendations that are given particular weight. A working chef in a small kitchen who spends nearly every shift on a station, does not build the schedule, and has no say in hiring may fail that test regardless of the title on the schedule or the fact that you pay a salary. Misclassification is expensive because the remedy is unpaid overtime going back years. Decide by duties, write the classification into the job description, and revisit it if the job changes. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can an executive chef take a share of the tip pool?
No, not from a mandatory tip pool. Federal law prohibits employers from keeping employee tips and prohibits managers and supervisors from keeping any portion of another employee’s tips, whether or not the employer takes a tip credit. For this purpose the Department of Labor defines a manager or supervisor by reference to the duties prongs of the executive exemption, which means the same duties that make your executive chef exempt also make that chef ineligible for the tip pool. There is one narrow exception: a manager or supervisor may keep tips that a customer gives directly for service the manager personally and solely provided, such as a chef’s table the chef served alone. Kitchen staff who are not supervisors can generally participate in a tip pool with front-of-house staff when the employer pays the full minimum wage and takes no tip credit. Check your state rules too, because several states are stricter than federal law.
What qualifications should I require for an executive chef?
Require the things that predict performance and mark everything else as preferred. The non-negotiables for most kitchens are documented experience leading a kitchen, demonstrated food cost ownership the candidate can explain in numbers, the ability to build a schedule against a labor budget, and a food protection manager certification or the willingness to earn one on a stated deadline. Culinary school is genuinely optional: many strong chefs came up through stations, and requiring a degree narrows your pool without improving the hire. Physical requirements belong in the posting with an accommodation clause. Availability should be stated plainly, including nights, weekends, and holidays. If your concept depends on a specific cuisine or technique, name it as a requirement rather than hoping a general posting attracts a specialist. The templates on this page keep those items in a fixed order so nothing gets dropped when you rewrite for a new search.
How do I hire an executive chef for a small restaurant with no HR department?
Run a fixed sequence and compress the timeline, because strong chefs are almost always employed and talking to other operators. Post a job description with real numbers: covers per week, average check, salary, the food cost target, and the days off. Screen on cost ownership by asking each candidate to walk you through a food cost number they moved and how they moved it. Run a paid stage for one service, then a costed menu exercise for your concept and price point. Check references with the owner or general manager, not only with the chef the candidate reported to. Then make the offer fast and in writing. Once the offer is signed, the work becomes onboarding: signed offer and handbook acknowledgment, Form I-9, tax forms, food protection manager certification on file with its expiration date, and station training records. FirstHR runs that sequence with e-signature, document storage, and renewal tracking so a certificate never expires quietly. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
