Do you know what the secret to success is?
You may be surprised to learn that it has nothing to do with hard work, luck, or determination. The secret to success is surrounding yourself with the right people. Just think about it. You could spend countless hours trying to perfect your menu, creating service packages that are sure to get you more customers, and offering competitive prices. But if the food you serve is bad or if your staff is lazy and unresponsive, your customers will choose your competitors over you.
Since the reputation of your business depends on its ability to gain and retain customers, it’s paramount to have the right head chef at the helm in your kitchen.
This article will teach you the things you need to take into consideration when hiring your next head chef. If you manage a catering company or event hall, these tips could help you take your business to the next level.
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Great Cooking Skills
It should go without saying that the food prepared by your next head chef should meet the standards customers expect from your catering company. Have each candidate cook something from the menu for you. Act as if you’ve hired the company for an event and be very critical of the food’s taste and presentation. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Would you hire the company after tasting the food? If the answer is a clear yes, then the chef won his place on the shortlist.
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Find a Head Chef That Fits Your Needs
A head chef should have experience running the kitchen and a background not only in cooking but also in catering management. Working in a catering kitchen differs greatly from working in a restaurant. Your chef will need to lead larger teams and will, therefore, require different skills than a head chef in a restaurant.
Your ideal head chef should have a combination of experience in catering, impressive cooking skills, stellar organizational skills, great references, and a positive attitude.
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Ingredient Selection
Your chef and his team will have to prepare an enormous quantity of dishes for every event. Time is a challenge in these situations, and you don’t have the luxury of screwing up an entire course because you used the wrong ingredients. Your next head chef should be capable of selecting only the best ingredients without compromising on time or budget.
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Staffing Skills
Your head chef will be in charge of hiring his team, such as sauté chefs, sous chefs, pastry chefs, and so on. Look for someone who previously has shown the ability to surround themselves with the right people. Make sure they are good communicators and can convey their visions and ideas clearly. Make sure your next head chef can also demonstrate their ability to listen and to extract important information from different candidates.
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Examine His Menu Creation Skills
Although the head chef will be responsible for supervising the kitchen, for the most part, it’s important that he can come up with menu ideas that are feasible and can wow your customers.
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Make Sure He Is Organized
In a regular kitchen, the chef spends time gathering and arranging their ingredients and tools. But, that’s not a regular kitchen; it’s a catering business, and you have to prepare hundreds of dishes for every event. Time is a luxury you don’t have. That’s why it’s important that your next head chef is organized to the T.
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Ensure He Is Budget-Minded
Maybe your head chef’s ideas sound great on paper, but in reality, they are not very cost-effective. You need to ensure that your next head chef has a business mindset and stays within budget limits when shopping for ingredients or making menu changes. Otherwise, you will lose money.
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Leadership Skills
The head chef is in charge of everything that happens in the kitchen, from picking the ingredients and planning menus to recruiting and organizing the staff. If your executive chef doesn’t know how to lead, chaos will ensue. You need someone who can run your kitchen with an iron hand and understands your business needs. They must be able to give directions and guidance to others and are capable of adapting when the circumstances ask them to.
A head chef has a lot on his table. He has to organize and oversee the work of the kitchen staff, get involved in the preparation and cooking of food, decided which tasks need to be done, and so on. Hiring the right person for the job will ensure that everything goes smoothly in your kitchen.
