Chef Interview Questions and Answers
As you must be aware of the competition happening in the role of Chef or cook in hotels and restaurants. If you are one of the people who are passionate about cooking and loves to do experiments with the cooking, then this profession is for you. But as we know, the competition is quite high in the market; so it is better to prepare yourself with some chef interview questions. Everyone wants to have a perfect and best chef in their hotel so that they don’t have to compromise on their food quality and taste.
In this article, we have covered all the commonly asked chef interview questions and answers, which are going to help you in cracking your interview as a chef. Just to let you know that these questions are being prepared under the guidance of topmost chefs out there in the industry.
Most Frequently Asked Chef Interview Questions
Here in this article, we will be listing frequently asked Chef Interview Questions and Answers with the belief that they will be helpful for you to gain higher marks. Also, to let you know that this article has been written under the guidance of industry professionals and covered all the current competencies.
This is a choice based question, which will vary from person to person. The recommendation here is not to tell only the name of the cuisine but also explain why this one is your favorite cuisine.
Also, keep in mind one person may have more than a single favorite cuisine.
Always keep in mind to share the latest food or combination trending in the market.
Example of springtime menu would be: Salmon with Fresh Sorrel Sauce, and Fresh Peas with Mint
Food safety means to ensure that the food is safe to serve and eat. For this one should maintain food hygiene which means keeping the food premises and clean the equipment which has been used for preparing the food. It also covers the cleaning of all the areas where food has been stored or served.
Note: In the cook interview questions, it is one of the commonly asked question and very much important to know about the food safety standards and practices
The best way to test your ingredients is to open all the boxes which came directly from the food market or grocery shop and visually inspect them before accepting. While doing the visual inspection, it would be great if you can smell them as well.
In any case, you found any kind of weird smell or the ingredient box is wet or damaged, make sure not to accept that package and ask them to deliver the fresh food or ingredients.
In this question, the interviewer wants to know your knowledge of the business financial aspects. So, you have to be honest with your answer here. If you are involved in any kind of financial planning or execution activities in your previous hotel/restaurant then feel free to share those things.
Again, this is the personal choice based question, tell the interviewer about the chef you admire the most.
The main reason behind asking this question is to know how you appreciate others in your profession. So make sure to appreciate other chefs and embrace their work.
If you have been one of the key chefs in your previous restaurant/hotel then it is obvious that your employer or restaurant owner had asked you to provide your inputs while preparing their menu.
Maybe they didn’t involve you in the designing thing, but yes that totally depends on your experience which you have to share truthfully.
If you didn’t go to culinary school to train yourself as a chef, then simply say NO.
Otherwise, share the pros of going to a culinary school like the primary one is Education. You can also say:
- Knowledge of terms used in the kitchen
- Basics of table service, etc.
Quality and commitment, are the things I prefer the most and I try to maintain these under my management.
I think this is the same thing I want from my supervisor along with certain other factors such as he or she should be supportive and motivating.
The front of the house operations are essentials as the hotel or the restaurant can’t be run alone. On the other hand, the back of the house operation teams stays invisible to the guests and make sure all the things are running smoothly.
The responsibilities of back-of-the-house and front-of-the-house operations are:
| Back-of-the-house | Front-of-the-house |
|---|---|
| Production of food | Welcoming the guests |
| Purchasing and receiving | Serving customers |
| Marketing and Sales | Bussing tables |
| Engineering and Maintenance | Obtain payments from customers |
Most of the restaurants have started serving wine with non-vegetarian and exotic dishes.
If you are involved in the financial activities of the restaurants where you had worked previously then you must be aware of the annual revenue of them, you can tell this to the interviewer but make sure to answer it in the approximate ways.
If you have never been involved in such activities, by being honest you can simply say that you have never been the part of these financial plannings.
A recipe is the compilation of resources or ingredients, which has to be followed in the same way as mentioned to prepare the dish.
A cookbook is responsible for grouping the recipes together along with other information in an easy to manageable or accessible way.
That’s it, here we have discussed all the chef interview questions along with their answers. Hope you found these questions and answers useful and relevant for the preparation of your interview.