Food Service

Mid LevelExecutive Chef Resume Example

Use this free mid levelexecutive chef resume sample as your starting point, then tailor it for your experience level and target job.

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Executive Chef Resume Template (mid level)

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Professional Summary

Executive Chef with a track record of holding food and labor cost to target while developing profitable menus and running a disciplined, high-volume brigade.

Professional Experience

Executive ChefFeb 2022 - Present
The Copper Table, Austin, TX
  • Led a 14-cook brigade across two services, holding food cost at 28% and labor at 30%.
  • Developed and costed a 32-item seasonal menu, growing average check 12% quarter over quarter.
  • Maintained a 96+ health-inspection score across three audits through HACCP and daily line checks.
Sous ChefJun 2018 - Jan 2022
Harvest & Vine Bistro, Portland, OR
  • Cut food waste from 8% to under 3% through yield tracking, trim cross-utilization, and FIFO storage.
  • Trained and cross-trained 12 line cooks, reducing ticket times from 14 to 9 minutes at peak.
  • Managed purchasing across 200+ SKUs, negotiating vendor terms that cut produce and protein spend 9%.

Skills

Food Cost Control, Menu Engineering, Labor Scheduling, Kitchen Brigade Management, HACCP, Inventory Management, Vendor Negotiation, ServSafe

Education

Associate of Applied Science, Culinary ArtsMay 2018
Oregon Culinary Institute

Certifications

  • ServSafe Manager
  • HACCP Certification

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Key Skills for Executive Chef

Food Cost ControlMenu EngineeringLabor SchedulingKitchen Brigade ManagementHACCPInventory ManagementVendor NegotiationServSafe

ATS Keywords for Executive Chef

Use these naturally in your summary, skills, and experience when they reflect your background.

Executive ChefFood Cost ControlMenu EngineeringLabor CostKitchen BrigadeHACCPServSafeInventory ManagementVendor NegotiationP&LCulinary OperationsPortion Control

How to Write a Mid Level Executive Chef Resume

A mid-level executive chef resume needs to show you protect margin while running a reliable line: food and labor cost held to target, menus developed and costed, inventory and vendors managed, and a brigade you hired and trained. Pair each with the number, cost percentage, covers, or inspection score, that proves you run the kitchen as a business.

Resume Writing Tips

Lead with cost percentages

Open your top bullets with food cost and labor cost held to target, ideally with a before/after, such as reduced food cost from 34% to 28%. Owners scan for these two numbers first because they determine whether the kitchen is profitable under your leadership.

Show menu engineering, not just creativity

Describe developing and costing a menu with contribution margin and its revenue effect, such as a 32-item menu that grew average check 12%. This proves you design menus that make money, not only dishes that taste good.

Quantify brigade and throughput

State the size of the brigade you managed, the covers you served, and a throughput metric like ticket times, showing you can staff, train, and run a high-volume line while holding labor cost and service standards steady.

Skills to Highlight

Food Cost Control

Detail how you held or reduced food cost through portion control, menu engineering, waste reduction, and vendor pricing, with the before/after percentage that proves margin discipline.

Menu Engineering

Describe developing and costing a menu around contribution margin, retiring low-margin items, and the average-check or menu-mix improvement that resulted.

Labor Scheduling

Explain how you forecast labor to covers and held labor cost to target across stations and services, showing you balance coverage against payroll.

HACCP / ServSafe

Cite the food-safety systems you enforced and the inspection scores or zero-violation outcomes they produced, since safety and compliance are core to trusting a chef with a kitchen.

Common Questions

How do I stand out from other executive chefs applying?

Lead with the two numbers owners care about most, food cost and labor cost, and back them with covers, revenue, and inspection scores. Most chef resumes describe cuisine; the ones that get interviews prove profitability and reliability. Showing you held food cost at 28% while growing covers 20% separates you immediately from candidates who only list the dishes they can cook.

Should I list vendor and inventory work?

Yes. Purchasing, inventory variance, and vendor negotiation are central to margin, and owners want a chef who controls them. Name the SKU count, the variance you held, and the sourcing savings you achieved, since these prove you manage the kitchen as a P&L rather than only cooking, which is exactly what distinguishes an executive chef from a talented line cook.

How specific should cost metrics be without exact P&L access?

Use defensible figures you can stand behind: food cost held around 28%, waste cut from roughly 8% to under 3%, covers per service, and ticket times. If you never saw the full P&L, quantify what you controlled directly, such as portioning, waste, and vendor pricing, which still demonstrates margin discipline without claiming financials you did not manage.

Related Roles at Mid Level

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