How to read this chef resume example
The sample above is not a template to copy word for word - copied resumes read as copied. It is here to show the shape of a page that gets past a first screen: one column, standard headings, and bullets that end in an outcome rather than a duty. Food cost percentage, covers, and the team you kept together.
- Every bullet opens with a verb and carries a number. That is the pattern, not a coincidence.
- The summary makes a claim and then supports it in the first bullet underneath.
- Skills are named tools, not adjectives, and each one appears again in the experience section.
- The earlier role is short. Recent work carries the weight of the page.
The numbers in a chef resume
The most common thing missing from a chef resume is a number. Not because the work had none, but because nobody wrote them down at the time. These are the measures a chef can usually reach for, and the example uses them.
- Ran a kitchen of 11 through 250 covers a day across lunch and dinner.
- Cut food cost from 34% to 28% without changing menu prices, through supplier and yield work.
- Designed four seasonal menus and grew average spend per head 19%.
Before and after: rewriting a weak bullet
Most chef resumes are one edit away from being much stronger, and the edit is the same every time: replace the description of the job with the result of doing it. The pairs below are the same work, written twice.
- Weak: "Responsible for menu development and related tasks." Strong: "Ran a kitchen of 11 through 250 covers a day across lunch and dinner."
- Weak: "Worked on food costing projects across the team." Strong: "Cut food cost from 34% to 28% without changing menu prices, through supplier and yield work."
- Weak: "Helped improve processes and supported chef initiatives." Strong: "Designed four seasonal menus and grew average spend per head 19%."
Adapting the example to your own history
Work backwards from the posting. Find the two or three things it actually screens for, then make sure the top third of your page answers them. Everything below that is supporting evidence.
- Reorder your bullets so the one closest to the posting comes first in each role.
- Rewrite the summary for the specific job. It is the only part a human reliably reads.
- Cut any skill you would not want to be asked about for ten minutes.
- Keep Menu development, Food costing, Kitchen management visible in context, not stranded in a list.