Chef de Cuisine

A Chef de Cuisine is responsible for menu creation and all things HOH (Heart of the House) and usually oversees just one restaurant. This person creates, trains, and implements new recipes. They are responsible for all kitchen staff, ordering, inventory, P&L meetings, inventory, etc all in their restaurant…they are the Chef of the restaurant. They may (or may not) report to an Executive Chef or Corporate Chef, but they are responsible for everything in the kitchen in their venue. This title is often interchangeably called Chef and/or Chef de Cuisine. Sometimes they are called (or call themselves) the Executive Chef…but if you only oversee one venue or only 4 – 5 cooks and do just a few hundred covers per shift then perhaps your title is more accurately called Chef de Cuisine…not Executive Chef (just my opinion).

Some larger operations such as resort hotels may be calling someone a Sous Chef but they are actually fulfilling the role of a Chef de Cuisine. The difference is that although a Sous Chef may assist in recipe creation, their primary role is to maintain the quality and consistency of the recipes which the Executive Chef creates. But a Chef de Cuisine is responsible for creating their own recipes for their restaurant, and maintaining the quality and consistency of those recipes.