Culinary Resume: Example, Skills, Template & Objective

Busy as popcorn on a skillet, applying for jobs left and right… to no avail? Jobs in the restaurant sector are on the rise, but—as is always the case—so is the competition. You won’t get very far with a half-baked resume that’s too bland to stand out. 

Time to spice things up and write a culinary resume that brings home the bacon. 

In this guide:

• A culinary resume sample better than most.
• How to list your culinary skills on a resume.
• How to create a culinary resume template all by yourself.
• Examples of professional culinary resume summary and objective.

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Looking for other resume examples in the food service industry? Check these out: 

• Barista Resume Example & Guide
• Bar Manager Resume Example & Guide
• Chef Resume Example & Guide
• Food Service Resume Example & Guide
• Line Cook Resume Example & Guide
• Restaurant Manager Resume Example & Guide
• Restaurant Resume Example & Guide
• Server Resume Example & Guide
• Sous Chef Resume Example & Guide
• Waiter / Waitress Resume Example & Guide

Culinary Resume Example

Culinary professionals handle preparation, cooking, plating, presentation, and service of food in restaurants, in a range of roles with varying seniority (prep cook, head chef, etc.). A culinary resume should prove that you have the appropriate experience and skill set for your chosen role. 

Here’s how to write a culinary resume that sells like hotcakes: 

1. Keep Your Culinary Resume Format Simple

There’s a time and a place for free form, and this isn’t it: for your culinary resume format, stick to classic plating. 

Just as even the best dish needs excellent presentation to reach its full potential, a strong resume format is necessary to show the recruiter you’re worth your salt. 

Here are the key ingredients of a professional culinary resume format: 

• Arrange your information according to the reverse-chronological resume format: so, most recent work experience first, followed by older jobs and education. 
• Pick a professional resume font: a simple sans-serif like Arial or Helvetica will be best in most cases. The more sophisticated-looking serifs, like Georgia or Baskerville, will work well for high-end, fine dining establishments. 
• Set the margins of your resume to one inch on all sides and use 1–1.15 line spacing. 
• Create a resume header for your name and contact details. 
• Divide your resume into standard sections: profile, work experience, education, key skills, and additional information. 
• Stick to the recommended resume length: one page for most candidates, up to two for senior roles (executive chef, head chef, and the like). 

Save your resume as a PDF file when you’re ready—PDFs do a better job of preserving layout and formatting than other formats, like Word Docs. Only submit a Word document if the employer has specifically asked for one. 

Expert hint: Applying in person? Print your resume on white paper that’s slightly thicker than the standard office kind (120 gsm / 80 lb will work well). This will make your application more professional-looking and more resistant to damage. 

2. Condense Your Strengths Into a Culinary Resume Objective or Summary

Simmer and reduce your experience to the most relevant, impressive accomplishments and skills. What are you left with? 

That’s what should form the base of your resume profile statement. In this 2–4-sentence paragraph, you’ll outline your offer to the employer, focusing on your very best strengths. The idea is to give them a glimpse of the value you could bring to their restaurant and entice them to read the rest of your job application. 

Use:

1. An adjective that describes you in a professional context (efficient, detail-oriented, creative)
2. Your job title (line cook, prep cook, sous chef, head chef)
3. Years of experience (2+, 7+)
4. An offer to achieve a specific goal for the employer or contribute in a concrete way (eager to support XYZ’s chefs as a diligent, dedicated line cook with expert knife skills and multitasking abilities)
5. 2–3 professional achievements that prove you’re capable of delivering on your offer (reduced ingredient waste by 10%, increased prep efficiency by 15%, trained 2 junior staff members, received 2 promotions within 4 years, maintained 100% customer satisfaction, renegotiated vendor contracts to save $8k/year)

This type of profile is known as a resume summary statement—since it quite literally summarizes the most relevant parts of your application. It’s best suited for candidates with at least a couple of years of relevant work experience. 

If you’re writing an entry-level resume for culinary jobs, use a resume objective statement instead. Try to follow the same general outline and lean on experience from other sources to prove your skills. Accomplishments from unrelated jobs, education, volunteering, or projects can help you get your main points across. 

Either way, if you find yourself stuck when writing your profile, skip it for now and come back to it once the rest of your resume is ready. It’ll be easier to write a summary once there’s something to summarize! 

3. Serve Tailored Job Descriptions and Skills on Your Culinary Resume

The work experience section of your resume is its meat and potatoes. Well, Filet Mignon with goose fat roast potatoes, in the case of your resume. This is arguably the most important resume section, and it needs to wow recruiters. 

The best way to make sure of that is to target your resume to the job advertisement. You want to address the employer's needs directly in your job descriptions and show you’ve handled similar tasks before with great success. 

So, let’s get to it—here’s how to write tailored culinary resume job descriptions: 

1. Analyze the job ad for specific skills and abilities the employer requires. 
2. Think of times when you used those skills in previous jobs to impress your team, supervisors, or diners. For instance, if they want a strong leader, can you think of a time when your leadership skills helped you motivate a team to overcome a challenge? 
3. Describe those times in the form of bullet points (up to 6 for each of your jobs). Start each bullet with a powerful resume verb (achieved, completed, managed) and include numbers where possible to fill your resume with achievements instead of responsibilities. 

Those skills from the job ad serve one more purpose: they’re the key ingredients for your resume skills section. If you need to add something extra, here’s a list of culinary skills for resumes, for various roles: 

Culinary Skills for Resume

• Food safety
• Food handling
• Ingredient inspection
• Sanitation procedures
• Seasonal product knowledge
• Culinary management
• Vegetable cuts
• Meat cuts
• Knife skills
• Knife safety
• Italian cuisine
• French cuisine
• Mediterranean cuisine
• Plating
• Menu creation
• Seasoning
• Garnishing
• Interpersonal skills
• Leadership skills
• Creative thinking skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Time management skills
• Multitasking
• Communication skills
• First aid knowledge
• Teamwork
• Restaurant operations
• Inventory management
• Record keeping
• Negotiation skills
• Vendor relationships
• Prioritizing tasks
• Research
• Decision-making
• Collaboration
• Adaptability
• Active listening skills
• Following instructions
• Problem-solving skills
• Customer service skills
• Computer skills

Expert hint: Make sure that your list of skills reflects your level of seniority. A head chef’s skill set will be completely different from that of a prep cook. As a head chef, you wouldn’t need to mention basic skills like vegetable cuts, focusing instead on advanced abilities like menu creation or research. 

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4. Add Details of Your Education

It doesn’t matter whether you’re applying for a prep cook job or an executive chef role—you need to list your education on your resume in every case. 

It’s a pretty straightforward recipe, though: Start by listing your highest completed level of education, be it college, high school, or something else altogether. Include the name and location of the school, as well as your years of attendance (or graduation date). 

If you have relevant work experience and/or you graduated a few years ago, this will do. Ready to serve! 

If that’s not the case, however—say, you’re writing a resume with no experience or you’re a recent grad—add more detail. Listing relevant coursework on your resume or mentioning academic achievements, projects, and extracurriculars can help you show your skills and potential. 

This is especially true if you studied culinary arts, but even if you’re a high school graduate, you can use your experience to your advantage. For instance, team sports can show your teamwork and leadership skills, while a passion for visual arts can serve as proof of your creativity. 

5. Complete Your Culinary Resume With Additional Sections

By now, you have an above-average resume on your hands—But you can make it nothing short of superbly brilliant with a personal touch of seasoning and an extra ingredient or two. 

Add a couple of additional sections to your resume, containing any other information that will help your application. For instance, consider mentioning: 

• Your licenses and certifications, particularly those related to cooking
• Volunteering experience
• Foreign languages you can speak at any level
• Memberships in professional culinary associations
• Publications and public appearances
• Conferences you’ve attended

You can also refer to your hobbies and interests on your resume, though this is only recommended if they’re closely relevant to your job. 

See? Superbly brilliant! Pair your resume with an equally impressive cover letter, and you’ll be donning your new chef’s whites in no time at all. By writing a cover letter—even when it’s not specifically required—you’re proving you care about this job. Plus, it’s an opportunity to address the recruiter directly and tell them precisely why they should hire you ASAP. 

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Key Points

Here’s how to write a culinary resume, in a nutshell: 

• Format your resume using the reverse-chronological layout and ensure that it’s easy to read and professional-looking. 
• Write an enticing culinary resume objective or summary to give the reader a taste of your skills. 
• Tailor the job descriptions in your work experience section to the employer’s requirements and list the right skills. 
• Include details of your education and any other assets and experiences you feel are worth sharing. 
• Write a cover letter that outlines your most relevant experience and motivation. 

Thanks for reading! Is there anything to do with writing your culinary resume that you’re still not sure about? Perhaps you’d like more advice on listing the right skills, or writing a culinary resume objective? Let us know in the comments section below! 

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