Culinary CV examples to help you succeed this year

The culinary industry is fast-paced, competitive, and rewarding. If you want to land your ideal job in this industry you will need the perfect CV. Here’s how to write one.

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Table of Contents

  1. Culinary CV example
  2. Jobs that can use culinary CVs
  3. Important elements for culinary CVs
  4. Culinary CV examples you can use
  5. Tips for creating your culinary CV
  6. FAQ: Culinary CV

Culinary CV example

If you want a job in a culinary role, you will need a CV that shows you are the kind of person who exhibits knowledge of food and restaurant operations, copes with stress, handles a fast-paced work environment, and thinks on your feet. Whether you want an entry-level job or a senior position, it all starts with the right CV. Here’s what you need to know about writing a great culinary CV. 

Jobs that can use culinary CVs

The culinary industry is one of the biggest industries in the world. There are literally hundreds of jobs you can hold in the culinary field, but some of the most common are: 

  • Kitchen staff/ Kitchen porter
  • Food preparation
  • Food safety officer
  • Foodservice
  • Line cook
  • Executive chef
  • Sous chef
  • Head chef
  • Food sourcing
  • Restaurant manager
  • Hygiene or safety standards inspector

Important elements for culinary CVs

If you want to catch a hiring manager’s eye and land a new job, you will need a great curriculum vitae. Any CV should include these basic sections:

 
Header
A CV header is placed at the very top of the CV and should contain your full name and contact information. For example, you should include your phone number, email address, and professional social media links, such as your LinkedIn profile. 
 
Professional summary or career objective
Under the header, you should include either a career objective or a professional summary statement. Which one you choose should depend on your experience level. For example, a head chef CV will have a professional summary because this kind of role requires years of experience.  A professional summary should include your most relevant achievements and skills. A career objective statement is more likely to be included on an entry-level CV. This should be a statement of career goals and intentions. 
 
Skills

Your CV skills section should include 8 to 12 bullet points detailing your most relevant technical skills, hard skills, and soft skills. Soft skills like communication and conflict resolution can be important for a culinary professional, as you need to have great people skills to work with others and ensure customer satisfaction. Here are some skills that are often listed on food production CVs:

 

  • Interpersonal skills
  • Management skills
  • Food quality assessment
  • Grilling
  • Knife skills
  • Boiling
  • Creaming
  • Pastry making
  • Time management
  • Proficiency with unusual kitchen equipment (e.g. smokers, anti-griddles, liquid nitrogen, etc.)
  • Baking
  • Advanced culinary skills (e.g. pastry lamination, sous vide, engastration)

Work experience

You should list up to the last 10 years of culinary experience on your CV to get the best results, but if you don’t have food service work experience you should include whatever work experience you do have. List your job title, employment dates, and key achievements in each role, focus on responsibilities and accomplishments and address the needs of the job description. For example, listing a customer service job in which you multitasked can show you can keep up in a kitchen environment. 
 
Education
List your highest education credentials, such as any training you’ve had in culinary school, as well as any related qualifications.
 
Achievements and awards
Whether you were top of your class in culinary school or you have earned recognition or an award for fine dining food production, you should list achievements like this on your CV. This will help you stand out from the crowd of job seekers. 
 
Certifications
If you have certifications from culinary institutes or other professional bodies you should include them on your CV.

Culinary CV examples you can use

If you are writing your culinary curriculum vitae for the first time, reviewing appropriate culinary CV templates or examples can help you to get an idea of what may be expected from you. These are just four of the CV examples available at CVHelp:

  • Restaurant manager
  • Catering food preparation
  • Executive chef
  • Sushi chef

When writing your CV, you should also consider using the CVHelp CV builder to ensure that your curriculum vitae is well-formatted. This free online tool helps with small details like spacing and font size, as well as key elements such as job-specific suggestions to fill out each section.

Tips for creating your culinary CV

Consider these additional tips for polishing your CV content: 

  • Use active language

Active language such as “Created” or “Developed” is a far better way to take ownership of your skills and experience than passive statements like “Was responsible for.” 

  • Be specific

If you’ve created a menu based on specific dishes and cuisines, spell it out, rather than being vague and stating that you created a menu. Try to use numbers, like percentages, to discuss how you’ve impacted sales and productivity, which is more likely to impress hiring managers. 

  • Include volunteer work

If you have undertaken unpaid work such as charity work, volunteer work, or an internship you should include this information on your CV as long as it exhibits skills and abilities that are useful for culinary work. 

  • Use CV templates

Online CV builders offer templates with attractive design elements that can help your job application stand out.

FAQ: Culinary CV

Q: Do I need a cover letter to go with my culinary CV?

Yes, you need a cover letter to complement any CV and job application. This is an important document that offers job seekers the unique opportunity to converse directly with the hiring manager while providing additional context and information. If you want to ensure that your cover letter is properly formatted and functional, the CVHelp cover letter builder can be incredibly helpful.

Q: Can I get a culinary job with no experience?

It is possible to get a job in the culinary industry with absolutely no experience or education in the field. It all depends on what job title you want to hold. For example, you can get a regular kitchen staff role fairly easily straight out of high school, but if you want to be a sous chef or a head chef you will need some industry experience and learning. The key is to ensure that your CV shows top skills that also match the needs of the job description.

Q: Should I tailor my CV for every job application?

Tailoring your CV to suit the needs of each new job application is the best way to land a job interview. You can do this by thoroughly reading the job description and highlighting the skills and qualifications listed as necessary. Address these requirements when writing your curriculum vitae so that your application ranks well in applicant tracking systems (ATS) and makes it to the recruiter’s desk.

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