5 CV examples · UK · Updated October 2026
Chef CV Examples and Templates (UK)
A strong chef CV proves you cook to a consistent standard at pace, keep food safe and fit into a busy brigade. Open with a short personal profile, then back it up with sections, covers, food safety training and results such as ticket times, food GP or waste cut.
Chef CV at a glance
- Best format
- Reverse-chronological, single column, personal profile first
- Length
- 1 page to chef de partie; 2 for sous chef and above
- Top skills
- Cooking to spec at pace, Food safety and HACCP, Allergen control, Ordering, costing and stock
- Key qualifications
- Level 2 Food Safety in Catering award, Level 2 or 3 professional cookery diploma, Cookery apprenticeship (Modern Apprenticeship in Scotland)
- Average salary
- £22,000 to £40,000 a yearstarter to experienced, National Careers Service
- Typical hours
- 40 to 45 a weekevenings, weekends, bank holidays on shifts
5 chef CV examples for 2026
Below are 5 UK chef CV examples, from a commis chef with no experience to a head chef, plus personal profiles, skills, bullet points, keywords, food safety advice and a free chef CV template in Word for every example. Each one is shown at true A4 size and comes with a free single-column Word template. Open any example to read it in full.
Swipe to see all 5 examples →
Ellis Adeyemi
Commis Chef
Nottingham · ellis.adeyemi@email.com · 07700 900184
Personal Profile
Commis chef ready for a first full-time kitchen role after a Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery at Nottingham College and a year of evening kitchen porter shifts in a busy gastropub. Confident with knife skills, mise en place, stocks and sauces, and trained in food safety and allergen control. Available for evenings, weekends and split shifts.
Core Competencies
Knife skills and mise en place · Stocks, soups and sauces · Cooking to recipe specs · Food safety and HACCP logs · Allergen control (14 allergens) · Stock rotation (FIFO) · Cleaning schedules · Working fast on service · Kitchen porter duties
Employment History
Kitchen Porter (part-time), The Lantern and Lark, Nottingham Sep 2025 – Present
- Keep pots, pans and plates moving through Saturday services of up to 140 covers, so the line never waits for clean kit.
- Help the chefs with prep on quieter nights, peeling and portioning vegetables and picking herbs to the head chef’s spec.
- Check chilled and dry deliveries against the order, then label and rotate stock so older dates are used first.
Work Placement (Commis Chef), Hallam Grange Hotel, Nottingham Nov 2025
- Worked the larder section of a 60-cover hotel restaurant for two weeks, making salads, dressings and cold starters to plate photos.
- Prepared fruit, yoghurt pots and pastries for a 90-guest breakfast buffet, labelling every tray with its date and allergens.
- Plated canapés and starters for a 160-guest wedding beside the sous chef, learning how a kitchen times a banquet.
Café Kitchen Assistant (Saturdays), Pennywort Café, Nottingham Aug 2024 – Aug 2025
- Made sandwiches, salads and the soup of the day from recipe cards for a lunch trade of around 80 customers.
- Labelled grab-and-go sandwiches with full ingredients and emphasised allergens, as the rules on food prepacked for direct sale require.
Education & Qualifications
Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery, Nottingham College, 2026
Level 1 Diploma in Introduction to Professional Cookery, Nottingham College, 2025
7 GCSEs grades 9-4 including English Language (5) and Maths (4), 2024
Training & Certificates
Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (2025) · Level 2 Award in Food Allergen Awareness and Control in Catering (2026)
Why this example works
- Turns kitchen porter shifts into chef evidence, with prep, deliveries and temperature logs, so a first chef CV still shows real kitchen work.
- Leads the profile with the cookery diploma and states evening, weekend and split shift availability, the two things a head chef checks first.
- Lists food safety and allergen awards with years, showing the candidate can be trusted on a section from the first service.
Why this example works
- Names the section, the cover count and the Rosette standard, so a head chef can judge the level of cooking in seconds.
- Shows a clear commis to demi to chef de partie climb, with each move adding sections, covers or training duties.
- Backs junior sous chef ambitions with training, waste and food safety evidence, not just cooking.
Applying through an online portal? Use the Word download: it is the same CV in a single-column, ATS-safe layout. Keep this two-column design for emailing and networking.
Sofia Ferraro
Pastry Chef de Partie
Manchester · sofia.ferraro@email.com · 07700 900739 · linkedin.com/in/sofiaferraro
Skills & Tools
Personal Profile
Pastry chef de partie with seven years in bakery, restaurant and hotel pastry, now running desserts, breads and afternoon tea in a Manchester city-centre hotel. Skilled in laminated doughs, chocolate work and plated desserts, with strict allergen control on a section handling nuts, gluten and dairy daily. Seeking a head pastry chef role.
Employment History
Pastry Chef de Partie, Albion Exchange Hotel, Manchester Jun 2022 – Present
- Produce afternoon tea for up to 180 guests a day, from scones to six patisserie items, with a new seasonal menu each quarter.
- Moved breakfast croissants and pains au chocolat for 220 covers from bought-in to house-laminated, at a lower cost per piece.
- Set up separate gluten-free and nut-free production days with colour-coded equipment, with no allergen complaints logged since 2023.
Demi Chef de Partie (Pastry), Linden and Vine, Chester 2020 – 2022
- Plated desserts for a 90-cover modern British restaurant, keeping quenelles, tuiles and glazes consistent through a full service.
- Created a rhubarb and custard dessert that moved from monthly special to the permanent menu as the best seller of 2021.
- Baked all bread in house each morning, including a sourdough from a starter kept going for two years.
Commis Pastry Chef, Crumb and Copper Bakery, Manchester 2019 – 2020
- Baked bread, cakes and traybakes from 5am for a bakery café and two wholesale coffee shop customers.
- Decorated celebration cakes to customer orders and learned to scale and cost recipes alongside the owner.
Education & Qualifications
Level 3 Diploma in Professional Patisserie and Confectionery (City & Guilds), 2019
Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery (City & Guilds), 2018
A-levels: Art and Design (B), Biology (C); 9 GCSEs including English and Maths
Training & Certificates
Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (refreshed 2025) · Level 2 Award in Food Allergen Awareness and Control in Catering (2023)
Why this example works
- Gives volumes for each product, afternoon teas, breakfast covers and desserts, the scale a hotel executive chef needs to see.
- Shows the allergen controls pastry sections are judged on, with a clear system and result rather than a vague claim.
- Proves readiness for head pastry chef through supervision, recipe cards and costing, not just technique.
Why this example works
- Leads with IDDSI, fortification and menu planning, the care-specific skills that set a care home chef apart from a restaurant chef.
- Shows inspection readiness with diet records for CQC and food safety records for environmental health officers, as care home kitchens in England face both.
- Keeps restaurant sous chef experience brief but visible, proving the leadership and costing a catering manager role needs.
Why this example works
- Leads every role with the numbers a group operations manager checks: brigade size, food GP, waste, staff turnover and inspection results.
- Shows a 16-year climb from Modern Apprentice to head chef, with each move adding covers, people or budget.
- Uses Scottish detail correctly: SVQ levels, REHIS training, CookSafe and the Food Hygiene Information Scheme instead of terms used in the rest of the UK.
Applying through an online portal? Use the Word download: it is the same CV in a single-column, ATS-safe layout. Keep this two-column design for emailing and networking.
Chef personal profile examples
Copy the personal profile that matches your level, then swap in your own experience, settings and results.
Motivated college leaver with a Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery and kitchen porter experience in a busy pub kitchen. Comfortable with knife skills, basic sauces and cleaning schedules, and trained in food safety and the 14 allergens. Keen to learn every section as a commis chef and available for evenings, weekends and split shifts.
Former restaurant supervisor moving into the kitchen after five years front of house, with a Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering and a part-time professional cookery course. Knows service pressure, allergen procedures and guest expectations from the other side of the pass. Seeking a commis or trainee chef role with structured training.
Chef de partie with five years in hotel and restaurant kitchens, running the grill and sauce sections for up to 150 covers. Cooks consistently to spec, preps to par levels and supports junior chefs through busy services. Level 3 food safety trained and looking for a chef de partie or junior sous chef role in a fresh-food kitchen.
Sous chef with nine years in fresh-food kitchens, running a brigade of eight in a 120-cover gastropub on the head chef’s days off. Handles ordering, rotas, allergen records and food safety checks, and has helped hold food gross profit above target for three years. Ready for a head chef role with menu responsibility.
Head chef with 15 years in hotels and restaurant groups, leading kitchens of up to 20 chefs and managing food and labour budgets. Develops costed seasonal menus, builds strong supplier relationships and trains chefs into senior roles. Experienced with HACCP, allergen labelling and environmental health inspections, and seeking an executive chef position.
Best skills for a chef CV
List the skills the job advert and person specification name, in the same wording, and prove the important ones in your employment history.
Hard skills
- Knife skills and mise en place
- Braising, roasting, grilling and poaching
- Stocks, sauces and soups
- Meat and fish butchery
- Pastry, bread and desserts
- Plating to dish specs
- Menu planning and recipe development
- Food costing and gross profit control
- Stock control, ordering and rotation
- HACCP and food safety records
- Allergen management (14 allergens)
- Special diets: vegan, gluten-free, halal and IDDSI
Soft skills
- Working calmly under pressure
- Teamwork in a kitchen brigade
- Attention to detail
- Time management on service
- Taking feedback well
- Clear communication on the pass
- Reliability and punctuality
- Leadership and coaching
Systems and equipment
- Combi ovens and water baths for sous vide
- Blast chillers and probe thermometers
- Kitchen display systems and ticket printers
- Digital HACCP and temperature monitoring apps
- Recipe and allergen software such as Nutritics
- Purchasing systems such as Procure Wizard
- Microsoft Excel for stocktakes and food cost
Qualifications and training
- Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (Level 3 for supervisors, Level 4 for managers)
- Level 2 Award in Food Allergen Awareness and Control in Catering
- Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery or Level 3 Diploma in Advanced Professional Cookery
- Level 3 Diploma in Professional Patisserie and Confectionery (pastry chefs)
- Commis Chef (Level 2), Chef de Partie (Level 3) and Senior Culinary Chef (Level 4) apprenticeships (England)
- SVQ in Professional Cookery at SCQF Level 5 or 6 (Scotland)
- REHIS Elementary or Intermediate Food Hygiene (Scotland)
- Level 3 Award in HACCP for Caterers
- IOSH Managing Safely (sous chefs and head chefs)
Chef CV bullet point examples
Strong bullets pair an action verb with a specific task and a measurable result. Adapt these to your own numbers.
Cooking and service
- Cooked a Sunday carvery for 260 covers, holding beef, pork and turkey at safe temperatures across a four-hour service.
- Ran the tandoor and curry stations in a 150-cover Indian restaurant, sending dishes and breads within eight minutes of the ticket.
- Launched a weekday set lunch menu that added 40 covers a day within two months of opening.
Food safety, allergens and hygiene
- Introduced a pre-service allergen briefing and a red ticket flag for every allergen order, with no allergen incidents in 18 months.
- Logged hot-holding, cooling and probe calibration checks twice a shift, with no action points at the last environmental health visit.
- Led a full kitchen deep clean and new cleaning schedule before a re-inspection that lifted the food hygiene rating from 3 to 5.
Stock, ordering and food cost
- Took over weekly stocktakes and cut the gap between theoretical and actual food cost from 4% to under 1.5%.
- Renegotiated dairy and dry goods prices with two suppliers, saving around £9,000 a year with no change in quality.
- Built a whole-animal butchery menu that used every cut of a weekly lamb and pig, lowering meat costs by 12%.
Leadership and training
- Wrote a 10-day induction plan for new commis chefs, cutting the time to work a section alone from six weeks to three.
- Coached a kitchen apprentice through the Commis Chef Level 2 end-point assessment, which they passed at the first attempt.
- Set up a fair closing-down rota and checklist for a 12-chef kitchen, ending late finishes and overtime disputes.
Action verbs for a chef CV
Start each bullet with a precise verb instead of “responsible for”.
- Prepared
- Cooked
- Plated
- Seasoned
- Filleted
- Butchered
- Baked
- Laminated
- Tempered
- Garnished
- Portioned
- Costed
- Ordered
- Rotated
- Labelled
- Developed
- Created
- Sourced
- Negotiated
- Trained
- Mentored
- Supervised
- Led
- Coordinated
- Organised
- Prioritised
- Standardised
- Reduced
- Improved
- Audited
Find more by category with the free action verb finder.
Best CV format for a chef
Use a reverse-chronological chef CV in a single column: personal profile, key skills, employment history, then qualifications and food safety training. Commis chefs and chefs de partie fit on one side of A4; sous chefs, head chefs and senior specialist chefs can use two.
| Your situation | Format | Length | Lead with |
|---|---|---|---|
| No experience or college leaver | Skills-led: profile, training, kitchen work, placements | 1 page | Cookery course, food safety and availability |
| Commis chef | Reverse-chronological | 1 page | Sections worked, covers and knife skills |
| Chef de partie or pastry chef de partie | Reverse-chronological | 1 page | Your section, covers, kitchen standard and training others |
| Sous chef | Reverse-chronological | 2 pages | Running the pass, ordering, rotas and food cost |
| Head chef or executive chef | Reverse-chronological | 2 pages | Brigade size, food GP, menus and inspection results |
| Care home or contract catering head chef | Reverse-chronological with a training section | 2 pages | Special diets, IDDSI, nutrition and budgets |
| Career changer into kitchens | Hybrid: profile and transferable skills first | 1 page | Cookery training, food safety and kitchen exposure |
Every example above follows these rules, on A4 and without a photo, date of birth or full address.
How to write a chef CV that gets you a trial shift
A chef CV gets you a trial shift when it shows the standard you cook at, the pace you can handle and that you keep food safe. Put your strongest evidence in the personal profile and the first bullet of each job.
Name the kitchen and the section: a 120-cover gastropub, a two AA Rosette hotel or a care home. Then add numbers such as covers per service, ticket times, food gross profit, waste cut or chefs trained.
If you are applying for your first kitchen roles, state your availability for evenings, weekends and bank holidays, because chef rotas usually include them.
Chef CV with no experience
You can write a chef CV with no experience by leading with training, kitchen exposure and attitude. The National Careers Service lists college courses, apprenticeships and starting as a kitchen assistant as routes in.
Put a cookery diploma, such as the Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery, near the top with your food safety and allergen awards. Then add kitchen porter shifts or work placements, each with one concrete result.
In England, the Commis Chef Level 2 apprenticeship lets you earn while you train. In Scotland, look for a Modern Apprenticeship with an SVQ in Professional Cookery at SCQF Level 5. Wales and Northern Ireland run their own apprenticeships.
Career changers should use a hybrid layout: front-of-house staff know service pressure and allergen procedures, and forces cooks bring volume cooking. Keep the CV to one page.
Keywords to include in a chef CV
Hotel groups, restaurant chains, contract caterers and care providers often screen online applications with applicant tracking systems, so mirror the advert’s exact job title and wording in your profile, skills and bullets.
- Commis chef, chef de partie, sous chef, head chef, pastry chef, cook
- Fresh food, scratch cooking, seasonal menu, à la carte, tasting menu, banqueting
- Mise en place, knife skills, sauces, butchery, fish filleting, pastry
- HACCP, food safety, allergens, PPDS labelling, food hygiene rating
- Food GP, food cost, stock control, ordering, waste reduction
- Covers, service, the pass, split shifts, weekends
How to show food safety and allergen training on a chef CV
List food safety and allergen training with the level and year, such as ‘Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (2025)’. Supervisors usually add Level 3, and head chefs often hold Level 3 or 4.
The Food Standards Agency says food handlers do not legally need a food hygiene certificate but must be trained or supervised for their work. The National Careers Service says you’ll need a food safety certificate as a chef. In Scotland, REHIS certificates are widely used.
Name your food safety system: procedures must be based on HACCP, and many kitchens use Safer Food, Better Business (England and Wales), CookSafe (Scotland) or Safe Catering (Northern Ireland).
England, Wales and Northern Ireland use the 0 to 5 Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, while Scotland’s Food Hygiene Information Scheme gives a ‘Pass’ or ‘Improvement Required’. Quote your kitchen’s result and describe your part honestly.
Since October 2021, food prepacked for direct sale must list full ingredients with the 14 allergens emphasised (Natasha’s Law), so allergen labelling experience is worth a bullet.
Chef CV by level: commis to head chef
What your CV must prove changes as you move up the brigade. A commis chef CV shows training, knife skills and the sections you have rotated through; a chef de partie CV shows one section run at a stated number of covers.
A sous chef CV shows running the pass, ordering, rotas and food cost. A head chef CV leads with brigade size, food gross profit, menu development, retention and inspection results.
Pastry chefs add volumes and techniques, while care home and hospital cooks add IDDSI texture-modified diets, fortification and nutrition.
What to include and leave off a UK chef CV
| ✓ Include | ✗ Avoid |
|---|---|
| A 3-5 line personal profile naming your level, kitchen type and the role you want | A photo, date of birth, age, marital status or nationality |
| The sections you have run, cover numbers and the kitchen’s standard | Your full home address or National Insurance number |
| Results with numbers: ticket times, food GP, waste cut or chefs trained | Duty lists such as ‘responsible for cooking food’ with no covers or results |
| Food safety and allergen training with the level and year | Claiming sole credit for AA Rosettes or a hygiene rating the whole team earned |
| Cookery diplomas, apprenticeships or SVQs, plus school results in one line | Every short agency or event shift listed as a separate job |
| Evening, weekend and split shift availability, if you are applying for your first kitchen roles | Referees’ names and phone numbers |
| Special diets you cook for: vegan, gluten-free, halal or IDDSI texture-modified | Clichés such as ‘passionate foodie’ with no evidence behind them |
| A link to an online portfolio of your dishes, if you have one | Tables, columns and graphics that applicant tracking systems misread |
How to write a chef CV
- Read the job advert closely. Note the kitchen type, the level, the shift pattern and the words the advert repeats, such as fresh food, HACCP or chef de partie. Use those words as your CV keywords and put the advert’s job title under your name.
- Write a personal profile. In three to five lines, say what level of chef you are, the kitchens you have worked in, one result such as covers or food GP, and the role you want. If you are applying for your first kitchen roles, add your availability for evenings, weekends and split shifts.
- List your key skills and specialisms. Choose 8 to 12 skills that match the advert. Mix cooking skills such as butchery, sauces or pastry with kitchen management skills such as ordering, costing and food safety, and name any special diets you cook for.
- Show results in your employment history. List jobs newest first with title, kitchen, town and dates. Give each role two to five bullets, with more for recent roles. Start each with an action verb and include a number where you can: covers, ticket times, waste cut, food GP or chefs trained.
- Add qualifications and food safety training. List your cookery diploma, apprenticeship or SVQ, then food safety and allergen awards with levels and years. Summarise GCSEs or Scottish qualifications in one line, and add first aid or IOSH Managing Safely if you hold them.
- Check length, layout and spelling. Keep to one side of A4 up to chef de partie and two for sous chefs and above. Use a single column, a clear font and UK spelling, then save as Word or PDF, whichever the application asks for.
Chef salary in the UK
National averages for England. Use them to benchmark offers, not as a promise for any single job.
The National Careers Service puts average pay for a chef at £22,000 a year for new starters, rising to around £40,000 with experience. Typical hours are 40 to 45 a week, with evenings, weekends, bank holidays on shifts.
Source: National Careers Service, Chef job profile (Department for Education), contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures are averages; pay varies by region, employer and experience.
Covering letter tip for a chef
Open your covering letter with the role and the kitchen, then give one example that proves you suit it, such as running a section at 110 covers or helping keep a food hygiene rating of 5. Close with your availability for a trial shift and your notice period. Keep it under 250 words.
Start from our cover letter templates or draft one in seconds with the cover letter generator.
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