Sous Chef

Sous Chef interview questions:

The Sous Chef serves as the right hand to the Executive Chef, often starting their culinary journey as line cooks and evolving into the kitchen’s top-notch culinary experts. They might possess formal culinary training through apprenticeships or professional chef certifications. Below, you’ll find a set of interview questions tailored to help you identify the best Sous Chef candidate for your team. Feel free to customize them according to your specific working environment, whether it’s a fine dining restaurant, a private event setting, or another culinary context.

Sous Chefs play a multifaceted role, which includes administrative tasks and training new cooks on specialized cooking techniques. They are the ones expected to step in when the Executive Chef is unavailable, making it crucial for them to earn the trust and respect of their colleagues.

These situational questions aim to uncover your candidate’s ambition, experience, communication skills, and dedication to excellence. In addition to these verbal interview questions, employers often seek evidence of hard skills. Evaluation methods may include a working interview, where candidates shadow restaurant staff, as well as skills tests like preparing a market tasting, executing a menu, or crafting a meal from surprise ingredients in a “secret basket” test. A combination of these methods can lead to a successful and well-rounded hiring process when selecting a Sous Chef.

Operational and Situational questions:

• What guidance would you offer to someone new to the role of Sous Chef?
• Share your strategies for managing food and labor costs effectively.
• Could you elaborate on your career objectives and explain how obtaining this position aligns with your goals?
• If you were to witness a colleague violating food safety standards, how would you handle the situation?
• Please assess your ability as an instructor and detail the cooking techniques you’ve taught to fellow line cooks.
• What is your level of experience working with multicultural or multilingual teams?
• Have you ever had to address a disciplinary issue with a coworker? If so, could you describe the circumstances and the outcome?
• Explain your approach to ensuring the quality of dishes sent out to customers.
• In the event of an emergency or safety hazard in the kitchen, such as a grease fire, what actions would you take?
• Narrate an incident where a customer returned food to the kitchen while you were in charge and how you managed it.
• How do you handle substitutions of ingredients in recipes?
• Can you provide examples of how you’ve accommodated special dietary requirements, such as gluten-free diets?
• Share an instance when you went the extra mile to delight a customer.