Kitchen Chef Titles Explained

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Kitchen Chef Titles Explained

The structure will vary slightly depending on the size and style of the restaurant, however as a chef it’s important to know and understand the many positions held within a professional kitchen. Even if you’re not a chef, knowing what ‘sous chef’ means is a sure fire way to impress your friends while watching 

Executive Chef (Group Chef) 

The very top of the kitchen management structure. Only the largest establishments have an executive chef, and it is primarily a management role; executive chefs are often responsible for the operation of multiple outlets, and thus they do very little actual cooking!  

Head Chef ( Executive Chef, Chef de Cuisine) 

Chef de Cuisine is the traditional French term, and although it’s slightly more common in European kitchens, head chef is the title that’s used most prevalently around the world. The head chef generally controls the whole kitchen, from managing kitchen staff and controlling kitchen costs to liaising with suppliers and creating the menus. 

Sous Chef ( Second Chef) 

The sous-chef de cuisine is second in command, and translated it literally means ‘under chef’. The role will typically overlap with the head chef’s, but the sous chef will tend to be more hands on and actively involved in the day-to-day running of the kitchen; the sous chef will also fill in for the head chef when they are off, as well as a chef de partie when needed. Some smaller kitchens may not even have a sous chef,

Chef de Partie (Station Chef, Line Chef, Line Cook) 

Ever heard of the expression ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’? This is why chef de parties are a vital part of the brigade system. Each chef de partie is responsible for running a specific section of the kitchen (we’ll cover these below), and they are usually the only worker in that department, although in some larger kitchens each station chef may well have several assistants. Again, this is a term that can have multiple hierarchical precedents, such as junior or senior.

Commis Chef 

A commis is a junior member of staff that works under a chef de partie in order to learn the ins and outs of a specific station, these are often people that have recently completed, or are still undertaking, formal culinary training

Kitchen Porter ( Kitchen Assistant or Kitchenhand) 

These are workers that assist with rudimentary tasks within the kitchen, and are less likely to have any formal culinary training. Tasks include basic food preparation such as washing salad and peeling potatoes, in addition to basic cleaning duties.

Dishwasher 

The person responsible for washing dishes and cutlery, and even they get a fancy title! It derives from the word ‘scullery’, which is described as a “small room adjoining a kitchen, in which dishwashing and other kitchen chores are done”.