Interview Questions to Ask a Chef
For restaurant owners and managers hiring a chef or head chef. The questions cover where they have cooked and what they ran, how they build a menu and hold food cost, what they do when a service comes apart, how they train and keep a brigade, and how they handle allergens and inspections.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Where have you cooked, and what were you actually responsible for in each place?
Why ask it
Titles travel loosely in kitchens. Ask what they ordered, what they costed, who they hired, and how many covers a night, because a sous in a fifty-cover bistro and a sous in a hotel banquet kitchen have almost nothing in common.
Tell me about a service you were proud of. What made it work?
Why ask it
Cooks who run kitchens well talk about prep, staffing and the pass. Cooks who talk only about a dish they plated may not have been the person holding the service together.
What food do you cook best?
Why ask it
You want the honest narrow answer, not versatility. Someone who says they can cook anything is usually telling you they have not settled anywhere long enough to get deep at one thing.
If the menu here were yours, what would you change first?
Why ask it
Tests whether they looked at your menu before walking in. The good version of this answer respects what already sells; the concerning version replaces the whole card with their own greatest hits.
When you write a new dish, do you start from an ingredient, a technique, or a price?
Why ask it
Chefs who never mention price tend to produce beautiful food that loses money. Chefs who lead with price sometimes need pushing on why anyone would order it.
What food cost have you run, and how do you hold it when supplier prices move?
Why ask it
Listen for a percentage and the levers they actually use: portioning, spec changes, menu mix, substitutions. No number at all means someone else was watching cost for them.
How do you set the prep list and station assignments for a busy night?
Why ask it
This is most of the job and rarely gets asked about. Detail here, on who preps what and by when, predicts whether your Friday runs on a plan or on adrenaline.
Tell me about the last service that fell apart. What happened, and what did you do during it?
Why ask it
Everyone has one. The answer to avoid is a story where the failure belongs entirely to suppliers, staff or the previous manager, with no decision of their own in it.
What do you do when you are two cooks short an hour before doors?
Why ask it
Practical answers involve cutting the menu, moving stations, and telling the front of house early. Answers that rely on working harder do not survive contact with a full book.
How do you handle a cook who keeps making the same mistake?
Why ask it
Kitchens still carry a tradition of shouting. You are listening for whether they retrain and follow up, and for any sign that humiliation is part of their method.
A dish leaves the pass wrong and the guest complains. What happens next in your kitchen?
Why ask it
The answer shows both their standards and their relationship with the dining room. Chefs who argue with the floor about returns create problems you will end up handling yourself.
Walk me through how an allergy order moves through your kitchen, from ticket to plate.
Why ask it
You want specifics: who is told, separate boards and pans, changed gloves, who carries the plate. Vagueness here is the single biggest risk in the whole interview.
What is your close-down routine for cleaning and temperature checks?
Why ask it
A chef who can describe the log, who signs it, and what happens to a fridge reading that is out of range has run a compliant kitchen. One who describes only wiping down has not.
What is the worst finding you have had from a health inspection, and what changed afterward?
Why ask it
Nearly every long career includes a finding. Denial suggests either a short career or a habit of not recording problems, and the second is worse for you.
Which suppliers do you know well, and how do you decide who to buy from?
Why ask it
Existing relationships can lower your prices in week one. It is also worth hearing whether they will switch supplier for a small saving, since that habit shows up in consistency.
How do you deal with waste and unsold product?
Why ask it
Practical answers are about ordering to the book, cross-utilising, and specials built from what needs using. This is where a percentage point of margin actually lives.
How would you train a new cook on a station in their first week?
Why ask it
Whoever you hire will be onboarding people constantly given how kitchens turn over. A chef with no method will lose your new hires within a month and blame the labour market.
What do you need from the front of house, and how do you communicate during service?
Why ask it
The pass is where most restaurant conflict happens. Someone who describes a pre-service briefing and a habit of telling the floor about shortages will save you weekly arguments.
What hours do you expect to work, and how do you keep a kitchen staffed without wearing people out?
Why ask it
Ask this plainly and compare it with your own rota. A chef who intends to be there for every service will burn out, and one who plans to be there for none is a scheduling problem.
What do you want to know about us before you decide?
Why ask it
Serious candidates ask about covers, budget, kitchen equipment and who they report to. No questions at all usually means this is one application among many rather than a considered move.
Hiring a chef
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Run a trial shift, not just an interview
Pay for the trial
A paid stage on a normal busy service tells you more than any conversation. Unpaid trials narrow your applicant pool to people who can afford to work for free, and in many places they are not lawful.
Watch the parts nobody rehearses
How they set up their station, whether they clean as they go, how they speak to your cooks when nobody is addressing them, and what they do when a ticket comes in wrong. The food is the easiest part to judge.
Ask your team afterwards
Your existing cooks will have formed a clear view within an hour. They are also the people who have to work alongside the hire, so their read matters more than most managers admit.
Reference checks that actually help
- Ask the previous employer what the food cost was under this chef and whether it held.
- Ask how many people left the kitchen during their time there, and why.
- Ask whether they gave notice properly and whether the handover was orderly.
- Ask what the chef needed managing on, since every reference has an answer to that if you ask it directly.
- Speak to a cook who worked under them, not only the owner or manager who hired them.
Be straight about what the job is
- Give real numbers: covers by day, average spend, current food cost, labour budget, and the size of the brigade.
- Show them the kitchen, including the walk-in and the equipment that does not work.
- Say whether the menu is theirs to change, partly theirs, or fixed by ownership. This is the most common cause of a chef leaving in the first three months.
- State the hours and the days off you can actually offer, then keep to them.
- Explain who signs off on spend and at what level, so the boundary is clear before the first order.
Common mistakes
Hiring on the tasting alone
A strong cook who cannot order, cost, roster or train will not hold a kitchen together, and those failures take three months to surface and longer to unwind.
Ignoring the allergen answer
Treat a vague answer on allergy handling as disqualifying regardless of how good the food is. The consequences fall on your licence and your guests.
Skipping the money conversation
Settle salary, hours, and whether there is any bonus tied to cost or revenue before the offer. Chefs leave over these terms more often than over the cooking.