How a restaurant kitchen works

The way each kitchen operates depends on several factors, including the size of the restaurant, the number of daily guests, the choice of dishes in the menu and so on. In small restaurants, there are usually only one or two chefs working in the kitchen, but in bigger restaurants there can be over ten employees working in the kitchen at all times. Most big restaurants operate their kitchen based on the French Brigade System. As the name suggests, this system was first adopted in France and is today widespread all over the world. With this system, every chef in the kitchen has his own specific function and they all work as one team in order to ensure that the kitchen operates smoothly. Beside the names, each chef can be recognised by their garment, which you can see at chefworks.com.

Executive Chef

The Executive Chef is at the very top of the kitchen hierarchy. Even though he is the master chef in the kitchen he does very little to no cooking at all. His role is to monitor the rest of the chefs and manage the entire kitchen.

Head Chef

The Head Chef usually controls everything that happens in the kitchen. He interacts directly with other chefs and manages the kitchen at a daily level. Nothing happens in the kitchen without the Head Chefs approval and that is the reason why everyone wants to get to this position.

Sous Chef

The Sous Chef is second in command in the kitchen. He is more involved in the dishes that come out of the kitchen and controls the rest of the chefs. He will also fill in for the Head Chef when he is out of the kitchen and take on his responsibilities.

The chefs in the kitchen that actually prepare the dishes sit lower in the hierarchy. They each control their own section of the kitchen and each prepares a specific dish. They are usually divided into: butcher chef, fish chef, pastry chef, grill chef, roast chef, sauté chef, vegetable chef and so on. By dividing the roles in the kitchen, each meal is guaranteed to be the best it can be and leave the customer with a big smile on his face when he leaves the restaurant.

There are several types of chefs in addition to the mentioned above like corporate chef, chef de cuisine. Every chef has responsibility which is different from each other and guiding everyone with proper ideas and sufficient tool. Using a perfect tool like chef knife is an important thing for a better result. Customer may get attracted to your restaurant by certain factors like safety and reliability. The most important thing in every restaurant kitchen is choosing a right person to handle. Restaurant kitchen is a team work environment; cooperation is a main thing for its proper function. Everyone needs to be aware of their responsibility. Communicating and serving the customer is a main duty of the staff in the restaurant which includes in the profit and loss.