You might love working in a fast-paced restaurant kitchen and sharing your cooking and baking skills with diners that walk through the door, even if it can be stressful. Working as part of a kitchen team can be a great experience. Still, as with any career, you may be interested in moving up the ladder and landing a more senior position in your current place of work or accepting offers elsewhere.
To do this, you will first need to prove yourself as a professional chef, so if you want to get noticed for a promotion on the horizon, here is a quick guide that could help you achieve this.
Hone your skills
If you want to take on more responsibility in a professional kitchen, you must prove that you have the skills to do so. All chefs start at the bottom and work their way up to take on more challenging dishes and preparation, so honing your culinary skills is a must if you want to do this.
Practice at home, and even think about experimenting with recipes and ingredients so you can come up with menu ideas yourself. It may be a long way off before you decide what is served at the restaurant, but it doesn’t hurt to build your confidence in your creative cooking skills.
Invest in the essentials
You will have tools and utensils to use in the kitchen you work in, but there are things you can invest in that you will need to bring to work, too. For example, a complete chef uniform to help you look professional is a must, and you can even get custom chef aprons here.
Safe shoes to wear in the kitchen is also a necessity, and even some quality chef knives to bring in could look good. Taking additional training courses in your spare time helps you stand out as a candidate for more senior roles.
Be punctual
Turning to work on time is essential no matter your job, but when working in a professional kitchen, there will be plenty of prep work to get through and customers to serve. Even if it is on the quiet front, there will be cleaning tasks to keep the kitchen up to the health and safety code, so you will always have something to do.
Turning up to your shift late will not work in your favor, and repeat offenses might even get you fired. If you want to be taken seriously as a professional chef and considered for promotions, you need to prove you are a reliable team player who could one day lead by example.
If you want to work your way up to head chef at your current place of work or would like to open a restaurant yourself one day, consider this simple guide to help you get noticed at work as a professional chef.
