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Chefs in a kitchen


Kitchen Hierarchy Explained | The Brigade de Cuisine

Most modern professional kitchens operate according to a positional kitchen hierarchy. This hierarchy is termed the Brigade de Cuisine – a French brigade system adopted to ensure kitchen operations run smoothly.

If you work in hospitality or catering, it’s probable that you have heard of the Brigade de Cuisine. Furthermore, you’ll have likely heard some of its terms, such as ‘sous chef’.

The size and structure of the Brigade de Cuisine varies depending on the size and style of the restaurant. For example, if you work in a small kitchen, it’s unlikely that you have a person for every position. Despite this, it’s still important that you’re aware of the kitchen hierarchy, and know how your position operates within this.

So, what exactly is the Brigade de Cuisine?

What is the Kitchen Hierarchy?

The Brigade de Cuisine is more commonly known as the kitchen hierarchy. There are many positions in this hierarchy, and each one holds an important role in the overall function of the kitchen. The 8 positions listed below are the most typical.

Executive Chef

The Executive chef sits at the top of the kitchen hierarchy; their role is primarily managerial. Executive chefs tend to manage kitchens at multiple outlets and are not usually directly responsible for cooking.

Chef de Cuisine (Head Chef)

‘Head Chef’ is the translation for the French term ‘Chef de Cuisine’. The Head Chef will typically focus on managerial duties relating to the whole kitchen. For example, they supervise and manage staff, control costs and make purchases, and liaise with the restaurant manager and suppliers to create new menus.

Sous Chef (Deputy Chef)

The sous chef shares a lot of the same responsibilities as the head chef, however they are much more involved in the day-to-day operations in the kitchen.

The sous chef also fills in for the head chef when they are not present.

Chef de Partie (Station Chef)

This role is a vital part of the brigade system, but it’s split into many different roles. There is more than one chef de partie and each one is responsible for a different section of the kitchen. This makes kitchen operations much more productive and helps to coordinate large quantities of meals at busy times.

Specific chef de partie roles include the following:

Commis Chef (Junior Chef)

The commis chef works under the chef de partie to learn the ins and outs of a specific station. The junior chef has usually recently completed, or is still partaking in, formal training.

Kitchen Porter

Kitchen porters assist with basic tasks in the kitchen, and are less likely to have had formal training. Their role typically involves introductory food preparation, such as peeling potatoes, and some cleaning duties.

Escuelerie (Dishwasher)

This person is responsible for washing anything that was used in the food preparation and cooking process.

Aboyeur (Waiter/Waitress)

Waiters and waitresses work at the front of house and are customer-facing. They serve customers their dishes and anything else they order. If a customer has a problem with their food, it is the role of the waiter or waitress to report this to the kitchen.

Kitchen Hierarchy Chart

The image provided below offers a visual representation of the kitchen hierarchy and how the Brigade de Cuisine operates.

We hope that this article has been useful in explaining the Brigade de Cuisine. Kitchens both big and small have hierarchical structures. It is important you understand your role in this to ensure a smooth cooking operation.

What to Read Next:

Kitchen Hierarchy & Titles Explained

In a busy restaurant, one key factor for success is hiring the right chef. There can actually be various types of chefs operating in one kitchen. That leads us to ask, "What are the different types of chefs?" Read on to learn the difference between the various chef titles and the tasks those chefs perform in a bustling restaurant kitchen.

Use the following links to navigate and learn more about a specific type of chef:

Chef Hierarchy

The different chef titles emerged in the 19th century with the creation of the French Brigade System. Chef Georges Auguste Escoffier created this system to provide restaurants with a kitchen hierarchy in order to operate more efficiently.

Not every kitchen operates under the French Brigade System. In modern days, many people think of this system as out of date since it portrays certain stations as more important than others when every station is equally important when it comes to running a successful restaurant . Besides that, it has provided a basic outline that restaurant owners can refer to when setting up their kitchen stations.

Different Types of Chefs

Chefs will generally hold higher-ranked positions in a kitchen. Additionally, a restaurant will usually have managerial chefs and specialized chefs. Each type of chef can cover a variety of different tasks, from organization and training to menu development and recipe creation. Becoming a chef requires years of education and experience, climbing from entry-level positions to the ultimate goal of executive chef.

Managerial Chefs

In managerial chef positions, there is an established hierarchy because these chefs have the most responsibility in the kitchen to ensure the restaurant's overall success. The following roles are listed in descending order.

Chef-Owner (Group Chef)

A chef-owner is a chef that starts their own restaurant.

Executive Chef (Chef de Cuisine, Head Chef)

An executive chef oversees all aspects of the kitchen.

Sous Chef (Second Chef, Under Chef)

A sous chef is the second in command and will run the kitchen in the executive chef’s absence.

Senior Chef (Chef de Partie, Station Chef)

A senior chef is assigned one specialty on the menu that they excel in.

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Specialized Chefs

A hierarchy generally does not exist between specialized chefs. Each of them is an expert in their specific field.

Pastry Chef (Patissier)

The pastry chef is either the only person or the most senior person in the pastry department.

Sauce Chef (Saucier, Saute Chef)

A sauce chef is the cook that prepares the sauces. This is mainly a position found in locations that serve French cuisine.

Fish Chef (Poissonier)

The fish chef is in charge of finding responsibly-raised seafood for the menu.

Vegetable Chef (Entremetier)

Handles all vegetables that are included in the various dishes on the menu.

Meat Chef (Rotisseur, Roast Chef)

Ensures all meats on the menu are properly sourced and cooked to meet the restaurant's standards.

Pantry Chef (Garde Manger)

The pantry chef, commonly known as garde manger or "garmo", creates decorative culinary centerpieces or buffet presentations.

Fry Chef (Friturier)

A fry chef handles any food that involves a fryolator, mainly needed in fast food establishments.

Grill Chef (Grillardin)

The grill chef will generally grill meats and sometimes vegetables.

Butcher Chef (Boucher)

A butcher chef breaks down and prepares meat for other stations to use. They are mainly needed in larger establishments to keep up with the demand

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Types of Cooks

Cooks will usually occupy entry-level positions in a kitchen and experience training from specialized chefs. They are more likely to cook by following recipes given to them and flow between the different cook positions as needed.

Line Cook (Commis)

A line cook is usually getting experience through the position. They will learn different cooking styles from the specialized chefs in the kitchen

Prep Cook (Kitchen Porter, Kitchen Hand, Kitchen Assistant)

A prep cook's responsibilities revolve around kitchen basics like chopping ingredients, finishing their prep lists , properly labeling containers in storage, and cleaning countertops.

Relief Cook (Chef de Tourant, Roundsman, Swing Cook)

A relief cook will assist chefs that may be overwhelmed at their stations.

Short Order Cook

A short order cook is responsible for quickly clearing as many order tickets as possible without sacrificing the quality of the meal

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Chef vs Cook

The difference between a chef and a cook is that a chef takes on more of a managerial role with their responsibilities. They will also usually have more specialized tasks, such as coming up with an entire menu or monitoring food costs and food orders. A cook is in charge of just that: cooking. Their main task is turning ingredients into beautifully plated works of edible art.

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Working in a commercial kitchen can be fast-paced in terms of daily tasks and upward mobility. Various chef and cook positions are needed to keep a restaurant running smoothly and the hierarchy can look very different from kitchen to kitchen. There are even more restaurant positions and jobs than listed above for the whole establishment to succeed. It is important to keep in mind that becoming a chef requires years of training. Work your way from the bottom up through the different jobs available, find an area you can specialize in, and pursue it with gusto.

How to line up shifts of cooks in the kitchen - Eda on vc.ru

Another article in the series "about the kitchen of the restaurant business". In this article, I will tell you about who works in the restaurant kitchen and how to organize work without delay.

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Hello! My name is Sergey Mokhovtsov. I work as a brand chef at the Veranda cafe, the Li pan-Asian cuisine cafe and the First Catering catering organization in Grodno, Belarus.

Recently, I launched my personal project "Chef will help."

"Chef will help" is a project in which I brought together a team of chefs working in establishments with different concepts. Together we help young restaurateurs: we make menus for establishments, train chefs, equip them and generally deal with any issues related to restaurant cuisine.

Since I am familiar with the topic of restaurant cuisine and all the difficulties associated with it, I decided to share my experience in a series of articles. I hope I will be able to help young restaurateurs answer some questions for themselves.

2) How to arrange shifts in the kitchen? (this article)

3) What you need to know to design a menu for a restaurant.

4) Menu development. Planning.

5) Menu development. Working out, pricing.

6) Menu start. Work with checklists.

7) Menu start. How to design a menu for a restaurant.

8) Menu start. Typical difficulties and their solutions.

9) First inventory.

10) Sales analytics and menu optimization.

Chef hierarchy

Each restaurateur should know about his employees, if not everything, then at least their areas of responsibility. When you build your restaurant, you must understand who is responsible for what. Unfortunately, not even all chefs are well versed in the ranking system in the kitchen. Let's look at the main positions and their level of responsibility so that you understand who is needed in your kitchen.

The European Chef Hierarchy System originates from the "team system" developed by Auguste Escoffier. This system was first used at the Savoy Hotel in London at the end of 19th century. The basic principle of this system is that each position has its own position and its own duties.

This system is implemented to the full extent in premium class restaurants. Specialists in sauces, meat, fish, grilling, deep frying, etc. are separately allocated in such kitchens. This significantly affects the quality of dishes when the chef works exclusively on one process, giving it all his full attention. In addition, with this approach, it is easier for you to achieve consistency in the taste of the menu.

However, for most restaurants it is sufficient to use a simplified system, where each chef combines several responsibilities. Below are the most common positions in the kitchen (from bottom to top in the kitchen hierarchy):

Stuart

Stuart is a trainee who doesn't cook at all. His responsibilities include cleaning and processing vegetables, fruits, seafood and other raw materials. Preparation of condiments for distribution (herbs, spices, dish decor). Most often, this position is occupied by equipment washing and cleaning.

It is from this position that the future chef starts in every good restaurant. The Stewarts do all the dirty work every day until they get promoted to a higher position. As a rule, in prestigious restaurants, such people receive very little pay. And sometimes they even work without pay, for the sake of training and developing their skills in a high-class kitchen.

Line cook

The line cook is the workhorse of the kitchen. This is the one who cooks on the process. His task is to make preparations and collect dishes from them. It is from its high-quality and fast work that the final taste of the dish and the speed of its serving depend.

Depending on the specifics of the job, he can be a cook in a cold or hot shop.

cook

This is a cook who prepares dishes and makes life easier for line chefs. He himself does not stand at the stove and does not give orders to the hall.

In case of small volumes of production, for example, a restaurant with 30 seats, its task can be performed by a line cook. But if your establishment has a high guest traffic and orders come one after another, then this position in the kitchen is vital. The main task of such a cook is most often the preparation of meat and fish raw materials.

Let's say beef comes to you. The harvester disassembles it into blanks: steaks, tartare, stroganoff and carpaccio.

Marinates steaks, cuts sliced ​​beef cuts, vacuums it and gives it to the hot shop chef. After that, he chooses the most worthy pieces for tartare, cuts them and gives them to the cook of the cold shop. And line chefs are already preparing the prepared blanks.

The mistake of many chefs is that they do not pay enough attention to this position, provide low pay and, accordingly, find a low-skilled specialist. However, the quality and taste of the final dish largely depend on this chef. Here you need a person with experience, good taste memory and accuracy to raw materials.

The harvester can be loaded not only with meat and fish, but also with other labor-intensive processes that require stable quality. On special occasions, like a dumpling shop, you might have a separate person making handmade dumplings all day. A distinctive feature of this cook is the work with raw materials and the implementation of the “plan of preparations” or work with specific menu items.

Senior cook

Not yet an officer of the kitchen, but already close to that. The head chef is a specialist who distributes orders among the entire team, controls the quality of preparations and adheres to recipes, and ensures the well-coordinated work of the team. At this stage, the cook begins to hone his organizational skills, without which success cannot be found in the highest "officer" ranks.

At any moment, this chef can stand up for distribution, change the sous-chef, or just run around the kitchen with line chefs, distributing work and giving orders. The head chef is most often an absolute generalist and can close any process. This specialist must perfectly know all the cooking processes and be able to cook any dish from the menu.

The head chef is a transitional step from chef to sous chef. For this position, a person is often not looked for on the side, but is grown from their own cook staff. At the same time, the senior chef is motivated by promotion, and not by a higher salary compared to other chefs.

Sous Chef

Now this is the representative of the highest authority in the kitchen. The sous chef must be knowledgeable in all aspects of the kitchen. With the right process, all dishes pass through his hands. He collects the cooked meat, garnish and sauce together on a plate and decorates the dish before giving it to the waiter. The sous chef is personally responsible for the quality of the food served.

Outside the kitchen, the sous chef can deal with orders, receiving, checking stock and taking orders for large banquets. This position has all the powers of a chef except one - the sous chef does not design the menu!

Sous Chef Chef's right hand. He makes sure that the menu is prepared in the same quality and appearance in which the chef came up with it. The most important duty of a sous chef is to make sure that the whole team works like clockwork in any way.

In cases where you involve a freelance chef to develop the menu (see first article), the sous chef can be the main kitchen in the institution.

Chef

So we got to the oldest in the restaurant kitchen. The chef is the manager in the kitchen. His responsibilities include developing menus and managing the restaurant's kitchen. Where there are sous-chefs and a chef, the latter often does not manage all the chefs, but gives instructions to the sous-chef.

The position of a chef is the most “expensive” in the kitchen. And, accordingly, the chef does a job that is expensive. Contrary to the belief that the chef almost personally prepares every dish in the kitchen, most often this is not the case. The chef in a prestigious restaurant has practically no time to personally stand in the process and cook. The exception here are establishments with a small turnover.

The chef is responsible for developing the menu for the establishment, ensuring the smooth operation of the kitchen and directing the entire team towards a common goal. In fact, the chef is the manager of the kitchen, who is responsible for everything related to it.

Brand Chef

This concept appeared relatively recently. A brand chef is a person who manages multiple chefs. Most often, such a position can be found in restaurant groups. In restaurant groups, it is the brand chef who is responsible for developing the menu and giving instructions to the chefs.

Pastry chef

The functions of a confectioner or pastry chef are not too different. Except that the second one may have other confectioners subordinate, plus he is developing a dessert card.

The main responsibility of a pastry chef is the development and preparation of interesting and complex desserts. More often, such positions can be found in workplaces in restaurant groups, prestigious restaurants and restaurants at expensive hotels. Small cafes usually cope with the forces of their chefs in preparing desserts. But many, even small establishments, attract a pastry chef to create a dessert menu card. And this is the right move, because a cook and a confectioner are completely different positions, although they are similar in many ways.

How to arrange shifts of cooks in the kitchen

So, when we figured out who is responsible for what, we can correctly arrange the work units in the processes and organize the smooth operation of the kitchen.

I'll tell you right away: organizing the work of staff, distributing process flows and, in general, hiring chefs - all this is the work of a chef. That is why, if you are a restaurateur, you should start by looking for a chef. The first article in the series will help you with this.

And now, let's take the place of the chef of your establishment and distribute the load on the kitchen evenly.

To do this, let's imagine that we have a restaurant with European cuisine for 100 seats with a good load and continuous table turnover. The restaurant has an evening and lunch menu, as well as weekend brunch. The menu is presented from 30 uncomplicated cuisine positions and 4-5 simple desserts. Our restaurant is open from 12:00 to 00:00 from Sunday to Thursday. And from 12:00 to 02:00 on Friday and Saturday.

Our kitchen staff is represented by the following cooks:

1 cook

This person is hired for a five-day work week, 8 working hours a day. The work shifts of such a cook should start as early as possible in order to have time to prepare the raw materials without disturbing the line cooks. Since the time for the import of raw materials starts at 8:00, the work shift of the harvester should also start from this time. Accordingly, from 8:00 to 17:00, 5 days a week, we bring this unit to the process.

Shifts are best scheduled from Monday to Friday. Therefore, on the last day, the purveyor must provide the kitchen with meat and fish preparations for his two days off. To do this, the sous-chef must leave a “plan of blanks” checklist for the purveyor, in which the names and number of blanks should be listed.

2 cold shop chefs

Cold shop chefs work on a 3 in 3 schedule, one chef per shift. They come to work an hour before the opening of the hall (at 11:00) in order to have time to prepare the shift for the start of work. They are released from orders 30 minutes before the establishment closes. In the remaining 30 minutes, the chefs turn in their shifts - this mainly involves cleaning and marking.

4 hot shop cooks

Hot shop cooks work 2 people per shift, their schedule is similar to that of cold shop cooks. On each shift, 1 person is appointed shift supervisor. His duties, in addition to preparing dishes and preparations, include quality control and distribution of work in the absence of a chef or sous-chef. The second "hot man" has a lower wage and is engaged, in addition to giving orders to the hall and producing blanks for the evening menu, preparing blanks for a business lunch.

2 sous-chefs

Sous-chefs work one person per shift and spend most of their time at the distribution, serving dishes to the hall. The sous chef's day shift is usually one hour longer than the cooks. The sous chef needs to arrive early to take over the shift and make requests to the suppliers.

As a rule, hot shop chefs prepare dishes and pass them on for distribution, and the sous-chef checks the quality by appearance and by a control sample of the dish, after which he prepares the dish and gives it to the hall.

In addition, the sous chef is responsible for ordering and receiving raw materials, developing a work plan and, if necessary, assisting the chefs in preparing dishes.

Chef

The chef has many job responsibilities, which I talked about in the previous article. The main task of the chef is to develop the menu and ensure the smooth operation of the kitchen through the proper organization and control of all processes. In cases where there is a need for this for the organization, the chef can also stand in the process with the chefs. The chef most often works 5-6 days a week with days off on weekdays.

So, we have 9 people in the kitchen staff. Work in one shift:

I do not advise chefs to be assigned to day shifts. There are many tasks, besides work in progress, that the boss needs to solve.

What about the confectioner and the stewards?

Confectioner for this institution, with a small dessert card - the position is not obligatory. Not too complex desserts in constant quality can be made by cold shop chefs. You can also negotiate with a professional confectioner from your city and buy exclusive desserts from him at a special price.

Do not use frozen desserts from vendors unless you are a small coffee shop or fast food outlet. Undoubtedly, frozen desserts are convenient and save you money on the salary of a pastry chef, but store-bought freezing is expensive and made in very average quality. Your guest will most likely realize that the dessert they ordered is factory-made.

If you are planning a large dessert menu with desserts that are difficult to prepare, then you definitely need a confectioner! Don't demand isomalt constructions and mirror-glazed mousse desserts from your chefs. Cooking and confectionery production are two completely different areas.

As for the stewards, it would be nice if you could get some help. Most often, these will be interns from local culinary colleges. And, of course, not all of them will remain working as chefs in your restaurant, but it would be foolish to refuse free labor that will make life easier for your chefs.

I hope I have given you an idea of ​​how your kitchen staff might be formed, but of course everything is very individual. If you are a restaurateur, then your main responsibility in the formation of the kitchen staff is to find a chef. It is the chef who must recruit the team himself, train it, argue why he needs just such a number of staff in your establishment. A good chef will be able to set up the work of your kitchen without inflating the “fot” (wage fund), and optimize all processes in a quality manner.

I would be happy to receive feedback and answer your comments with pleasure!

Best regards, Sergey Mokhovtsov.

50 rules for successful work in the kitchen

09/12/2019

Any restaurant or other establishment sets its own rules of work. Every employee, not just chefs, has their own “professional code”. Today we have prepared for you the rules for working in the kitchen (commandments), which you must adhere to, of course, if you want to grow and develop every day.

Check out Chef's Academy's 50 Rules for Successful Cooking, which will make your work in the kitchen easier and help you become a real professional. Note that these rules are not law and it is unlikely that the chef will announce them to you, but by adhering to them, you will find order in the workplace and in your head.

  1. Be the first to arrive at work, or before the scheduled time.

  2. Despite the fact that the chef does not work in the hall, you must have a presentable appearance.

  3. Learn at work and outside of your institution.

  4. Learn to manage the “sense of urgency”: calmness and only calmness.

4. Maintain relationships with “work colleagues”, enjoy teamwork.

5. Check kitchen appliances. Knives must be sharpened!

6. The boss knows everything! The Chief's word is the law:)

7. Don't take it to heart. Take responsibility, be responsible for the result and don't be afraid to admit mistakes, you can't do without it.

8. Focus on work, keep your personal problems private, don't distract other workers, after the shift is another matter.

9. Keep the right proportion of spices to the dish, regardless of the season.

10. Don't forget to sanitize your hands before starting work and after breaks.

11. Taste the dish at every stage of its preparation.

12. Never use other people's kitchen utensils. The chef's knife is an extension of his hand. You can choose a professional chef's knife here.

13. Be prepared to work overtime during weekends and holidays.

14. Respect the menu and concept of your establishment.

15. You understand how important each employee of the restaurant is, and do not miss work days for unexcused reasons.

16. Addendum to paragraph 16. The house is on fire, the restaurant is a good reason.

17. You must be "iron": illness and a hangover are not your comrades, they should bypass you.

18. A real chef, not afraid to ask for help! P.s.: point 5 to help.

19. If you see another cook in trouble, help him, such situations are inevitable.

20. A good cook is a good time manager. Allocate your time properly.

21. Use only blanks that are designed for you.

22. As soon as you have free 10-20 seconds - wipe your workplace.

23. Only fresh products! No yesterday's ingredients. (cook's marking sticks)

24. Before you start cooking, inform the chef.

25. Never start making a dish knowing that there may not be enough ingredients for it.

26. Cleanliness! Your station should always be clean, even during the “steam”.

27. You should always have spare clothes, like a football player's uniform.

28. A break can only be with the approval of the boss.

29. A versatile chef should be quick and accurate, never the other way around :)

30. Ask questions, the kitchen doesn't like the silent and stiff ones.

31. After the end of the shift, your workplace should look like before the start of the working day.

32. Remember to label your products.

34. Safety first! Working tools should be in their places.

35. Always move around the kitchen with a voice: “Careful”, “Caution”, “Hot stove”.

36. Know how to relax, of course, not during working hours.

37. You are working for the prosperity of your institution, increasing your profit and the overall profit.

38. Plan ahead for your weekend and let your boss know about it.

39. Treat equipment at work as if it were your own.

40. You stay in the kitchen until all your work is done.

41. Clean containers. All your blanks must be in clean containers.

42. Always prepare food in advance, not all food can be prepared in 5-10 minutes.

43. Be careful with kitchen equipment, in case of small cuts on the hands, the plaster is the best assistant to the cook.

44. Before turning in your shift, always ask your boss if you need any more help.

45. The golden rule of morality - treat a person the way you want him to treat you, in the kitchen this rule also works.

46.

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