Having a reliable chef or cook who can serve a variety of delicious dishes is the key to progress in the restaurant business. So, how do you choose and work with a cook? Come on, read this article to the end.
Criteria for a Cook/Cook for Restaurant Business
Because having a professional and experienced cook is one of the keys to the success or failure of a restaurant business, like it or not, you as a restaurant owner need to pay special attention when recruiting cooks/cooks.
Here are some criteria for cooks who should be employees at your restaurant:
1. Experienced
When selecting a cook for a restaurant, choose one with relevant experience and a culinary or culinary background.
Even better if you have worked in a restaurant or other culinary industry.
When reading about a chef’s work experience, please pay attention to the length of time he worked at a previous job.
If the period is short, for example, in every place you only work for less than one year, you should avoid it. This is the best way to prevent catching fleas (cooks often prefer working in one place for a short time).
2. Have Good Character & Attitude
Character and attitude are the following things that employees must have. So when hiring a cook for the restaurant business, pay attention to the work ethic.
Can he not work professionally and honestly? Can you work together in a team? Does he want to accept input or criticism from others, especially customers?
Oh yes, also make sure that the cook must have high creativity to innovate in processing various menus. Doing a trial or cooking test first is fine...
3. Cooking Skills and Style
Even though you already have a lot of experience, you should still ensure the chef you want to recruit has qualified skills. For example, good at combining flavours and creating an attractive aesthetic appearance of food.
Next, what is also important is that the cook or chef must be able to represent the restaurant concept in various menus and specialize in certain types of cuisine.
Example: your restaurant is a Chinese food restaurant, but still provides vegetarian dishes, for example.
So Cooks Feel At Home Working in Your Restaurant
1. Clear and Detailed Work Agreement
Agree to work with the cook in a clear and detailed work agreement. The deal contains working hours, SOP, salary, leave, benefits/incentives, etc.
Remember to include the requirements regarding the presence of an assistant chef (just in case the main chef does not enter/stop), willingness to maintain cleanliness in the cooking process, and willingness to follow the restaurant’s operational system.
2. Give Freedom to Be Creative
Give full support and freedom so that the chef can be creative in creating a variety of dishes that are interesting and taste delicious.
Support here also means providing raw materials to be processed into dishes. The hope is that exploring and creating new recipes can enrich the variety of restaurant containers.
3. Create a Comfortable Work Environment
Ensure the restaurant kitchen has adequate equipment, a refrigerator that can fit a lot and maintain good quality raw materials, and a safe & hygienic storage area.
Remember, also create a pleasant and positive atmosphere in the kitchen so the chef feels at home and has worked in your restaurant for a long time.
4. Give Incentives
Providing incentives can motivate chefs to do better. For example, you give a bonus or allowance when the chef achieves a target that has been set together.
Occasionally, praise and acknowledge the chef’s success openly in front of other staff when there are many customers who like his cooking. This can also have a positive impact on all employees in the restaurant.
5. Offer Profit Sharing
If the cook or chef in your restaurant has worked for a certain period and has good performance, you may also offer a profit-sharing system.
There are several benefits to this profit-sharing system, including:
- Building a sense of belonging, the chef wants to play an active role in advancing the restaurant.
- So the cook feels comfortable working for a long time.
- Continue to innovate to help get more customers through the creation of an increasingly diverse menu.
- Prevents chefs from quitting and moving to competitor restaurants or opening their restaurants.
Choosing a professional chef or cook who has good performance will help you grow your restaurant business for the better, and you can even get more customers.
Besides cooks, you must also consider many things to recruit other employees. Come read Restaurant Employees: These are Positions and Tips for Choosing Restaurant Employees.
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