Working as a Café Chef with The Chef Tree

What skills do you need to work in a café kitchen?

As a café chef, you’re likely to be the only person responsible for preparing and cooking food for each and every order. With this in mind, it is important that you have the skills and abilities to be able to fulfil orders quickly. Some important skills therefore are;

Multitasking Skills

The ability to multitask is required to become a chef because a single dish may consist of foods that need to be cooked differently. For instance, a plate may require a piece of protein such as beef, chicken or fish, a salad or serving of vegetables and a side dish of rice, potatoes or pasta. Each component needs to be cooked differently and the chef needs to be able to attend to each component at all times.

Understanding Ingredients, Produce and Spices

A cafe chef must understand different ingredients in terms of texture and taste. This includes green produce and spices. All ingredients in the kitchen may not be properly labelled, so the chef should be able to recognize the ingredient by simply looking at it or briefly tasting it. This is an important skill, especially in a busy kitchen or if the ingredients arrive at the kitchen with no labels on them.

Creative Menus

Chefs who are working in smaller restaurants may be responsible for creating exciting menus that include classic breakfast items, brunch dishes and enticing small plates. This is not simply putting ingredients together on paper, but creating dishes that will make customers come to the back for that particular dish. This may be a longer process but requires the chef to be familiar with ingredients, food collaborations and wine tasting.

Health and Safety in Food Hygiene

One of the most important skills a chef must obtain is the ability to understand and practice health and safety in the kitchen. This can include putting away knives or kitchen equipment when it is not in use and treat food types accordingly. For instance, the chef should know not to place meat on the same cutting board as other foods, as bacteria from the meat could contaminate other foods, making it a potential safety hazard for restaurant guests. The chef must recognize situations that may be potentially hazardous, such as kitchen towels near a hot stove, as the kitchen can be an active place during the evenings and on the weekends when customers want to experience delicious foods.

Working with junior staff

As the head cafe chef, you will be responsible for coaching and mentoring any junior chefs working with you and to develop junior team members in their roles. This will include coaching them in the best practices of a busy service, daily prep of ingredients for the standard recipes on the menu and preparing dishes as the orders start to come in. As you supervise junior chefs you will find that the team around you grows tighter and you have the flexibility to do more things with the team you build.