Looking to climb the career ladder?
So you want to be top dog in the kitchen? Want everyone to recognise you as the best of the best?
Being a chef is a tough career choice, it requires a lot of long hours standing on your feet all day in a stressful and fast paced environment. The kitchen (especially a bigger commercial one) is a busy place and it can be easy to get lost amongst the other chefs. So if you want to stand out and be regarded as a top chef and climb the career ladder in the kitchen there are a few things you’ll need to get there.
Well, you need to be able to cook
Obvious right? But it’s true, in order for you to reach top chef status you need the skills to back it up. You can’t just be a good cook, you need to be a great one. Honing your craft will involve getting the right culinary education, whether taking a course or jumping straight into hands on experience through an apprenticeship (or both). You’ll want to study the masters and learn from chefs that you admire, then as you get more experienced you’ll begin to refine your own palate and get your own style with the way you prepare and plate food.
Have vision
Many top chefs are considered to be artists in the kitchen. They have creative vision when it comes to their cuisine and strive to ensure their dishes not only taste amazing but have great presentation as well. You can play around with different flavours to try creating something new and then work hard on your presentation, because the better the plate looks, the better the overall experience for your customers.
Be a leader in the kitchen
Leadership skills are important for a top chef, as if you’re aiming to run your own kitchen one day you need to be able to give direction to staff so everything runs smoothly. It’s also a big part of your job to inspire everyone to produce the best quality food and service you can for your customers. You want your customers to have a memorable experience (and we mean memorable in a good way of course), so make sure you get you team on board.
Put in the hard yards
Getting to the top isn’t easy, it requires years and years of hard work. If you want to be seen as a top chef you’re going to have to show some determination and grit and earn the title. The kitchen can be a competitive place and especially if you want to be the very best, you’ll need to really fight for it and prove yourself. And don’t forget that once you’ve reached top chef status it doesn’t just end there, you need to continue to perfect your craft and work hard if you want to stay on top.
