Working in Cookery

Celebrity chefs and cooking shows like Masterchef are only one aspect of the new waves hitting the culinary and hospitality world! Your culinary and hospitality studies could help you find a traditional role in cookery or launch you into one of the latest culinary trends.

There are many exciting things to do after you’ve trained in cookery. You might become the head chef in a restaurant or cafe, open your own restaurant, or progress into more general management, especially in larger establishments 

Chefs, cooks and food preparation workers prepare and cook many different kinds of food ranging from soups, snacks and salads to main dishes, sides and desserts. They work in restaurants, cafes and other places that serve food. You’ll have seen celebrity chefs on television. These chefs often work in hotels and fine dining restaurants. 

However, chefs and cooks work in a wide variety of establishments, from cafès, buffet and reception restaurants, conference centres, hospitals and aged care facilities, to flight catering, armed services and cruise liners.

Junior chefs work to a set plan based on the menu, doing food preparation, basic meals at service time and cleaning down after service. Senior chefs include “Chef de partie” (in charge of a section of the kitchen), “Sous Chef” (deputy head chef) and “Executive Chef” (head chef). Senior chefs supervise the junior chefs and cooks, plan meal production, devise new dishes and menus, order food from suppliers and supervise the quality of the food being served.

Developing new dishes and menus requires both imagination and talent. The hours worked can be long and hard. Chefs need to be able to work under pressure, make quick decisions, multi-task and deal with many different activities, especially during service when the ability to work at speed is critical. You need to be able to cost menus and dishes and meet cost and profit targets set by the establishment.

Restaurants and bigger food service establishments usually have diverse menus and many staff. Sometimes chefs and cooks work within a designated area, with the equipment and ingredients for specific foods prepared only in that area.

Many chefs take part in competitions, local and international, to further their creative potential. You can travel all over the world with a career in cookery – people always need to eat. Almost all chefs undertake professional training and gain national qualifications, either at polytechnic or as an apprentice, learning and earning while they are working.