Most commonly reported Work Activities

•   Developing and Building Teams Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.
•   Organising, Planning, and Prioritising Work Developing specific goals and plans to prioritise, organise, and accomplish your work.
•   Coaching and Developing Others Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.
•   Making Decisions and Solving Problems Analysing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
•   Training and Teaching Others Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
•   Scheduling Work and Activities Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
•   Thinking Creatively Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
•   Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks.
•   Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
•   Getting Information Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

Working Life

As the head chef - you are in charge. You have to organise and manage the work of the kitchen staff, including chefs, apprentices, and even kitchen porters. Compared to other chef positions, you may end up doing less cooking and more administrative tasks. But don’t worry, you will still be exploring and expressing your creative side, as you will be in charge of designing the menu and ensuring the quality of the food.

You have to ensure that your culinary dishes are being served on an efficient schedule and you must identify and resolve any problems that arise in the kitchen.

You will most likely also be managing stock and ordering food from suppliers, managing a budget, and maintaining good health and hygiene standards in the kitchen.

Many Head Chefs work early mornings and late nights, often up to 12-hour days to oversee the delivery of food supplies in mornings, prepare special menu items in afternoons, and supervise the kitchen during dinner hours.

Executive Chef is just another title used for the same position.

Most commonly reported Work Tasks

• Monitor sanitation practices to ensure that employees follow standards and regulations.
• Check the quality of raw or cooked food products to ensure that standards are met.
• Determine production schedules and staff requirements necessary to ensure timely delivery of services.
• Check the quantity and quality of received products.
• Supervise or coordinate activities of cooks or workers engaged in food preparation.
• Determine how food should be presented and create decorative food displays.
• Analyse recipes to assign prices to menu items, based on food, labor, and overhead costs.
• Instruct cooks or other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, or presentation of food.
• Prepare and cook foods of all types, either on a regular basis or for special guests or functions.
• Recruit and hire staff, such as cooks and other kitchen workers.

This occupation is typically suited for people with the following Career Interests:

 Naturalist

Not surprisingly, some aspect of the natural sciences will run through the Naturalist's interests - from ecological awareness to nutrition and health. People with an interest in horticulture, land usage and farming (including fish) are Naturalists.

Some Naturalists focus on animals rather than plants, and may enjoy working with, training, caring for, or simply herding them. Other Naturalists will prefer working with the end result of nature's produce - the food produced from plants and animals. Naturalists like solving problems with solutions that show some sensitivity to the environmental impact of what they do. They like to see practical results and prefer action to talking and discussing.

 Enterprising

Enterprising people like situations that involve using resources for personal or corporate economic gain. Such people may have an opportunistic frame of mind, and are drawn to commerce, trade and making deals. Some pursue sales and marketing occupations. Many will eventually end up owning their own business, or in management roles in larger organisations. They tend to be very goal-oriented and work best when focused on a target. Some have an entrepreneurial inclination.

 Creative

Creative people are drawn to careers and activities that enable them to take responsibility for the design, layout or sensory impact of something (visual, auditory etc). They may be atrracted to the traditional artistic pursuits such as painting, sculpture, singing, or music. Or they may show more interest in design activities, such as architecture, animation, or craft areas, such as pottery and ceramics.

Creative people use their personal understanding of people and the world they live in to guide their work. Creative people like to work in unstructured workplaces, enjoy taking risks and prefer a minimum of routine.

You will need quite a lot of relevant work experience to be considered for a head chef position.

Although qualifications can boost your chances of getting the job, experience in a busy kitchen is far more important. Typically, head chefs have experience from working in kitchens at lower levels.

They usually also have some training, such as a culinary arts degree with an Institute of Technology or a chef apprenticeship. Such training generally include modules in culinary techniques, pastry, baking and desserts, food and nutrition, food science, health and safety, meal service, international cuisine and work placements.

Some of the advantages of ‘working your way up’ is that you get great insight into the different roles within the kitchen, you learn on the way, and you discover what you enjoy and don’t enjoy working with. You also have a better understanding of the kitchen staff and their work if you have worked in those roles yourself.

Training & Development

If you want to keep climbing the career ladder, you may consider running a larger kitchen or even your own restaurant.

Your best chance to progress on from a head chef position is by building up experience and demonstrating that you are good at your job.  Being publicly recognised for the quality and standard of your food can really help your progression and standing in the industry.

Professional organisations can offer information and training, or promote training providers. See for example the Restaurants Association of Ireland and the Irish Hospitality Institute.

Some employers provide health & safety or first aid training to new employees, but some employers require that you have completed such training prior to employment. Health & safety and first aid courses are often provided in local Training Centres or through ETBs (search for courses here). You can read more about health and safety training from the Health and Safety Authority here.

Salary Range (thousands per year)* €48k - €95k

Salaries vary based on employer, location, experience, duties, and role.

Data Source(s):
Excel Recruitment Hotel and Catering Salary Survey 2021

Last Updated: December, 2021

This occupation has been identified as a Job in Demand by the most recent National Skills Bulletin.

Note: The following information relates to occupations that include: Chefs, Cooks.  

This information has been derived from the Solas National Skills Bulletin (2024).

The five-year employment growth rate was negative for chefs; although employment levels have grown annually since 2021, they remained marginally below pre-COVID-19 levels. Recent job hires for this occupation far exceeded employment growth in 2023 however, indicating that job churn was occurring. At 47%, chefs had one of the highest shares of non-Irish citizens employed (alongside butchers and software developers). There was a high volume of vacancies advertised across both sources (Eurostat/CEDEFOP and DSP JobsIreland), particularly for chef de partie and over 2,000 new employment permits were issued for chefs in 2023.

Both the Recruitment Agency Survey and the Skills for Growth data highlight issues in recruiting chefs, particularly for suitably qualified and experienced chefs (10+ years in some cases). The number of culinary skills awards in higher education at levels 6-9 have declined in recent years (from 501 in 2018 to 346 in 2022); the number of new apprenticeship registrations for chefs also fell slightly between 2022 and 2023 (from 112 to 89); without an increase in provision, shortages are likely to persist for this occupation in the short to-medium term.

• Restaurant's Association of Ireland

  • 11 Bridge Court, Citygate, St Augustine Street, Dublin 8
  • 01 6779901
  • [email protected]
  • Click Here

• Fáilte Ireland

  • Amiens Street, Dublin 1
  • (01) 884 7700
  • [email protected]
  • Click Here