Executive Chef Interview Questions & Answers

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An Executive Chef is a highly skilled professional cook who oversees the operations of a restaurant or dining facility. They are responsible for the food that comes out of a kitchen, from conception to execution. An Executive Chef leads a team of food specialists and ensures that the food maintains the highest quality to delight guests.

Whether you're a job seeker preparing to be interviewed for the role of Executive Chef or an employer preparing to interview candidates for Executive Chef position, these Executive Chef interview questions will help you prepare yourself for the job interview session.

Executive Chef Interview Questions

Below are a list of some skill-based Executive Chef interview questions.

1. Tell me about a recipe or menu item you created that was a flop. What did you learn from this experience? What could have made it better?
2. Are you comfortable working long hours and on your feet for most of the day?
3. How would you handle a situation where one of your cooks was consistently producing subpar dishes?
4. If you could have any celebrity come dine in your restaurant, who would it be and why?
5. How well do you handle constructive criticism?
6. How would you improve our establishment?
7. When is the best time to add garnishes to a dish?
8. Recall a time that you fired someone. Why did you do it?
9. What strategies do you use to control the quality of food prepared for customers?
10. What qualities do you look for when hiring a new staff member?
11. How do you handle special diets and ingredient substitutions within your menu?
12. How do you feel about seasonal changes to menus?
13. What is your favorite dish to cook and why?
14. What does it take to run a successful kitchen?
15. Have you won any awards? When, and for what?
16. What are the biggest work-related challenges food preparation workers, dishwashers and cooks face respectively?
17. How would you train our staff to make new, difficult recipes?
18. Please tell me about your experience with managing a budget, purchasing, and inventory control.
19. What culinary trends have you been following lately? What are your thoughts on these trends?
20. How important do you think it is to keep up to date on new trends in restaurants?
21. Do you feel it is important to teach your staff new methods of preparing food?
22. What is your process for creating a menu or adding new items to an already existing menu?
23. What is your preferred management style and why?
24. How involved are you in managing your cooks?
25. Describe your experience with multicultural and multilingual teams.
26. Could you give me examples of where you went beyond the call of duty in your previous position?
27. How do you find a balance between expressing your menu creativity and hitting food cost goals?
28. Do you take an active role in purchasing and receiving at your restaurant?
29. What background do you have in relation to food safety standards and best practices in food handling?
30. Restaurant kitchens exist in a highly competitive labor market. How do you attract and retain skilled team members?
31. What chef do you admire most and why?
32. We want to be known for our signature dish. What would you create for us?
33. Which restaurant do you admire the most and why?
34. What do you think is the most important quality for an Executive chef to have?
35. There is a food shortage in the kitchen and you need to start serving the next course quickly. What do you do?
36. List some of your favorite food vendors and why you like to work with them.
37. What foods do you like to pair together and why?
38. How do you maintain the cold chain when you receive food delivery supplies?
39. As an Executive chef, what would you do if the majority of your team didn’t arrive for work on a busy public holiday shift, and most of those present seemed intoxicated?
40. Why should we hire you as our Executive Chef?

Executive Chef Interview Questions and Answers

Every interview is different and the questions may vary. However, there are lots of general questions that get asked at every interview.

Below are some common questions you'd expect during Executive Chef interviews. Click on each question to see how to answer them.

1. Why Do You Want To Leave Your Current Job?
2. What is Your Greatest Strength?
3. Tell Me About Yourself
4. Why Do You Want This Job?
5. Are You a Leader or a Follower?
6. What Is Your Greatest Accomplishment?
7. What is Your Salary Expectation?
8. Do You Have Any Questions for Us?
9. Why Should We Hire You?
10. What is Your Greatest Weakness?

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