Chef cover letter
Chef letters should name the service. A love of food is assumed and unhelpful. Say whether you have run a similar meal period and which levers you held.
How to open
Name the restaurant or the food-service type from the posting, and your scope. If you have not worked that cuisine, say what you have run.
One service
Describe one meal period you know well and what you did before doors: the order, the specials, the pass.
The crew
Say whether you scheduled cooks or worked under a chef who did. Kitchens check this.
No borrowed reputation
Do not lean on a famous room you briefly visited. Lean on the board you actually ran.
An example paragraph
This is an example to adapt, not a letter from a real applicant. Use it only where every detail is true for you.
You want a sous chef for a dinner service. I wrote the nightly specials, ordered produce, and ran the pass on weekends in a neighborhood dining room.
What to skip
Skip a manifesto about ingredients, a famous chef's name dropped without a real reporting line, and any claim about reviews or scores you do not control.
Questions
- Should I include a tasting menu from my last job?
- Describe the style. Do not attach the restaurant's proprietary recipes. A few dishes you created are enough if you are free to name them.
- What if I am moving from hotels to a small dining room?
- Say so. Banquet volume and a small dinner service are both real, and they are not the same letter.