How to Become a Front Kitchen Worker
Front kitchen workers are those who have direct contact with restaurant service employees, including waiters, waitresses and restaurant managers. They take customers' orders from these service employees and prepare them. Front kitchen workers can include chefs, head cooks and short-order cooks. Short-order cooks, for example, prepare small orders like sandwiches, burgers and other items off a grill. Front kitchen workers' titles vary depending on the type of restaurant they work in. Career paths for these workers can also vary by restaurant type. There are several key steps involved in becoming a front kitchen worker.
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Instructions
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Choose the type of front kitchen work you desire, such as head cook. Scan the newspaper classified ads for the position you want. Look particularly for openings with the type of restaurant in which you want to work, such as casual dining or fast food. Make a note of the experience and required skills to determine whether you are qualified for the position you want.
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Look for a front kitchen job in a nursing home, fraternity, hospital, school or other institution besides a restaurant. Some may hire you as a short-order cook, for example, with little or no experience. Be willing to start as an assistant to the cook as long as you can gain experience and have the required skills. Work in the institution for a year or two, or as long as you need to qualify for the restaurant position, if this is you primary objective.
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Take a back kitchen job if you don't qualify for a front kitchen position. Obtain work as a food preparer or dishwasher, for example. Work several back kitchen positions with the restaurant. Learn all you can about back kitchen work; many front kitchen workers start with these types of jobs.
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Talk to various restaurants about front kitchen apprenticeship programs if you don't have the required experience. Let the head cook or short-order cook, for example, train you on preparing meals, ordering products and inventory and dealing with customers. Ask for more responsibility once you become proficient so you can be fully prepared for a front kitchen career.
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Take cooking courses in vocational school if you know front kitchen work is the career path you want to pursue. Apply for acceptance into a community college, technical school or culinary arts institute if you want to be a chef. Enroll in courses such as food preparation, sanitation, public health, inventory software, computer accounting and other subjects germane to your field. Obtain a two- or four-year degree in hospitality or culinary arts, which, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is often the requirement to become a chef.
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References
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