Hiring guideRead at source, 29 September 2026
How to Recruit Chefs and Sous Chefs: Sell the Kitchen, Name the Schedule, and Promote the Cook Who Is Ready
To recruit chefs and sous chefs, sell the kitchen, not the company: pay range and bonus, the schedule and days off, the size and state of the team, and how much menu authority comes with the job. Recruit from other kitchens through referrals and Facebook and Instagram job ads, from hotel, club and catering operations, and from your own senior line cooks. Screen for current title, years at sous chef level or above, and food safety manager certification, then book a paid stage within days.
Who you are actually hiring
BLS counts chefs and sous chefs together in one occupation, chefs and head cooks; sous chef is one of the job titles it lists inside that group. The occupation had 220,300 jobs in 2025 and is projected to reach 234,700 by 2035 (6.6 percent growth), with about 25,200 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections 2025-35). The median annual wage was $62,470 in May 2025. BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent plus five years or more of related work experience as the typical entry path, with no formal training requirement.
That experience line is the whole recruiting problem. Chefs are built in kitchens, over years, so nearly every qualified candidate is employed in someone else's kitchen right now. They are not searching job boards; they are working doubles. Your ad has to find them in the feed they check on a break and give them a specific reason to leave.
How to recruit chefs
For a head chef, executive chef or chef de cuisine, the candidate is weighing your kitchen against their current one. They want to know four things before they reply: the pay and bonus structure, the schedule (including whether you close a day a week), the team they inherit and whether it is fully staffed, and how much of the menu and ordering they own. Put all four in the ad. Ask them to own food and labor cost targets and they will ask what those targets are, so be ready to say.
Where to find chefs: referrals from vendors and purveyors who see every kitchen in town, sous chefs at larger operations who are ready for their own kitchen, hotel and club kitchens, catering and contract food service, and social job ads that reach working chefs in your metro. Our chef job description has a template and the wage section.
How to recruit sous chefs
A sous chef is second in command: running the line, covering when the chef is out, training cooks, and often handling ordering and the schedule. The best source is usually your own kitchen. A lead line cook who already runs the pass on a slow night is a sous chef in waiting, and promoting from within tells every cook on the line that the ladder is real. Our guide to line cook and kitchen staff recruiting covers how to keep that ladder fed.
When you hire from outside, look at senior line cooks and junior sous chefs at larger restaurants, hotel banquet kitchens and high-volume operations. Lead the ad with pay, days off and the chef they will work under. Sous chefs choose mentors as much as jobs. Our sous chef job description covers the role's pay and requirements.
Where to find chefs and sous chefs
- Your own line. Promote the cook who is ready, then recruit the line cook you need behind them.
- Vendors, purveyors and your chef's network. People who deliver to every kitchen in town know who is unhappy.
- Hotels, clubs, resorts and catering. Kitchen leaders there often want a restaurant of their own, and restaurant chefs sometimes want the steadier hours of those operations.
- Culinary programs and alumni networks. Better for sous chef and junior roles than for head chef searches.
- Social job ads. Facebook and Instagram reach working chefs in your area. Meta's Employment special ad category requires at least a 15-mile radius and bars age, gender and ZIP code targeting (see our Meta special ad category explainer).
What to pay chefs and sous chefs
The BLS median annual wage for chefs and head cooks was $62,470 in May 2025. BLS does not publish a separate sous chef wage, and sous chefs usually earn less than the head chef in the same kitchen, so set the sous chef range from your own chef's pay and your market. State a salary or hourly range and any bonus in the ad; kitchen leaders skip postings that hide it.
How to write the chef or sous chef job ad
Sample headlines
Head Chef: scratch kitchen, 120 seats, closed Mondays, salary plus quarterly bonus.
Sous Chef: five days, two in a row off, work under a chef who promotes from within.
Chef de Cuisine: full menu authority, fully staffed team, no split shifts.
In the body, give the scope (covers, outlets, banquets), the brigade and open positions, who writes the menu, and the certification you require. Many kitchens need a certified food protection manager on staff: the FDA Food Code is a model code offered for adoption by state and local jurisdictions (FDA), and Virginia's version, for example, requires at least one employee with supervisory and management responsibility to be a certified food protection manager (12VAC5-421-55). Rules vary by state and locality. Offering to pay for the certification after hire keeps promotable cooks in your pool.
Screening questions for a mobile application
- What is your current or most recent title? (Line cook, lead cook, sous chef, chef de cuisine, head or executive chef.)
- How many years have you worked at sous chef level or above?
- Do you hold a food protection manager certification? (Not a knockout if you will pay for it.)
- When could you start?
Speed, the stage, and what applicants cost
Call within the day and book a paid stage within the week. A chef who is interviewing is usually talking to more than one kitchen. Boostpoint Connect, an add-on to Boostpoint Attract, texts every applicant the moment they apply and keeps follow-up going from a shared inbox.
Boostpoint's 2026 benchmark does not report kitchen roles as their own family, so the fair reference is the overall picture: across 891 Boostpoint-managed campaigns on Meta, the median campaign cost $13.88 per applicant and the middle half ran $6.48 to $29.74 (Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark). Cost per applicant is not cost per hire.
Frequently asked questions
How do you recruit chefs?
Put pay and bonus, schedule and days off, the team they inherit and their menu authority in the ad. Recruit through vendor and chef referrals, hotel, club and catering kitchens, sous chefs ready to step up, and Facebook and Instagram job ads that reach working chefs near you. Book a paid stage quickly.
How do you recruit sous chefs?
Look first at your own lead line cooks, then at senior cooks and junior sous chefs at larger restaurants and hotel kitchens. Lead the ad with pay, days off and the chef they will work under, and screen for title, years at sous level and food safety certification.
Where can I find chefs and sous chefs to hire?
Your own line, vendors and purveyors, your chef's network, hotels, clubs, resorts and catering, culinary program alumni for junior roles, and social job ads, since most qualified kitchen leaders are employed and not on job boards.
How much do chefs and sous chefs make?
The BLS median annual wage for chefs and head cooks was $62,470 in May 2025. BLS does not publish a separate sous chef wage. See our chef job description and sous chef job description.
Does a chef need a certification?
There is no general license to be a chef, but many jurisdictions follow the FDA Food Code model and require at least one certified food protection manager with supervisory responsibility on staff. Requirements vary by state and locality, so check your health department.
What screening questions should a chef application ask?
Current or most recent title, years at sous chef level or above, whether they hold a food protection manager certification, and start date. Judge cooking and leadership on a paid stage, not the form.
How much experience does a head chef need?
BLS lists five years or more of related work experience as typical for chefs and head cooks. Many kitchens promote sous chefs into head chef roles once they have run the line and managed costs.
How much does it cost to recruit a chef with Facebook ads?
Boostpoint's 2026 benchmark does not break out kitchen roles. Across 891 campaigns the median was $13.88 per applicant, and the apply experience explained 70 percent of the difference in cost between campaigns.
Find your next chef in the feed they already check
Boostpoint Attract builds and runs your chef and sous chef ads on Facebook and Instagram with the creative made for you, and Boostpoint Connect texts every applicant the moment they apply. See pricing or read our hospitality recruiting guide.
Book a DemoSources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025-35 and May 2025 median annual wage (chefs and head cooks); U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Food Code 2022; Virginia Administrative Code 12VAC5-421-55, Certified food protection manager; Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark. Read at source 29 September 2026.