Hire Cooks

Hire Cooks

Hiring a cook is one of the most important steps a restaurant can take, though it often happens over and over again with the level of turnover we see in this industry. The churn rate at restaurants hover around 63%, going even higher for casual chain restaurants. This is why it’s important for owners and managers to have a good hiring system in place to make finding new cooks faster and easier.

How to hire cooks more efficiently

Unlike servers, a good cook is a more specialized position requiring experience and training. The bottleneck isn’t going to be too many applications, but finding the best places to post your job listing to elicit the greatest response from qualified candidates. For cooks, posting to specialized job boards like Poached, iHireChefs, and Culinary Agents can get better results than simply posting on Monster or Indeed (though you should post there as well to cover your bases). Having an efficient way to post and track all these listings can give you a leg up on your competition when hiring in-demand cooks.

Don’t forget to post at schools

Culinary schools in your area as well as culinary programs can be amazing locations to post cook jobs. Students coming out of these schools will be eager to get started, and you may be able to find talented cooks who are willing to start at a lower salary to gain experience. Contact the programs and colleges near you to see how you can post jobs that target this demographic.

A key trait for success

Finding mobility on a potential hire’s resume can be a good sign that this candidate is right for your restaurant. If they started as, say, a dishwasher and worked their way up the ranks to becoming a cook, it shows ambition and deep understanding of the industry. Examine their resumes with a close eye and ask them about their mobility. If they have worked hard to get where they are, they will in turn work hard for you.