Hospitality and food · Mid level · UK conventions

Chef de partie: resume example, explained

This fictional example shows a chef de partie on the sauce section of a 110-cover bistro applying for a senior chef de partie or junior sous chef post: the kitchen described by covers and brigade size, food safety shown as records kept rather than a certificate listed, allergen control and stock work written as scale and outcome. Each decision is explained, three weak bullets are rewritten from the evidence behind them, and the editable download lets you replace every detail with your own. Nothing here describes a real person, employer or kitchen.

Illustrative example. An illustrative, invented chef de partie with five years in professional kitchens, running the sauce section at a fictional 110-cover independent bistro and applying for a senior chef de partie or junior sous chef role in a kitchen of similar volume. Every employer, date and figure is fictional.

Editable version of this example (.docx)

Danny Achterberg

Chef de Partie · sauce and larder sections · Level 3 food safety (supervising)

Bristol · 07700 900 482 · danny.achterberg@example.com

Profile

Chef de partie with five years in professional kitchens, currently running the sauce section of a 110-cover independent bistro through services of up to 160 covers. Holds a Level 3 food safety (supervising) award, keeps the section's daily food safety records and allergen matrix, and runs the weekly meat and dairy stock count. Trains commis chefs and is looking for a senior chef de partie or junior sous chef role in a kitchen of similar volume.

Experience

Chef de Partie (sauce section) — Fictional Harbourside Bistro

March 2024 – present · 110-cover independent bistro, two services a day, up to 160 covers on a Saturday evening; brigade of eight.

Run the sauce section through services of up to 160 covers, preparing mise en place for 14 menu dishes and calling away with the pass during evening service.
Complete the section's daily food safety records (fridge temperatures, cook and cool times, cleaning schedule) in the kitchen's Safer food, better business pack, with no gaps found at the last two local authority inspections.
Maintain the allergen matrix for every dish on the section and brief front of house on changes at the pre-service meeting, so special-diet orders reach the pass flagged and plated separately.
Carry out the weekly meat and dairy stock count and raise orders with the sous chef, cutting end-of-week waste on prepared sauces from around six litres to two.
Train two commis chefs on knife work, butchery basics and section set-up; both now run the section on my days off.

Commis Chef, then Demi Chef de Partie — Fictional Riverside Hotel (90 bedrooms, 60-cover restaurant and banqueting)

September 2021 – March 2024 · Hotel kitchen serving breakfast, a 60-cover restaurant and functions of up to 180 guests.

Progressed from commis to demi chef de partie in 18 months, working the larder, pastry and breakfast sections across restaurant, bar and banqueting service.
Prepared and plated banqueting starters and desserts to the sous chef's spec for weddings of 80 to 180 guests, keeping to the running order agreed with the events team.
Set up the breakfast service for up to 90 bedrooms, including cooked-to-order eggs and the buffet's temperature checks every hour.

Education

Level 3 food safety (supervising) award for catering, 2024
Level 2 Diploma in Professional Cookery, Fictional College, 2021

Training

Allergen awareness, renewed 2025
Emergency first aid at work, 2024

Skills

Sauce and larder sections at up to 160 covers · Mise en place planning and prep lists · Food safety records (Safer food, better business pack, temperature logs, cleaning schedules) · Allergen matrix and special-diet service · Stock counts, ordering and waste control · Butchery and fish preparation basics · Training and supervising commis chefs

Why it is written this way

The kitchen is described before the job

A chef de partie in a 40-cover fine-dining room and one in a 400-cover banqueting kitchen hold different skills, so every role opens with a context line: covers per service, brigade size, number of services. The head chef reading this resume knows within two lines whether this chef can hold a section on their Saturday night, which is the only question the trial shift will test.

Food safety is shown as records kept, not a certificate listed

The Level 3 award sits in the headline and education, but the evidence is in the bullet about daily temperature records, the Safer food, better business pack and two inspections with no gaps. Food Standards Agency guidance for England, Wales and Northern Ireland says a food hygiene certificate is not compulsory but that you must be able to demonstrate adequate training; a head chef wants to see that the chef de partie actually keeps the records, because the kitchen's hygiene rating depends on it.

Allergen control gets its own bullet

Allergen information is a legal duty for the business and a daily safety task on the section. 'Allergen aware' as a skill word proves nothing; owning the allergen matrix for 14 dishes and briefing front of house before service is a checkable practice, and it is the question most head chefs ask a chef de partie at trial.

Stock and waste show the step to sous chef

A chef de partie does not own the kitchen's gross profit, but the weekly stock count and the fall in sauce waste are the part of food cost this chef does control. Stating the honest scope (orders raised with the sous chef, waste on one section) is more convincing to a head chef than claiming GP responsibility the applicant has not held.

Bullet rewrites, and the evidence behind them

Each rewrite was produced by asking an evidence question and using only the (fictional) answer. No number appears in a rewrite that is not in its evidence.

Before
Worked on the sauce section in a busy restaurant.
Evidence question
How many covers, how many dishes, and what did the section involve beyond cooking?
Evidence (fictional)
110-cover bistro with up to 160 covers on a Saturday; 14 menu dishes with a sauce component; sets up the section and calls away with the pass.
After
Run the sauce section through services of up to 160 covers, preparing mise en place for 14 menu dishes and calling away with the pass during evening service.
Before
Responsible for food hygiene on my section.
Evidence question
Which records, how often, in what system, and what did the inspections find?
Evidence (fictional)
Daily fridge temperatures, cook and cool times and the cleaning schedule, recorded in the kitchen's Safer food, better business pack; no gaps found at the last two local authority inspections.
After
Complete the section's daily food safety records (fridge temperatures, cook and cool times, cleaning schedule) in the kitchen's Safer food, better business pack, with no gaps found at the last two local authority inspections.
Before
Helped with stock and ordering.
Evidence question
What did you count, how often, who did you order through, and what changed as a result?
Evidence (fictional)
Weekly meat and dairy stock count; orders raised with the sous chef; waste on prepared sauces fell from about six litres a week to about two.
After
Carry out the weekly meat and dairy stock count and raise orders with the sous chef, cutting end-of-week waste on prepared sauces from around six litres to two.

Try it on your own bullets with the bullet workbench, which asks the same questions and never adds a figure you did not supply.

Transferable skills in this example

Working to a fixed deadline under pressure
Evidence: Runs a section through 160-cover services, calling away dishes to the pass in sequence with the rest of the brigade.
Where it helps: Sous chef and kitchen management roles, production and contract catering kitchens, and roles outside kitchens with hard daily deadlines such as events operations or dispatch.
Keeping compliance records every day
Evidence: Daily temperature, cook-and-cool and cleaning records that stood up at two inspections.
Where it helps: Food manufacturing quality roles, hygiene and compliance posts, kitchen management and any role where a regulator or auditor reads the paperwork.
Stock control and waste reduction
Evidence: Weekly meat and dairy stock count and a measured fall in sauce waste on the section.
Where it helps: Sous chef roles with ordering responsibility, purchasing and stores roles, and contract catering where food cost is reported weekly.
Training juniors on the job
Evidence: Two commis chefs trained on knife work and section set-up to the point of running the section unsupervised.
Where it helps: Senior chef de partie and sous chef roles, chef trainer posts, and, with a teaching qualification, college catering departments.

Occupation notes

Hard requirements

Food hygiene training. Food Standards Agency guidance for England, Wales and Northern Ireland states that it is not compulsory to hold a food hygiene certificate, but that you need to demonstrate you have been adequately trained in food hygiene. In practice most kitchens ask food handlers for a Level 2 food safety in catering award and anyone supervising for Level 3, so state the level you hold and the year, and be ready to show the certificate at the trial. If you work in Scotland, check Food Standards Scotland's guidance, which this example does not cover.
Allergen information. Food businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland must provide allergen information to customers, and a chef de partie is expected to know the allergen content of every dish on their section and to follow the kitchen's cross-contamination procedure. Show this as a practice in a bullet, not as 'allergen aware' in the skills list.
Right to work in the UK is checked before a trial shift starts; it is a condition of the offer, not resume content.

Vocabulary that belongs on the page

Brigade, section, chef de partie (CDP), demi chef de partie, commis chef, sous chef
Covers per service, the pass, calling away, check (order ticket)
Mise en place, prep list, par levels, spec sheet
Safer food, better business (SFBB), HACCP-based food safety management, temperature records, cook and cool times
Allergen matrix, the 14 allergens, cross-contamination, special-diet orders
GP (gross profit) percentage, food cost, stock count, wastage, ordering
Trial shift (stage), running order (banqueting), function sheet

Pitfalls specific to this occupation

Listing cuisines and dishes without the kitchen's scale: 'modern European, fine dining' tells a head chef nothing about whether you can hold a section on a 160-cover Saturday.
Writing 'food hygiene certificate' without the level or year, so the reader has to ask before offering a trial.
Claiming menu development or gross profit responsibility that belongs to the head or sous chef; a chef de partie's honest contribution is specials, costings helped with, and waste on their own section.
Saying 'all sections' instead of naming the sections you have actually run and at what volume; a head chef reads 'all sections' as none in particular.

UK and US differences

UK: Food safety in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is overseen by the Food Standards Agency and enforced by local authority environmental health teams; a hygiene rating is given after inspection and displaying it is mandatory in Wales and Northern Ireland and voluntary in England, so an improved rating you contributed to can be stated plainly.
UK: Most kitchens decide on a trial shift, so the resume's job is to earn the trial and make the likely section obvious; agency work is common and should be listed with the kitchen types covered rather than as a gap.

US: US kitchens use the same brigade titles, but food safety credentials are typically set at state or county level (food handler cards and food protection manager certificates); name the credential and the issuer you hold rather than a UK level.

Common questions

Do I need a Level 2 food hygiene certificate to work as a chef de partie in the UK?

The Food Standards Agency says a certificate is not compulsory in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but you must be able to show you have been adequately trained in food hygiene. Most kitchens still ask for Level 2 for food handlers and Level 3 for anyone supervising, so holding one and stating the level and year on your resume removes a question before the trial shift.

How do I show I am ready for a sous chef role?

Show the sous chef tasks you already do: running the section unsupervised, raising orders, stock counts, training commis chefs and covering the pass. Give frequency and scale for each so the head chef can judge the level from the evidence rather than the title.

Sources

Starting a food business: food hygiene training (GOV.UK, from the Food Standards Agency)Food Standards Agency · UK · checked 3 November 2026
Allergen guidance for food businesses (GOV.UK, from the Food Standards Agency)Food Standards Agency · UK · checked 3 November 2026

Published 6 November 2026 · Every person, employer and figure in this example is fictional. Drafted with AI assistance and checked against Luceria’s editorial standards.