You have set your sight on growing a career in food service, but there are thousands of food service workers after the same jobs you are targeting.||You have set your sight on growing a career in food service, but there are thousands of food service workers after the same jobs you are targeting.
Your food service resume will give prospective employers a snapshot of your strengths and competencies.
They will assess your fit in their restaurant based on the quality of your resume and decide if you are worth interviewing. If you want the employer to give you priority, submit a professional, fresh-looking resume. They are reviewing tons of food service resume, so you can’t just wing it. You really need to make sure that your food service resume will stand out.
It is important to adopt a simple, professional food service resume and cover letter templates.
The internet abounds with food service resume examples. But here, we share with you food service resume writing tips from expert career writers to help you create your resume without the aid of a resume builder. You will also find a couple of food service resume examples to guide you. Reading these food resume examples will give you important insights on how to craft a resume that truly stands out.
Essential Sections for Food Service Resume
Restaurant managers in the food service industry regularly get tons of CVs from people who would like to get a job as kitchen staff, food server, or any other type of food service worker.
Your food service resume must stand out to make the recruiters want to read it.
A typical food service resume template contains the following sections:
Contact information
Food service career summary or objective
Work experience laid out in reverse chronological order
Skills
Education
Introduce Yourself with a Credible Career Summary or Objective
Food service employers will look at your food service career summary or objective to decide if the rest of your resume deserves their time. Place a well-written food service career summary or objective at the top of your resume. This career objective will serve as your elevator pitch. A practical career objective is concise yet, packed with information about your skills, experience, and potential contribution to the restaurant. Your food service resume objective should be aligned with the job requirements of the food service worker role you wish to fill in. Do you have food service work experience? Highlight your achievements in your resume. If you have no food service experience, focus on your skills. How can they help you start a food service career?
Food Service Resume Examples:
Compare these two examples of a career objective statement.
INCORRECT
Greetings! I don’t have experience, but I’m looking to become a globally known chef someday. I’m reliable, dedicated, and passionate about cooking.
CORRECT
Professional objective
My aim is to succeed as a professional baker. Maintain high standards in the food service and continue to build on the success of . To hone my cooking skills and enrich my cooking skills by working with experts in the culinary field.
Now, look at these two career summary statements.
INCORRECT
Become a cook at a restaurant. Get some more experience and learn how to cook quality dishes.
CORRECT
Skillful chef assistant and saucer with 10 years of experience creating and innovating menus. Specialized in Mediterranean savors and French mother sauces. Focused on inventing and reinventing recipes to delight commensals.
Work Experience in the Food Service Resume
Imagine your work experience as those amazingly plated dishes you see in restaurants. How will you serve your work experience to wow the restaurant managers?
The work experience section tells the prospective employer if you are a suitable candidate.
Here are some writing tips to help you with your food service resume’s work experience section:
Write down your work experience in reverse chronology, that is, start with your current or most recent job, followed by your job before that, and so on, until you reach your first job.
Do not omit entry-level food server jobs even if you are applying for a high-level food service position.
A study shows that 90% of restaurant managers took on entry-level jobs to start their careers in the food industry. These food service managers would be interested to know that you have the technical know-how of the food service industry.
Indicate your job title, the restaurant’s name, and the tenure dates.
If you have had no food service work experience, you still need to indicate your employer’s name in your resume.
Duties and Responsibilities
Below each job, describe your duties and your achievements.
Write them as bullet points. You don’t have to include every task you have done. Limit them to the five most relevant food service worker tasks you have performed.
Use strong action words to describe your work experience to demonstrate your competencies. For example, instead of saying, “Tasked with the development of customer service experience manual,” you write, “Developed the restaurant’s customer service manual.”
Quantify your achievements to give your potential employer a better idea of your capabilities. For example, “Designed and implemented a customer happiness campaign that increased the customer satisfaction scorecard by 15%.”
Refrain from padding your performance figures. Food service employers, especially those who have been in the food service industry long enough, would know if you tweaked your numbers to impress.
At the bottom of this section, add a subheading to bring attention to your key achievement.
Food Service Resume Example - Work Experience
Following is an example of the work experience section of a food service worker resume. The worker is applying for a Kitchen Supervisor job.
Kitchen Team Leader
Iago’s Restaurant
December 2018
Duties and Responsibilities Example
Monitors freshness, specifications, and delivery schedules of raw materials
Negotiates delivery schedules and costs with current suppliers
Implements and monitors correct portions and yields of raw materials to avoid exceeding the target food cost
Regularly reviews customer feedback on food quality and takes measures to address suggestions or negative feedback
Trains and coaches eight kitchen staff to ensure adherence to kitchen operation standards
Key Achievements
Achieved savings of 5 to 8% on monthly raw material expenses
Consistent above average rating customer satisfaction scores on food quality
Skills to put in a Food Service Resume
Food service skills are categorized into two: technical skills and soft skills.
Technical skills are those that are specific to the food service industry. Although soft skills are essential, your technical skills make you an expert on specific or all aspects of the food industry.
Soft skills, on the other hand, are often referred to as behavioral skills. These include time management, emotional intelligence, interpersonal communications, etc.
How do you show off relevant food service skills in your resume?
List down all your skills, including a description and evidence of your proficiency level.
Refer to the job description of the food service job you are applying for. Look for skills-related keywords, e.g., customer service orientation.
Match the skills-related words to your list of skills.
Highlight those skills that match in your food service resume, focusing more on the technical skills. See that these skills are also mentioned or reflected in your work experience, and food service resume summary or objective.
Although hard skills are often given priority, do not forget to emphasize your soft skills. For example, a food service job usually requires you to work within a team. Mention being a team player in your resume.
If you are applying for a food server job, it would be great to emphasize your customer service skill, even if it is considered a soft skill.
Food servers directly interact with customers, and prospective employers would like to know that you can build relationships with customers to translate into repeat business.
The Skills section of your food service resume tells the hiring food service manager that you are adequately equipped to thrive in the job you've applied for. Identify a good mix of technical and soft skills.
Education for a Food Service Resume Example
This section is the easiest part in filling out a food service resume template, especially if you have relevant food service experience. All you need to include are the following information:
Degree
Major
Minor, when applicable
Name of College, University, or other educational institution
Graduation Date
However, if you have no food service industry experience, you need to expand your education.
Include extracurricular activities, educational achievements, and membership in relevant organizations to prove that you have a future in the food service industry.
Food Service Resume Examples - Education
With Relevant Food Service Education:
B.S. in Culinary Food Science
International Culinary Art and Sciences Institute
New York City, USA
July 2010
Without Relevant Food Service Education:
Business Administration
Central Community College
City of Hastings, Nebraska
July 2015
Extracurricular Activities
President, Hospitality & Culinary Arts Club, 2013-2015
Leader, 2012 Campus Field Day Cookies Sell-Off champion team
Best Format for Food Service Resume
Get the attention of your prospective employer by using a professional food service resume format. The best format for food service resumes depends on your qualifications. Select what is suitable for you and your job application. The chronological resume is best if you have a few years of working for restaurants.
The functional format focuses on your skills and abilities, while the combination format balances your work experience and talents.
Whatever resume format you use, design an easy-on-the-eyes layout for your food service resume and cover letter content.
The layout should easily distinguish each section using bigger or differently colored fonts, highlights, symbols, or shading.
The design and the font type must be simple yet, appealing without distracting from the content. The font type and font size must be the same for both the resume and the cover letter.
Earlier, we identified the essential sections of a typical food service resume template. Two other sections are crucial in your resume:
Additional Sections
People can magnify the scope of their work experience and claim to be experts. Recruiters and employers are aware of that, and they would look for more evidence of your skills. The additional sections, listing the following, will provide those evidence.
Awards
Certifications
Hobbies and Interests
Languages Spoken
Participation in food-industry-related competitions
Level up on your resume writing. Here are additional resume tips.
Personalize your food service career summary or objective. Specify the position you are aiming for and mention the restaurant’s name. When possible, quantify your summary to highlight how good you are at what you do.
Your cover letter and career summary or objective must focus on what you can contribute to the restaurant, not what you can get out of the job.
If you are replying to a job ad, describe your duties and key achievements using phrases found in the job ad. Otherwise, check out the restaurant's website and phrase your work experience and achievements to support the restaurant's vision and mission.
Including your GPA in the Education section of your resume is optional. Do not include it unless it’s above 3.5 and you graduated within the last three years.
If currently employed, do not use your company email address as contact information or send your resume to a prospective employer. It is unethical and disrespectful to both employers.
Search the internet for food service resume examples to get inspiration for creating your CV template. Cover letter templates are also available. When in doubt, use a resume builder.
Avoid using fancy email addresses in the contact information of your resume. Limit it to your first name and last name, e.g., johnsmith@gmail.com. Email addresses like ilovefood@gmail.com won’t score points with your prospective employer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best skills to mention in a food service resume?
Food service skills include the following:
Culinary skills
What food preparation techniques are you an expert on?
Can you work on the entire menu or do you specialize in salads, appetizers, or desserts?
Food Safety and Health Skills
Are you familiar with food health and safety standards?
Do you know which ingredients are considered allergens?
How familiar are you with food storage, shelf life, and food temperature?
Do you know how to keep the restaurant’s work areas safe?
Restaurant Equipment and Technology Skills
Can you operate the different types of cooking equipment?
Are you familiar with food service industry equipment, e.g., commercial grill, deep fryers, broilers, refrigeration equipment, etc.?
Do you understand how they work?
Do you know how to clean and maintain these equipment types in good running condition?
Basic mathematical Skills
If you are working in the kitchen, do you know how to adjust measurements if you need to double or split the recipe?
Are you familiar with conversion measures?
If you are working the POS systems or cash register, can you make manual calculations to avoid unnecessary downtimes in operations?
Customer Service Skills
Are you familiar with basic customer service principles?
How do you provide customers the best dining experience?
Can you confidently discuss menu items with customers when asked?
Do you make sure that customer orders are delivered correctly and promptly?
Should I include references on my resume for food service?
Unless specified in the job posting, references in your food service resume are optional. If you must include references, list down at least three. Secure the permission of these people before you list them down.
Select people with relevant responsibility or authority for your prospective job. Preferably, consider experts in the field. Choose references who can communicate well and with whom you are still in touch with.
Refrain from including family and friends in your reference list, not only for ethical reasons but also because they may not be the best people to talk about your quality of work.
Do I need a resume for a fast-food job?
Yes.
Fast food belongs to the food industry. Although the skill sets and recruitment standards may be slightly lower than other food service establishments, fast food managers would still determine the right fit for a job applicant.
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