I Asked Three Experienced Head Chef Candidates the Same Five Questions. Their Answers Revealed a Bigger Problem in Hospitality.

By Mark Harris – Harris Restaurant Consultants

There are moments in your career that make you stop and think.

A few weeks ago, I interviewed three experienced Head Chef candidates for a client opening a new restaurant in London.

On paper, they were all strong candidates.

Each had several years’ experience leading kitchens, managing teams and delivering busy services. Their CVs suggested they were exactly the calibre of chef you would expect to be entrusted with running a successful kitchen.

As part of every interview, I ask a handful of commercial questions. Nothing designed to catch people out. Nothing particularly technical. Just questions I believe every Head Chef should be comfortable answering.

To my surprise, all three candidates struggled – Not because they weren’t good chefs, but because nobody had ever taught them the commercial side of running a kitchen.

The Five Questions

The questions were remarkably simple.

• What is the difference between Gross Profit and Net Profit?
• How do you calculate your food cost percentage?
• If food cost prices increased by 10%, what would you do?
• What are the biggest costs in running a kitchen?
• Which financial reports do you regularly use to manage performance?

These aren’t finance exam questions. They are everyday business questions that influence the decisions Head Chefs make every single day, yet none of the candidates answered all five with confidence.

The Problem Isn’t the Chefs

Over the last 30 years, I’ve met hundreds of incredibly talented chefs. They can:

• Produce exceptional food.
• Lead a busy service.
• Develop menus.
• Train junior chefs.
• Inspire their teams.

Yet many have never been taught how the business behind the kitchen actually works.

We promote chefs because they are excellent cooks and then suddenly expect them to make commercial decisions that can affect the profitability of a business turning over hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of pounds each year.

It’s rather like promoting someone to airline captain because they’re an excellent engineer. Both roles are hugely important. But they require different knowledge.

“Nobody Ever Taught Me This.”

After the interview, one candidate said something that has stayed with me:

“Nobody ever taught me this.”

I’ve heard those exact words so many times throughout my career, from Head Chefs, Sous Chefs and even Executive Chefs responsible for multiple kitchens.

They are not making excuses, they are highlighting a gap in our industry. We spend years teaching culinary skills like:

• Knife skills.
• Butchery.
• Sauces.
• Pastry.
• Food safety.
• Presentation.

Yet commercial awareness is often left to chance. We somehow expect chefs to “pick it up” as they progress – Many never do.

Why This Matters

This isn’t about turning chefs into accountants. It is about giving them enough understanding to make better decisions. Understanding why labour costs matter, knowing when increasing a menu price is justified, recognising how portion control affects profitability, reading a weekly Profit & Loss report with confidence and understanding the difference between generating sales and generating profit. Because every one of these decisions influences the success of the restaurant. Better commercial awareness doesn’t just help chefs; it helps restaurants increase restaurant profit through better day-to-day decisions.

Confidence Changes Everything

One of the biggest changes I see when chefs develop commercial knowledge isn’t simply that the numbers improve but as importantly:

• Their confidence improves.
• They become more involved in management meetings.
• They contribute ideas.
• They challenge decisions.
• They understand why targets have been set rather than simply being told what those targets are.

Instead of feeling uncomfortable when the conversation turns to finance, they become part of it and that is a huge step in becoming a true business leader within hospitality.

The Industry Needs to Change

As an industry, we have done an exceptional job of producing technically gifted chefs. But if we are going to continue promoting chefs into leadership positions, we also need to give them the commercial skills to succeed. Not because every chef wants to become a finance expert.

But because every Head Chef influences the financial performance of their kitchen every single day.

Teaching someone how to calculate food cost is simply not enough – We need to teach them why it matters.

Many businesses don’t realise where the knowledge gaps exist until they’ve had an operational assessment of their restaurant.

Final Thoughts

Looking back, I don’t remember those interviews because of the candidates’ answers. I remember them because they highlighted a much bigger issue. The problem wasn’t three Head Chefs. The problem was that three experienced professionals had reached that point in their careers without ever being given the commercial education their roles demanded.

This isn’t a failure of the individual. It’s a gap in the way we develop people in hospitality. If we expect Head Chefs to help run successful businesses, we have to start teaching them how businesses work—not just how kitchens work.

Could your Head Chefs confidently answer those five questions today?

If the answer is no, perhaps the issue isn’t their ability.

Perhaps it’s simply that, until now, nobody has ever taught them.

Helping chefs become commercially confident.

HRC Hospitality Academy provides practical commercial training for chefs, managers and hospitality teams, helping them make better business decisions, improve profitability and develop the confidence to lead successful operations.