Working in a Catering environment can be in a restaurant, a hotel, a school kitchen, hospital etc. Depending on your skills and experience and preference to where you want to work, below is an idea of the jobs that you can be involved in within catering and what salaries you can expect to achieve.
You can find here the top 10 Catering jobs and their descriptions with average salaries.
#1 Catering Manager
As a Catering Manager you will usually plan catering functions and events maybe for a private company doing weddings, parties etc or you could work for a company catering for children in a school or patients in a hospital. As Catering Manager it will be your job to plan menus, search for products from suppliers and manage your catering budget. You will also have to manage staff under you in a working kitchen and ensure that whoever and whatever you are catering for gets done efficiently and effectively on time and within budget.
A Catering Manager salary can start at £20,000 per annum depending on experience and role.
Related: Catering Jobs Cover Letters
#2 Catering Services Manager
As a Catering Services Manager you will be responsible for the service that is provided through a catering company and developing and expanding those services in line with the business and company budget. You will be responsible for dealing with your customers, supplier and or clients and for explaining and allowing them to understand the service that is being provided and why.
As a Catering Services Manager salaries can start at £18,000 per annum depending on size of company and role.
#3 Contracts Manager – Catering Equipment
As a Contracts Manager for Catering Equipment you will be responsible for the looking after the equipment used in a Catering business and ensuring that it is regularly cleaned, serviced and always in full working order. It will be your responsibility to ensure that you look out for new equipment to help the catering company in the future and research and feedback on such equipment.
Typically salaries start at £17,000 per annum and depending on the role you may have some commission attached to it if you are selling equipment to catering companies.
#4 Head Chef
As Head Chef you will run a busy restaurant kitchen managing staff and the kitchen. You will have full budgetary control, plan and devise new menus, deal with suppliers and stock and manage staff and a busy restaurant of a number of covers each night.
You will need to have a passion for food and the good cooking of food and have a real interest in good quality products and knowing where the foods come from, spending time with the suppliers.
Typically for a Head Chef Salaries can be between £35,000-£50,000 as a start but this may change depending on the restaurant and location you are working in as well as your experience so far.
#5 Restaurant Manager
As a restaurant manager you will run the restaurant and ensure that bookings are taken and planned for, that the staff work well in conjunction with a busy kitchen and plan and prepare in conjunction with the Head Chef. Being a restaurant manager is a multi tasking role of front of house, running the business and also helping run the kitchen and plan menus with the chef etc. You will need to have a real interest in food and where products are sourced from to do this role.
Typically salaries start at £30,000 per annum.
#6 Sous Chef
Working as a Sous Chef you will be second in command to the Head Chef providing a supporting role in the kitchen and cooking in whatever area your Head Chef wants you to. You will need to have a real passion for food in this role and be able to take orders from your Head Chef in sometimes very busy periods. You will need to work calmly under pressure and work long hours in some instances and step up to the plate when your Head Chef is out of the kitchen.
Again depending on the size and type of restaurant and its location salaries can start at £25,000 per annum +.
#7 Pastry Chef
As a pastry chef the role is as its name suggests. Being a pastry chef is a very specialised role and one of the main things that people struggle to make, pastry. You will need to have had a lot of experience in making pastry and enjoy making desserts to a high and exceptional standard. You will need to pay great attention to detail and have a creative nature as well to be able to design desserts and make them look attractive and pleasing to the eye.
Typically salaries start at £25,000 per annum + depending on what size and type and location of the restaurant.
#8 Cook
As a cook you will work in a busy kitchen environment cooking food for school children or such like in mass produced amounts usually on tight budgets ensuring that you cover the major food groups. It is a very challenging role to try to produce good and variety of meals each day and week and you will need to be creative in planning menus and coming up with new ideas. You will have a good background in cooking for a number of people and keeping calm under pressure. You will also be used to following strict kitchen hygiene procedures.
Typically salaries start at £20,000 per annum depending on the company and location.
#9 Kitchen Manager / Kitchen assistant
Working as a Kitchen Manager or Kitchen Assistant means that you need to ensure the smooth running of a very busy kitchen. This kitchen could be in a local family pub, a cafe or even a larger hospital type setting. You will need to be familiar with working and running a busy kitchen and ensuring that food is made on time and to order in line with the specifics of the kitchen.
Salary levels for this role start at £15,000 depending on experience and location.
Related: Kitchen Assistant Cover Letter
#10 Chef de Partie
As a Chef de Partie, it will in your remit to manage a section within a busy kitchen whether it is the vegetable section, pastry, butchery etc. Whichever section you are on, you will be responsible for ensuring that the food you are preparing goes out on time in a fashion that is set by the Head Chef. You will need to be a good at timings and working to make sure that a whole meal is finished at once not leaving any food sat around for too long.
Typically salaries for this role start at £20,000 per annum.
photo by: newsusa
