Hypothetical Day of a CEC

Would you like to be an American Culinary Federation CEC (Certified Executive Chef)? Have you ever wondered what might be expected of you on a typical day at work? Below is a hypothetical example which gives you a taste of the responsibilities, skills and knowledge needed to be a successful CEC (Certified Executive Chef).

As you can imagine, every food service operation is different. No matter how an organization structures their culinary team responsibilities, you can be sure that the role of the CEC is diverse, dynamic and highly visible. As a CEC, being responsible for all culinary facets of a food service operation is a demanding yet extremely rewarding experience.

Early Morning

Food and Facility Preparation
When arriving at the food service establishment the Certified Executive Chef’s first responsibility is to ensure the facility is ready for service. A quick walk-through is done to be sure coolers and freezers maintained temperature overnight, that all kitchen and safety equipment is working properly and that food products are stored properly. A critical part of your job is to understand and enforce all safety and sanitation codes in order to ensure a safe working environment and proper food handling.

The Certified Executive Chef ensures that the facility is prepared to receive food products. Orders are checked-in, product specifications and quality are verified and products are properly rotated into storage. Today’s specials include seasonal items which you have been able to secure as you are well informed of product availability in your area and have established relationships with vendors. The Pastry chef will be pleased at the quality of the mangos for tonight’s fruit tarts.

Based on your customer’s food preferences, product availability and limitations of your facility and your culinary team, you have already developed the lunch specials for the day. You prepare to have a tasting of the specials with your culinary team to ensure your desired flavor profile is obtained. To ensure consistency, weights and measures are listed on the recipes. You see that all ingredients are prepped, labeled and stored appropriately so culinary team members can quickly identify and locate items in order to save time during service.

Mid-Morning

Culinary Team Preparation
With labor cost monitoring another key focus of your job, you have scheduled staggered start times as needed for specific culinary positions but by mid-morning your entire team has arrived. You are proud of the team you have built and are glad you spent the extra time researching your labor market, thoroughly interviewing candidates, checking culinary credentials and understanding employment laws. As a result you have a culturally diverse team well suited for your operation. Through frequent evaluations you know their goals and can assist them in their culinary career path.

It’s time for your pre-service meeting! You make sure everyone is in proper attire, not just for appearance sake, but for safety and sanitation reasons. You make a mental note that one of your line cooks is not wearing non-skid shoes again after you discussed the importance of this with him last week.

As part of the pre-service meeting you demonstrate the culinary techniques needed for today’s specials. You follow appropriate training techniques to ensure that the specials are prepared to standard and that plate presentation is appealing and consistent. You will coach your team to reinforce the training during service.

While your culinary team wraps up final preparation for lunch and takes a short break, you pull aside the line cook who is not wearing the proper attire. In private you discuss his not wearing non-skid shoes twice in the last two weeks. You practice fair and consistent progressive discipline techniques and document as required.

Just before service, you meet with the baker to review tomorrow’s menu of quick breads and braided Kaiser rolls.

Lunch Rush

“It’s Showtime!”
It’s 11:30 am and your facility and culinary team is ready for a busy lunch rush. To ensure speed of service you pay special attention to mise en place and review volume expectations with your team. You position your culinary team according to your work flow patterns and each person’s limitations. As the Certified Executive Chef, it is your responsibility to see that every plate meets composition and sensory presentation standards. To satisfy guests you must balance productivity with food integrity.

Controlling food cost is a critical part of your job. You coach your team and demonstrate methods to portion properly, eliminate waste and reduce errors. Although it is very busy today, you lead the culinary team through a successful lunch rush by providing continuous feedback, direction and encouragement.

As the lunch period slows down, you congratulate your team on meeting ticket time goals without compromising food quality or presentation. You had many repeat guests due to a great experience during their first visit. Sales were strong. As lunch trails off, you start some culinary team members on side work before they clock out.

Afternoon

Taking Care of “Business”
After the lunch rush, you pass the kitchen responsibility off to your Sous Chef so you can address some pressing business issues. You meet with a media representative from a local publication. You evaluate information she provides comparing her customer demographics with other media options you have been considering. You combine this information with your knowledge of your customers and market trends in general before making an advertising decision. You know from a recent competitive analysis that you are making the right choice in advertising placement and copy in order to position your operation appropriately against the competition.

Mid-afternoon you rush to a last minute meeting called by the general manager. The general manager has received numerous guest inquiries recently about healthy menu items and nutritional content information. You are tasked with designing a special menu. You set up a plan to work with your team on structuring recipes with the appropriate nutritional content. You do a cost analysis on the recipes, write menu descriptions and help determine how the items should be merchandised in the food service operation.

Late Afternoon

Staff Meeting/Shift Change
It is a busy afternoon for meetings. After checking with the culinary team to make sure staffing is at an appropriate level and that dinner preparation is on track, you return to attend an executive committee meeting with your ownership group. You give a report comparing food and culinary labor cost to budget and provide solid explanations for two variances that occurred. You feel that in order to provide timely service during the busy season approaching you need to add an additional line cook during Friday and Saturday dinner periods. You present the culinary roles and responsibilities of your team justifying the additional person. Your request is approved.

The executive committee reviews a business plan for the next year. You discuss communication technology options and how they can make your team more efficient and productive. The meeting ends just in time for you to head back to the kitchen to confirm that preparations are in order and that your evening culinary team is in place.

Some days you stay for the dinner rush. Today, that is not necessary. When you get home you feel tired but rewarded. You led your team through a successful day in the kitchen and were involved in improving the operation in the future.