Hiring a Chef for your Self-Op/Dining Society

Finding Applicants

• Check with the Row Office and SOS to see if they have resumes or leads
• Send an email to the KM distribution list (kms99/00@forsythe), ask them to share the information with their chefs
• Fax a job announcement to the Culinary Institute in San Francisco, fax# (415) 292-8290, (forms available in the Row Office)
• Place an advertisement in the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, (800) 954-7777, or the San Jose Mercury News, (800) 287-7878

Receiving Applications

• You may have applicants fax resumes, references and menu ideas to the Row Office (650) 723-1898.
• Make sure the applicant puts your name or house name on the cover letter so we can put the application in your box.

• What are you looking for? Do you want someone with restaurant experience? Do you want someone who can cook a variety of ethnic foods? Specializes in low-fat diet? Is familiar with vegetarian options?
• Have they ever worked on a college campus or in a more "independent" environment?
• What is their employment history? Have they stayed at any job for more than a year or two? Are there unexplainable gaps in their employment history?
• If you are not sure if you want to invite them to try out based on their application, but they have some interesting experience, call them - talk to them, ask them questions about the things that make you hesitant. If you like them, invite them. It does not hurt you much to give someone a try, especially if your pool of applicants is small.

Inviting Applicants come to "try out"

• Decide ahead of time how many chefs you want to try out
.
• Decide ahead of time how many meals you want each chef to prepare.
• Paying applicants - Some houses do and some houses don't. Certainly if you are asking them to cook more than one meal you should. Even with one, they are providing you with a valuable service (it will still be cheaper then ordering out) and it is nice to offer a small stipend - it does not need to be your normal chef salary for a meal. (Maybe $25 for lunch, $50 for dinner.)
• Choosing a menu ­ it is a good idea to let the applicant choose the menu so you can see how creative they are. Ask them to provide you a detailed list of all the ingredients (and quantity) they need and have it ready for them when they arrive.
• Make it clear what time your meal is to be served. If you want them there at a specific time tell them so.
• Ask them to stay through the mealtime - it's a great way for residents to have an opportunity to interact with them. This is a good time for them to get a feel for what it will be like to work in your house. Mealtime is also a very good time to have the candidate sit down with the managers and a few members of the house for a general "interview" as well.

Be Sensitive to your Current Chef

• If you are hiring a replacement for your current chef (by their choice or yours), it is important to be sensitive to their needs and feelings.
• If you are looking for days/meals to bring in candidates to try out, ask your current chef if they are planning to take any days off. If not, bring in your candidates on meals they do not normally prepare for you.
• Remember, it is OK to ask another house if you can try out chefs together and use their kitchen. If no other house were looking for a chef, a house would likely agree to let you use their kitchen if their residents got some of the food!
• Food supplies. Make sure that your current chef's food supply is protected. Nothing more frustrating for the chef then to come to work Monday morning expecting to prepare something and some of the ingredients are missing. Food supply will be a sensitive issue if you are keeping your chef strictly accountable for his food budget.

Possible Interview Questions - via phone or in person

• ILLEGAL QUESTIONS: You may not ask someone their age, their nationality or ethnicity, their sexual orientation, their religion, their marital status, whether or not they have children or plan to have children or anything else that does not directly relate to their ability to do the job (cook for your house).
• Ask about their experience cooking in bulk.
• Ask about their experience planning menus, especially for a variety of tastes (describe the range of preferences in your house).
• Ask about their experience ordering food and working with local vendors (if that is part of their responsibility in your house).
• Ask about their experience working within a budget. Let them know what your weekly food budget looks like.
• Ask how they feel about working in a college environment. Describe the atmosphere in your house and what the staff and residents expect from the chef.
• Ask how they feel about having a college student as a boss. (Remember that you are the boss!)
• Ask how they would go about trying to find out what residents in your house like and donšt like.
• Can they bake bread? (this will save you a lot of money)
• Can they make homemade soups?
• Do they make desserts from scratch?
• What type of items do they put in a salad bar? How do they introduce variety and keep a salad bar attractive?

Checking References

• Don't skip this important step - even if you are sure you know whom you want to hire.

Legalities:

• Some employers will only verify the dates that someone worked for them and the salary they received. Double check that the applicant has been truthful on their resume.
• If they will answer more questions, ask about their attendance record, their attitude, and their flexibility. Ask specific questions about their cooking ability ­ can they make bread, soup, and deserts from scratch etc.?
  If they won't answer additional questions, the most valuable question you can ask, and they will usually answer is, "Would X be eligible for rehire?" Or "Would you rehire X if you had the opportunity?" If they so no, they might not be able to tell you why but you should consider this a HUGE RED FLAG! If there is any other way to find out why, find out. If not, proceed with caution and if you have a comparable candidate with clean references I recommend hiring the other candidate.

Determining Your Salary Range

• If you are a continuing house this step will be much easier for you.
• What have you paid your chef in the past? Do you want to be in this same range? Does the applicant have more or less experience than your former chef? Do you want to raise or lower your board bill and if so, how is your chef's salary effected by that?
• Ask the Row Office for a copy of the Chef Salary Grid, which shows the salary range of Row Chefs. It indicates which chefs were new, had worked on the Row less than five years, and more than five years.
• Contact Nick Peters at Student Organized Services (SOS) at (650) 723-3103 or nikolas@best.com and ask him to run the numbers to determine the full cost of your compensation package including benefits, taxes and payroll fees.
• Do not be forced into paying a salary you can not afford!
  You are offering a good job with decent wages for the number of days, hours per year they work, compared to the industry standard.
• Row chefs have a great deal of flexibility, independence and great working hours compared to the restaurant world. Let the chef decide if they can live on the salary you offer. If they turn you down there will be another chef who will be happy to take the job.

Making an Offer and Signing a Contract

• Contact Nick Peters at SOS and have him draft an employment agreement for you. You MAY NOT type up your own agreement - this must be done through SOS.
• Discuss the terms of the contract with the chef you would like to hire. Be prepared to negotiate and know where your staff/residents are willing to be flexible and where they are not.
• If you need to make adjustments to the contract, call them into Nick and he will print a new contract for you.
• Remember that you are offering a good job at a fair price. If they want more money than you can offer, or are unwilling to meet the terms of your contract it is better to know that ahead of time and pull your offer off of the table now. If this happens, please contact the Augie Galvan, the Assistant Director for Student Managemen,t immediately to make sure that you follow all necessary steps to terminate your negotiations legally.
• Once all parties sign the contract, make copies and make sure the following people have copies of the signed contract (you can use the photocopier in the Row Office):

  1. The chef
  2. The financial manager (put in your blue binder)
  3. The kitchen manager (put in your black binder)
  4. The row office (give to the Assistant Director for Student Management)