Production Chef

On a production chef apprenticeship course, you’ll work with centrally developed standardised recipes and menus, producing food often in high volumes.

Production chefs work as part of a team in time-sensitive and often challenging culinary environments such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and high-traffic casual dining or bar kitchens. They report to the senior production chef or line manager as needed.

In this profession, you will work with standardised recipes and menus to regularly prepare large meals. You will employ careful organisational skills, accuracy, and attention to detail.

Maintaining high levels of personal, food, and kitchen cleanliness, maintaining adherence to processes, menu requirements, and recipes; making food that adheres to portion control and financial restrictions; changing and creating foods to fit unique dietary, religious, and allergic needs; using a professional kitchen to follow, complete, and maintain production schedules, as well as legislation and quality standard documentation.

What you’ll learn

On a production chef apprenticeship course, you’ll learn to:

• Check, prepare, assemble, cook, replenish, hold, and display food following organisational standards and procedures and meeting client requests.
• Use the correct culinary tools and equipment to produce high-quality, criterion-compliant dishes consistently.
• Prepare meals to fulfil people’s nutritional, religious, and allergy needs.
• Maintain strict adherence to all rules, regulations, and procedural requirements.
• Complete and keep documents in compliance with current legal requirements.
• Assist team members in a fair and empathetic manner while offering excellent service.
• Effectively use technology.
• Maintain food quality and consistency by using resources aligned with the organisation’s fiscal constraints, style, norms, and ethos.
• Determine one’s unique learning style, personal development needs, and opportunities, and then take action to meet those needs.

Entry requirements

You’ll usually need:

• Depending on the employer, GCSEs or equivalent qualifications or relevant experience are likely.
• Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level before taking the end-point assessment

Assessment methods

The End Point Assessment comprises three distinct assessment methods: 

• On-demand test
• Practical Observation
• Professional discussion

Duration, level, subjects and potential salary upon completion

Apprenticeship standard

More information about the Level 2 Production Chef Apprenticeship standard can be found here.

Apprenticeship end point assessment

For more information about the End Point Assessment Process, please read the Institute of Apprenticeships’ information page