Join us for our open evening at Leiths on Thursday, 1 October 2026, 6.30–8.30pm, and discover how the Culinary Diploma can launch your career in food.
Join us for our open evening at Leiths on Thursday, 1 October 2026, 6.30–8.30pm, and discover how the Culinary Diploma can launch your career in food.
A commis chef is one of the entry-level roles in a professional kitchen. The tasks undertaken by a commis chef will include more foundational tasks like preparing greens, replenishing herbs, helping to properly label and organise new and old stock, as well as observing the techniques of more senior chefs like the chef de partie.
Commis chefs will work during service hours to assist the chef de partie and ensure the kitchen environment runs smoothly. They will assist with simpler preparative tasks to ensure that the chefs can remain on task as they prepare dishes. Commonly, the commis chef is one of the last members remaining in a kitchen alongside the kitchen porter, helping to clean down and reset for the next day.
A commis chef role is ideal for those looking to enter the culinary industry with minimal prior experience. It offers hands-on learning in a fast-paced environment, allowing individuals to develop their core kitchen skills. Over time, a commis chef may progress into the role of a chef de partie, where they’ll take responsibility for a specific section of the kitchen.
To thrive as a commis chef, you’ll need a mix of practical, organisational, and interpersonal skills, including:
Various establishments will offer differing salaries to commis chefs, but it’s typically around £25,000 each year.
Employment type:
Employed
Working hours:
Monday – Sunday, 8am – midnight
(in shifts)
Potential Salary:
£25K
Work/Life Balance
As a commis chef, if you’re working during service then it is likely you will be one of the last people in the kitchen, along with the kitchen porter.
Commis Chef at Allianz Twickenham Stadium
“A passionate chef who trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine. I have gained experience in the industry from working at Chiltern Firehouse in London where I was involved in a busy dinner service.
My goal is to become a private dining or home chef for customers whose needs might range from hosting a fine dining dinner party, casual dinner with friends or needing their weekday dinners cooked for them. I am currently working as a commis chef at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.”
A chef whose role in the brigage is to succesfully run one section of the kitchen, from ensuring readiness for service, making sure ingredients are ordered in advance and giving tasks to more junior chefs working on your station.
Usually in charge of ensuring kitchen operations run smoothly, running the pass during service and freeing up the sous chef to focus on menu development.
A key link between the head chef and the kitchen. The sous chef ensures each section of the kitchen is running smoothly, often doing a combination of office administration and cooking.
