The Restaurant Business is Thriving and Chefs are Needed Statewide

South Carolina has a rich history in traditional southern fare, such as shrimp and grits, boiled peanuts, peach cobbler, hoppin' john, chitterlings, and she crab soup. With such a big tourism industry and numerous resorts lining the coast, it's not surprising that Top Chefs are in high demand. In fact, the South Carolina Department of Labor and Licensing reports that SC Chefs can expect an increase of 16% in job opportunities through the year 2012.

Qualified South Carolina Chefs play an essential role in maintaining our States' thriving tourism industry. South Carolina is known for more than just beautiful beaches and Beach Resorts. People travel from all over the US with an appetite for Award Winning Golf. South Carolina also boasts more than 330 golf courses from the Upstate to the Midlands, Charleston and the Islands. All over South Carolina Chefs are well known for award winning cuisine, and Catering as well.

What Are the Responsibilities of a South Carolina Chef ? What is a Chef?

"Chef" is a contraction of the French phrase chef de cuisine, the "chief" or "head" of a kitchen, but in English usage, especially outside of a Restaurant setting, Chef is a term commonly used to refer to a person who cooks professionally. "Chef" can also refer to a very excellent South Carolina home kitchen cook, or a person who loves to cook and does so very well. Within most restaurants however, the term Chef is more highly defined. In a professional kitchen setting, the term is used only for the one person in charge of everyone else in the kitchen, the Executive Chef.

Various South Carolina Chef Titles

Below are various titles given to those working in a professional South Carolina Kitchen and each can be considered a title for a type of Chef. Many of the Chef titles are based on the "brigade system", meaning a system or hierarchy or leadership role in the professional kitchen, while other Chef titles have a more general meaning depending on the kitchen in which one works. Not all restaurants will use these titles as each South Carolina culinary establishment may have its own set guidelines to organization.

Types of Chefs in South Carolina

• Chef de Cuisine: The Head Chef
The boss. The Head Chef will plan menus, hire and fire staff and deal with South Carolina suppliers and manage costs and budgets. Depending on their profile and other commitments, the head chef will often leave much of the day-to-day work to the sous-chef.
• Types of Chefs in South Carolina Restaurants:
There are many different types of chefs is a South Carolina kitchen: -a sauce chef -a pastry chef The list goes on. A chef chooses which category of cheffing they wish to base their South Carolina career in, although many SC Chefs train in different courses so that they will be more capable and go higher in their job position and have the ability to prepare popular specialty dishes traditional only to South Carolina.

While being a Chef requires extensive cooking experience and often involves actively cooking, it also involves a high level of management and business aspects in the South Carolina Kitchen.


• Executive Chef
Larger establishments, such as our fine South Carolina Hotels, SC Island Resorts and Golf Clubs or Historical Plantations and Gardens, will have an Executive Chef. This person may have much the same responsibilities as the head chef of a restaurant but on a larger scale. The South Carolina Executive Chef will be responsible for planning an outstanding menu and setting the procedures, activities and events for the style of SC Cuisine served, and the atmosphere and ambiance for the fine dining experience.


• Sous Chef
The Sous Chef is the direct assistant of the Executive Chef and is second in command. The Sous Chef may be responsible for scheduling, and filling in for the executive chef when they are off-duty. They also will fill in or assist the "chef de partie" (line cooks) when needed. Smaller South Carolina restaurants may not have a sous chef, while larger, Fine Dining operations may have several.


• The Expediter or Announcer (Aboyeur)
The Expediter takes the orders from the dining room and relays them to the stations in the kitchen. This person also often puts the finishing touches on the South Carolina cuisine before it goes to the dining room. In some South Carolina restaurants this task may be done by either the executive chef or the sous chef.


• Chef de Partie
A Chef de Partie, also known as a "station chef" or "line cook", is in charge of a particular area of production. In large South Carolina Kitchens, each station chef might have several cooks and/or assistants. In most kitchens however, the station chef is the only worker in that department. Line cooks are often divided into a hierarchy of their own, starting with "First Cook", then "Second Cook", and so on as needed.

Station Chef titles which are part of the "Brigade System" include:

• Saute Chef (Saucier)
- Responsible for all sauteed items and their sauce. This is usually the highest position of all the stations.
• Fish Chef (Poissonier)
- Prepares South Carolina Fish Dishes and often does all fish butchering as well as the appropriate sauce. This station may be combined with the saucier position.
• Roast Chef (Rotisseur)
- Prepares roasted and braised meats and their appropriate sauce.
• Grill Chef (Grillardin)
- Prepares all grilled foods, this position may be combined with the rotisseur.
• Fry Chef (Friturier)
- Prepares all fried items, position may be combined with the rotisseur position.
• Vegetable Chef (Entremetier)
- Prepares hot appetizers and often prepares the soups, vegetables, pastas and starches. In a full brigade system a potager would prepare soups and a legumier would prepare vegetables.
• Roundsman (Tournant)
- Also referred to as a "swing cook", fills in as needed or "floats" around stations in the kitchen.
• Pantry Chef (Garde Manger)
-They are responsible for preparing cold foods, including salads, cold appetizers, pates and other "charcuterie items" (sausage and ham) .
• Butcher (Boucher)
- Butchers meats, poultry and sometimes fish. May also be responsible for breading and stuffing meats and fish.
• Pastry Chef (Patissier)
- Prepare baked goods, pastries and desserts. In larger South Carolina Restaurants, the pastry chef often supervises a separate team in their own kitchen or separate shop.

Some South Carolina restaurant kitchens may have an Executive Pastry Chef. Specialized and hierarchal chef titles are usually found only in South Carolina fine-dining and upscale restaurants. Kitchen Staff Members at casual SC Restaurants, such as Diners, may be called chefs but are more often called "cook" or "short-order cook."


• Kitchen Assistants
An apprentice in larger SC Kitchens would work under a "chef de partie" or station chef in order to learn the station's responsibilities and operation and become a valuable part of the professional kitchen team.