Head Chef / Executive Chef

Head chef (also called Chef de Cuisine, Kitchen Manager, or Executive Chef depending on the restaurant) is where the kitchen becomes yours. You write the menu, hire and fire the cooks, hit food cost targets, manage labor, work with the GM and owner on strategy, and represent the restaurant publicly. In MA, the executive chef of any establishment seating 25+ is typically the named Certified Food Protection Manager on the city health permit — your license is how the restaurant stays open. This is the rung where the best chefs in MA earn $100K+, get equity in restaurant groups, and build the reputation that makes ownership possible. It's also where the hours peak: 60–75 hour weeks are normal, especially in your first year.

• You can build a team that wants to follow you, not just work for you
• You think about food cost, labor cost, and customer experience all at once
• You can take a hit publicly (a bad review, a slow night, a city inspection) and learn from it
• You're ready to be the last person responsible when something goes wrong

• Menu development — costing every dish to a target food cost (28–35%)
• Labor management — building schedules that hit a target labor cost (~30%)
• Hiring, firing, and developing a 6–25 person team
• Vendor relationships — produce, protein, dairy, dry goods, smallwares
• Health-code mastery and inspection leadership
• PR — interviews, press dinners, social, photoshoots
• Crisis management — power outages, hood-fire shutdowns, walk-in failures, no-shows

• If you're the named CFPM on the permit, a city health violation is on YOUR record, not just the restaurant's.
• Restaurant ownership groups (Barbara Lynch, Toro/Coppa, Tracy Chang) hire exec chefs aggressively — leverage that for pay.
• Mental health matters. Long hours, alcohol culture, and sleep deprivation crush exec chefs. Plan recovery time.
• Equity offers in MA restaurants are real but often complicated — get an attorney to read any operating agreement.