Prep cook interview questions

What this hire must get done

Write the scorecard before you interview, then hire against it. Set the bracketed targets from your own numbers.

What to tell candidates before the interview

Say the hard parts plainly. People who wouldn't stay drop out early, and the ones who stay knew what they signed up for.

• Name the start time and days: early mornings, weekends and holiday weeks, and whether some shifts stay on to back up the line.
• Say the job is repetitive by design: the same cuts and batches, by weight, every day, and the line opens on time only if the list is done.
• Tell them they'll check in deliveries and work in the walk-in and freezer, and which machines you'll train them on. Federal rules keep anyone under eighteen off power slicers and mixers.

How to run the interview

1. Same questions, same order. Ask every candidate the questions below and the same follow-ups. It is the only way to compare people fairly.
2. Two interviewers. An owner or manager and someone who does the work. Take notes on what the candidate says, not on how you feel about them.
3. Score right after each answer. 5 sounds like the strong answer, 3 like the mixed one, 1 like the weak one. Use 2 and 4 for answers in between.
4. Rate alone, then compare. Compare candidates question by question, and talk only after everyone has scored. Big gaps are worth a conversation.

1. Technical · Working the prep list

   You walk in and the sous chef has left a note: build today's list yourself from the par sheet. Walk me through how you decide what to make, how much, and in what order.

   Prep cooks who can build their own list let the sous chef run the line. Those who can't make too much of one thing and none of another.

   Follow-ups

   • How do you work out how much of each item to make?
   • What do you check besides the par sheet?
   • What goes first, and why?

   5Strong

   Counts what's on hand and checks its dates, subtracts from par, adjusts for reservations or a private party, starts the long jobs first (stocks, braises, anything that has to cool), then each station's opening needs, then quick cuts, and checks the plan with the sous chef.

   3Mixed

   Gets the amounts right from par and on-hand counts, but works top to bottom, so the stock that needs hours starts late.

   1Weak

   Makes the full par of everything regardless of what's on hand, or waits to be told.

2. Situational · Working the prep list

   It's an hour before the line arrives, and you can see you have about two hours of prep left. What do you do?

   Falling behind happens. Telling the sous chef early is what keeps the line from opening short.

   Follow-ups

   • Who do you tell, and when?
   • Which items do you finish first?
   • What would you never skip, even to catch up?

   5Strong

   Tells the sous chef as soon as they see it, with what's done and what's left, finishes what each station needs to open first, and asks before changing any recipe step to save time.

   3Mixed

   Picks the right items to finish first but tells no one until the line walks in.

   1Weak

   Just works faster and hopes, or rushes a step like cooling or labeling to finish.

3. Technical · Knife skills and yield

   Walk me through cutting a whole beef tenderloin into steaks, and how you know you got the yield you should.

   Trim and portion size are where prep quietly loses money. This shows whether they cut to weight and track what's lost.

   Follow-ups

   • How do you keep the board and the knife safe while you work?
   • What do you do with the trim?
   • What would you tell the chef if the yield came up short?

   5Strong

   Sets a damp towel under the board and uses a sharp knife. Takes off silverskin and the chain with little meat lost, saves usable trim for the chef's use, cuts to weight and checks each steak on the scale, records the yield, and tells the chef if it falls short.

   3Mixed

   Cuts even steaks and weighs some, but doesn't track the yield or the trim.

   1Weak

   Cuts by eye with no scale, or throws out trim the kitchen uses.

4. Behavioral · Following the recipe

   Tell me about a time you made a batch from a written recipe, at work or in culinary school, and it didn't come out right.

   Mistakes in a batch reach every plate that uses it. You want the cook who tastes, traces the cause and tells the chef.

   Follow-ups

   • How did you notice?
   • What did you check first?
   • What happened to the batch?

   5Strong

   Tasted against the recipe before it went to the line, rechecked the measures (weight against volume, a doubled recipe), told the chef before it was used, and changed a habit, like weighing everything or reading the whole recipe first.

   3Mixed

   Caught it and fixed it by taste without telling anyone, so the next batch may differ.

   1Weak

   Sent it out anyway, or says recipes are just a guide.

5. Situational · Cooling and storage

   A full stockpot of chili just came off the heat, and you leave in an hour. Walk me through what you do with it.

   Food that cools slowly in a deep pot gives bacteria time to grow. The code your kitchen follows sets the cooling limits, and this shows whether they work to them.

   Follow-ups

   • How do you know it's cooling fast enough?
   • What do you write down, and where?
   • What do you tell the person who takes over?

   5Strong

   Moves it into shallow pans or an ice bath, stirs, uses an ice wand if there is one, leaves it uncovered or loosely covered where your rules allow, probes and logs time and temperature against your cooling log's limits, and hands off the next check time.

   3Mixed

   Splits it into shallow pans and gets it into the walk-in, but doesn't probe or log it, so no one can show it cooled in time.

   1Weak

   Lids the full pot and sets it in the walk-in as is, or leaves it on the range to cool on its own.

6. Technical · Cooling and storage

   Walk me through putting away a delivery of raw chicken, ground beef, fish, produce and dairy in the walk-in.

   Where food goes on the shelf decides whether raw juices drip onto food that won't be cooked again.

   Follow-ups

   • Where does each item go, and why there?
   • What do you do with what's already on the shelves?
   • What goes away first?

   5Strong

   Puts cold items away first, keeps ready-to-eat food and produce above raw proteins, keeps each raw protein in its own pan with poultry on the bottom, puts new stock behind old, dates anything opened or repacked, and keeps cases off the floor.

   3Mixed

   Keeps raw below ready-to-eat and rotates, but isn't sure how the raw proteins stack among themselves and asks the sous chef where each one goes.

   1Weak

   Puts new stock in front of old, or raw meat above produce.

7. Situational · Labeling and rotation

   The sous chef asks you to clear out anything past its date. You find a container of pesto with no label, and a quart of soup that's still in date but smells off. What do you do?

   It shows whether they trust the label over their nose, and whether they fix the habit or just the container.

   Follow-ups

   • What do you do with each one?
   • What do you write down, and who do you tell?
   • How would you stop unlabeled food turning up again?

   5Strong

   Throws out both and logs them on the waste sheet, since an unlabeled container can't be proven safe and a date doesn't make spoiled food good. Tells the sous chef which items and suggests a fix, like labels and a marker at every station.

   3Mixed

   Throws out the pesto, and sets the soup aside for the chef to judge instead of logging it and telling them why.

   1Weak

   Labels the pesto with today's date, or keeps the soup because it's in date.

8. Situational · Speaking up

   The morning delivery arrives before the sous chef does. The chicken case feels warm, and the invoice lists [ten] cases of romaine but only [eight] came off the truck. What do you do?

   Whoever signs the invoice accepts the problem. A prep cook who checks before signing saves money and keeps unsafe food out.

   Follow-ups

   • How do you check the chicken?
   • What do you write on the invoice before you sign?
   • Who do you call, and when?

   5Strong

   Probes the chicken between packages, holds or rejects it under house rules if it's warmer than your receiving limit, notes the short romaine and any rejected product on the invoice before signing, calls the sous chef, and gets the rest of the cold product put away fast.

   3Mixed

   Probes the chicken and holds it apart in the walk-in, marked for the chef, but signs the invoice as delivered, so there's no record to claim a credit for the chicken or the missing romaine.

   1Weak

   Signs the invoice as is and puts everything away, warm chicken included.

9. Behavioral · Speaking up

   Tell me about a time you were asked to use a machine or tool you hadn't been trained on, like a slicer, a mixer or a food processor.

   Slicers and mixers cause serious cuts. You want the cook who asks to be shown, not the one who figures it out alone.

   Follow-ups

   • What did you say when you were asked?
   • How did you learn to use it?
   • What would you do if someone told you to just figure it out?

   5Strong

   Said plainly they hadn't used it, asked to be shown, learned the guard, the off switch and how to unplug and clean it with a cut glove, and practiced with someone watching.

   3Mixed

   Said they hadn't used it and did the job by hand instead, but never asked to be trained, so the same thing happened the next week.

   1Weak

   Used it without knowing how, or took a guard off to work faster.

10. Behavioral · Working the prep list

    Tell me about a shift, at any job, when you had a long list of tasks and no one around to check in with. How did you decide what to do first?

    Prep cooks often work alone before the chef arrives. This shows whether they plan the list or just start at the top.

    Follow-ups

    • What did you do when something on the list wasn't clear?
    • How did you know whether you were on pace?
    • What was left at the end, and who knew?

    5Strong

    Read the whole list first, ordered it by what others needed first and what took longest, checked pace against the clock, left a question or a note when unsure, and told the next person exactly what was left.

    3Mixed

    Got most of it done in a sensible order, but didn't flag what was left undone.

    1Weak

    Worked top to bottom, stopped when stuck, or left without saying what wasn't done.

Work exercise: a short paid prep test

Pay finalists at least minimum wage for the time and go over your knife rules first; no slicer, mixer or food processor for this test. Hand them a made-up par sheet with on-hand counts and a vinaigrette recipe. In [30] minutes, they write the list in the order they'd work it, then dice [two] onions, portion [six] chicken breasts on a scale, make the vinaigrette by weight, and label every container. Nothing they make is served.

Use made-up materials, never real customer work, and keep it to the time shown. Follow your own safety rules for anything hands-on.

Reference check questions

Tell finalists you'll call a former manager, and get their permission first. Ask about what they did, not whether they were nice.

• How often was their list done before the line came in? What happened when it wasn't?
• How careful were they with labels, dates and the cooling log when no one was checking?
• Tell me about a time they caught a problem, like a bad delivery or a batch that was off. What did they do?
• Would you hire them back? Would you have moved them up to the line?

Questions to skip, and what to ask instead

Ask only what the job needs. Questions that touch age, health, family or pay history can break federal, state or local law, even when you mean well.

• SkipAre you still in school? These shifts start early.

  AskShifts start at [six in the morning] on [weekdays and weekends]. Can you work that schedule? Confirm work eligibility for every new hire after the offer, plus any work permit your state requires for a minor. Federal rules don't let fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds start before seven in the morning.

• SkipDo you go to church on Sundays? We need you then.

  AskWe need [Saturday and Sunday mornings]. Can you work that schedule? If someone asks for time off for a religious practice, treat it as a request for accommodation and talk it through.

• SkipDo you have any problems with your wrists or hands? It's a lot of cutting.

  AskRead every candidate the same line: "The shift involves [hours of knife work and lifting cases up to fifty pounds]. Can you do that, with or without reasonable accommodation?"

Common mistakes when hiring a prep cook

• Judging the knife work alone

  Fast, pretty dice impress in a test. Most prep failures are a stock started too late, a missed par or an unlabeled batch. Rate the written list in the test as heavily as the knife work.

• Putting a candidate on the slicer

  Slicers cause serious cuts, and federal rules bar anyone under eighteen from running or cleaning one. Leave it out of the test and train on it after the hire.

Prep cook interview FAQ