Cook and Chef Jobs in Europe

Cook or Chef, and Does It Matter

These two words are used loosely, and the difference affects which jobs you should be applying for.

Chef usually means a trained kitchen professional holding a named brigade position, with responsibility for a section, a menu or a team. Restaurant and hotel kitchens advertise for chefs. The word carries an expectation of formal training or a long professional record.

Cook is the broader word. It covers the same work in settings that do not use brigade language, including hospitals, schools, staff restaurants, care homes and smaller operations. It also covers people who learned on the job rather than through training. Institutional and contract catering almost always advertises for cooks.

In practice the distinction matters in three ways:

• Pay. Chef positions in restaurants and hotels generally pay more than cook positions in institutional catering, though the hours are worse
• Hours. Cook roles in hospitals, schools and staff restaurants usually run daytime shifts with no late nights or weekends. Chef roles rarely do
• Progression. The brigade ladder exists in restaurant and hotel kitchens. Institutional catering has its own structure, usually shorter

Search both words when looking for work. A role you would be right for may be advertised either way depending on the employer, and limiting yourself to one term cuts your options roughly in half.

The Kitchen Brigade and Where You Fit

European kitchens run on a brigade structure borrowed from French practice. Employers hire by position rather than by years of experience, so knowing which level you can hold matters more than how long you have been cooking.

Say which section you have run, not just that you have cooked. A chef de partie who has held the sauce section is a different hire from one who has held larder, and employers advertise for the section they need.

Food Hygiene Training

EU food hygiene rules require food handlers to be trained and supervised in food hygiene appropriate to their work. Each country applies this through its own system, so the certificate name and the way you get it differ from place to place, and a certificate from one country is not automatically accepted in another.

In practice most employers either arrange the training themselves or expect you to complete it shortly after starting. It is rarely a barrier to being hired. Ask who arranges it and who pays before you accept, because the answer varies.

Allergen handling is taken seriously across Europe and is usually covered in the same training. Kitchens are expected to know what is in every dish and tell customers accurately.

Cook and Chef Roles Hiring in Europe

• Chef de partie. The position employers struggle most to fill, across hotels, restaurants and contract catering. Strongest in Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and the Nordics.
• Sous chef. Needs supervisory experience and usually the local language, because you run the team during service.
• Pastry chef. A separate track with its own training, and consistently short across Europe.
• Hotel and resort cook. Seasonal and year round positions, with accommodation often included. Strongest in the Alps, the Mediterranean coast and the Greek islands.
• Contract and institutional catering cook. Hospitals, schools and staff restaurants. Regular hours, no late nights, lower pay than restaurants.
• Specialty cuisine cook. Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish and other cuisines where genuine training in that cuisine is the qualification employers want.
• Kitchen assistant and commis. The usual entry point, and the most reachable route if your experience is informal.

Browse open kitchen roles.

Specialty Cuisine Routes

If you cook a cuisine from your own country to a professional standard, that is often a stronger position than general European cooking experience. Several countries treat specialty cooks as a distinct category, because a restaurant serving that cuisine cannot easily recruit locally.

What employers and authorities usually want to see is formal training or a long documented record in that specific cuisine, rather than general kitchen experience. If this is your route, build your CV around the cuisine rather than around the brigade ladder.

What You Need to Apply

• A CV stating the positions you have held and the sections you have run
• Contactable references from kitchens you have worked in
• Food hygiene training, or willingness to complete it on arrival
• Photographs of your own plated work, which help more in this trade than in most
• A valid passport, and a criminal record certificate where asked
• Fitness for long periods standing, and for working in heat
• Language at the level the role genuinely needs, which is covered below

What Kitchen Work Pays

Gross monthly. Kitchen pay is lower than the skilled trades in every market, and the gap is widest at the entry levels. Where accommodation and meals are included, the real value is higher than the figure suggests, so compare what you keep rather than what you are offered.

Hours and Conditions, Honestly

This industry works unsocial hours and there is no point pretending otherwise. Evenings, weekends and public holidays are normal. Split shifts, where you work lunch, break in the afternoon and return for dinner, are common in hotels and in Southern Europe.

Weekly hours are regulated across the EU, and contracts should state them. In practice some kitchens run longer than the contract says, so ask how overtime is recorded and paid before you accept a position. A kitchen that cannot answer that clearly is telling you something.

Seasonal contracts in resorts often include accommodation and meals, which changes the economics considerably. They also end on a fixed date, so plan what happens next before the season closes.

Language

Kitchen work needs more language than trades like welding, and less than customer facing roles. Many kitchens across Europe run in a mix of languages, and in large hotel kitchens English is often the working language.

• Commis and section roles. A2 is often enough to start in an international kitchen, and employers sometimes fund courses
• Chef de partie. A2 to B1, because you take direction during service and coordinate with other sections
• Sous chef and head chef. B1 to B2, because you run the team, deal with suppliers and handle inspections
• Ireland and large international hotel groups. The most reachable in English
• Southern Europe. Local language matters more, because kitchens are smaller and teams are more local

Why Consider EU Helpers

If you are a cook or chef

• We work out which brigade position you can realistically hold, so you are not applying for sous chef roles that will reject you or commis roles that waste you
• We tell you the real language level a kitchen needs, not the optimistic one
• We check what is actually included on seasonal contracts, including accommodation terms and what gets deducted for it
• We get the contracted hours and how overtime is paid confirmed in writing before you accept
• Our service fees are set out in writing in the agreement before you commit, so you know what you are paying for and when. We do not charge illegal recruitment fees, never ask for payment in exchange for a guaranteed job or visa, and never hold your passport or original documents
• If a country is wrong for you, we say so and look at others

Ready to start? Register as a job seeker and tell us which sections you have run.

If you are hiring kitchen staff

• Candidates screened by brigade position and section, not filtered by keyword
• Verified language level, because an overstated level costs you more during service than a delayed start does
• Access to specialty cuisine cooks that local advertising will not reach, across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe
• Support for your team through the permit paperwork on the candidate side
• Replacement cover if a placed candidate leaves within the agreed guarantee period for reasons within our control

Hiring cooks or chefs? Register as an employer and tell us the positions and sections you need.

If you are a recruitment partner

• Live hospitality mandates across our active markets, with the brigade position and language level stated up front
• Real requirements to submit against, not speculative listings
• Documentation support for your candidates on permits and translations
• Commission terms in writing before any placement
• Partner agencies must hold the required licence in their own country and must not charge illegal fees to workers

Placing candidates? Register as a recruitment partner to access live kitchen mandates.

Check These Before You Accept

• Which brigade position is the role, and which section would you run
• What are the contracted weekly hours, and how is overtime recorded and paid
• Are split shifts expected, and how long is the afternoon break
• Is accommodation included, and what is deducted from your pay for it
• Are meals on shift included
• If the contract is seasonal, what is the end date and what happens after it
• Who arranges and pays for food hygiene training
• Ask for every fee to be itemised in writing in a signed agreement before you commit. Be wary of payment demanded in exchange for a guaranteed job or visa, and of anyone asking to hold your passport or original documents

Related Work

Kitchen staff often move between these. Hospitality jobs cover front of house, housekeeping and hotel operations. Cleaning and facility services jobs overlap in hotels and contract catering. Elderly care jobs include catering roles in residential settings.

See all sectors on our industries hub, browse open roles, or contact our team.

Official Government References

Rules change. These are the authoritative sources. Confirm the current position with the competent authority before making a decision.

• EU Immigration Portal: ec.europa.eu/immigration
• EU Blue Card, European Commission: home-affairs.ec.europa.eu
• European Migration Network: home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/networks/european-migration-network-emn_en
• EURES, the European Job Mobility Portal: eures.europa.eu
• European Commission food hygiene legislation: food.ec.europa.eu

Disclaimer

Important: EU Helpers is not a government body and does not decide permit or visa applications. We prepare documentation and guide the process. Competent authorities and employers make every final decision. Rules change over time, so confirm the current position before committing.