Nadia Hariri Executive Chef, CEC Portland, 97214, United States [email protected] · (503) 555-0754
11 September 2026
Ms. Adaeze Okonjo Owner and General Manager Fernwood House Seattle, United States
Application for Executive Chef, Fernwood House
Dear Ms. Okonjo,
I am applying for the Executive Chef post at Fernwood House. I currently run Marisol Kitchen in Portland: 120 seats, 220 covers on a Saturday, roughly 42,000 covers and $2.9m of food revenue a year, with a brigade of 21. Food cost sits at 28.6% and labor at 30.4%.
Neither of those numbers was there when I arrived. Food cost was 34.1%, and it came down over seven quarters through three things rather than one: a quarterly contribution margin review that moved or repriced nine menu items, a waste log kept by station that recovered roughly $1,900 a month through a stock and staff meal cycle, and three protein lines moved to direct accounts for a 9% cut in landed cost. Covers grew 18% over the same period, so none of it came out of the guest experience, and average check went from $54 to $61 without a headline price increase.
Your posting mentions that Fernwood is adding a private dining room and moving to seven services a week. The first thing I would want to look at is the rota against a covers forecast, because a seventh service usually adds labor before it adds revenue, and the private dining margin is normally where the food cost gain actually comes from. I would also want to see your current sales mix before touching the menu.
I hold ACF Certified Executive Chef and a ServSafe Food Protection Manager certification valid to 2029, and I can give four weeks' notice. I would be glad to stage a service so you can see how I work the pass. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Nadia Hariri, CEC
Summary
A chef cover letter names the size of kitchen you can hold, the food and labor percentages you have moved and the covers you put out to do it. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, the openings that work, what to write when your kitchen does not use a food cost percentage, and how the letter changes between an independent restaurant and a hotel group.
Chef cover letter examples by experience level
A chef cover letter is a one-page letter telling an owner or operations director what size of kitchen you can hold, which cost lines you have moved, and what you would look at first in theirs.
It is not a letter about food. The reader assumes you can cook; nobody gets hired without a stage. What they do not know is whether you will make their prime cost better or worse, and that is the question the letter answers.
Guide to a chef cover letter
This guide and the corresponding chef cover letter example will cover:
- How to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Why food cost and covers belong in the first two sentences
- What to write when your kitchen runs on cost per meal, not a percentage
- How the letter changes between an independent restaurant and a hotel group
- The closings that get a stage booked rather than a polite reply
How to write a chef cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The post, the room you run now, the cost line you hold | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | One cost movement with a start, an end and a period | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Something real about their operation, and what you would look at first | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | Certifications, notice period, offer to stage | 2 sentences |
Open with the room and the number, not the cuisine
Most chef letters open by describing a style of cooking. The reader cannot act on that; they already know what their restaurant serves.
They can act on size and cost. "I run a 120-seat restaurant at 220 covers on a Saturday, holding food at 28.6% and labor at 30.4%" places you on their scale and tells them whether the conversation is worth having.
Give the movement in the second paragraph, because an endpoint alone reads as inherited. A food cost that went from 34.1% to 28.6% over seven quarters is a method, and the method is what they are buying.
A chef cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Ms. Okonjo,
I am applying for the Executive Chef post at Fernwood House. I currently run Marisol Kitchen in Portland: 120 seats, 220 covers on a Saturday, roughly 42,000 covers and $2.9m of food revenue a year, with a brigade of 21. Food cost sits at 28.6% and labor at 30.4%.
Neither of those numbers was there when I arrived. Food cost was 34.1%, and it came down over seven quarters through three things rather than one: a quarterly contribution margin review that moved or repriced nine menu items, a waste log kept by station that recovered roughly $1,900 a month through a stock and staff meal cycle, and three protein lines moved to direct accounts for a 9% cut in landed cost. Covers grew 18% over the same period, so none of it came out of the guest experience, and average check went from $54 to $61 without a headline price increase.
Your posting mentions that Fernwood is adding a private dining room and moving to seven services a week. The first thing I would want to look at is the rota against a covers forecast, because a seventh service usually adds labor before it adds revenue, and the private dining margin is normally where the food cost gain actually comes from. I would also want to see your current sales mix before touching the menu.
I hold ACF Certified Executive Chef and a ServSafe Food Protection Manager certification valid to 2029, and I can give four weeks' notice. I would be glad to stage a service so you can see how I work the pass. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Nadia Hariri, CEC
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I am passionate about seasonal, locally sourced cooking | I run a 120-seat restaurant at 220 covers on a Saturday, food at 28.6% and labor at 30.4% |
| I am writing to express my interest in your executive chef position | I am applying for the Executive Chef post at Fernwood House |
| I have extensive experience in kitchen management and cost control | Food cost came down from 34.1% to 28.6% over seven quarters while covers grew 18% |
| I would love the opportunity to bring my creativity to your team | Your posting mentions a private dining room and a move to seven services a week |
The left column is what the reader has already read four times this week. The right is a file they can price.
What counts as evidence when you do not run a food cost percentage
Plenty of good kitchens do not use restaurant metrics. Use the language of the operation you came from rather than borrowing one that sounds more commercial.
| Kind of kitchen | The number to write instead |
|---|---|
| Healthcare or aged care | Cost per patient day, tray accuracy rate, therapeutic diet coverage |
| School or university dining | Cost per meal against the contracted rate, participation rate, meals served per day |
| Contract catering | Contract margin, client retention, meals per labor hour |
| Banqueting and events | Covers per event, events per week, plated versus buffet split, guest count accuracy |
| Small independent | Covers, average check, gross margin per cover, supplier count |
Whichever you use, give it the same shape: starting point, end point, period.
Hotels and groups read a different letter to independents
For a hotel or group, lead with volume, multiple outlets and forecasting, and show you have worked inside a formal P&L. For an independent, lead with the food and the margin together, since the owner reads it and carries both. Name one specific thing taken from their menu, their opening hours or the posting. Offer to stage a service; offering first reads as confidence. State your notice period, because kitchens hire against a date.
Do not open with a philosophy of food. Do not attach a menu you have not been asked for. Do not claim a cost figure from a kitchen where someone else held the budget. Do not write a letter with no number in it. Do not send the same letter to a 40-seat bistro and a 400-room hotel, because the two readers are looking for opposite evidence.
Where the money actually is
The median annual wage for chefs and head cooks was $62,470 as of May 2025, or $30.03 an hour (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Chefs and Head Cooks, last modified 27 August 2026).
The sector you work in moves that more than anything else you control. Traveler accommodation pays a median of $74,380 and amusement, gambling and recreation $72,830, while food services and drinking places, which employ 64 percent of all chefs and head cooks, pay a median of $60,580 (BLS, May 2025).
It is a growing occupation: 220,300 jobs in 2025, 7 percent projected growth to 2035 and about 25,200 openings a year (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025-35 projections). A letter that carries covers, banqueting and forecasting as well as cost is written to the better-paid half of the occupation rather than the larger half.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. PDF unless the portal says otherwise, named for you and the post: nadia-hariri-executive-chef-cover-letter.pdf.
Address a person. Independents publish the owner or general manager; hotel groups publish the food and beverage director. "Dear Hiring Manager" on an otherwise specific letter looks like a file sent to twelve kitchens in one evening.
Use the same figures as your resume so the two agree. Our chef resume example is written with the numbers used here.
Key takeaways
- Put the room and the cost line in the first two sentences: seats, covers, food and labor cost.
- Give one cost movement with a starting point, an end point and a period.
- Say how it moved; the method is what transfers to their kitchen.
- Translate to your own sector's metric if you do not run a food cost percentage.
- Name one real thing about their operation and say what you would look at first.
- Offer to stage a service and state your notice period.
- Address a named person and keep it to one page.
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Chef cover letter questions, answered
How long should a chef cover letter be?
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. Chef hiring moves quickly and the reader is doing it between services, so length works against you.
Should I attach a sample menu?
Only if they ask. An unsolicited menu invites the reader to argue about dishes before they have decided whether you can hold a budget, which is the wrong argument for round one. Offer to bring one to the stage.
What do I write if I have never held a head chef title?
Write what the sous chef job actually was. Most sous chefs run ordering, rotas, prep lists and full services without the title. Name the services you ran alone, the covers on them and any cost line you touched, then say plainly that you want a first head chef role.
How do I explain leaving a kitchen after a few months?
In one clause, without apology. Closures, ownership changes and a promised budget that never arrived are all normal and all verifiable. Label a stage as a stage with the house and the length; a short stint with a reason beats an unexplained gap.
Is it worth naming my ACF certification in the letter?
Yes, in the closing line with the awarding body. The American Culinary Federation savory ladder runs Certified Foundational Cook, Certified Cook, Certified Sous Chef, Certified Chef de Cuisine, Certified Executive Chef and Certified Master Chef, with a parallel pastry track (American Culinary Federation, accessed September 2026). It carries most weight in hotels, clubs, contract catering and education, where a credential ladder already shapes the job grades.