A chef de partie is a station chef, the cook in charge of one section of a restaurant kitchen, such as sauces, fish or pastry. The title comes from the kitchen brigade system developed by the French chef Auguste Escoffier, and the role sits below the sous chef and above the junior cooks.
Where the station chef sits in the kitchen brigade
Escoffier, who lived from 1846 to 1935, borrowed the idea of clear ranks and duties from a military brigade and applied it to hotel and restaurant kitchens. Le Cordon Bleu describes him assigning more than 20 specific cook positions. Each person knows exactly what they make and who they answer to.
- Executive chef or chef de cuisine, who runs the whole kitchen and the menu.
- Sous chef, the second in command.
- Chef de partie, who runs one station.
- Demi-chef, who works a lesser station under a chef de partie.
- Commis, a junior cook who answers directly to the chef de partie.
Few kitchens today staff every rung, but the ranking survives, in full or in part, in many hotel and restaurant kitchens.
The stations and their French names
“Partie” means part or section, and each part of the classic brigade has its own title. Large kitchens split the work finely, and smaller ones fold several stations together.
| Station title | What that chef de partie handles |
|---|---|
| Saucier | Sauces, warm hors d’oeuvres and finishing meat dishes |
| Poissonnier | Fish and seafood |
| Rôtisseur | Roasting, broiling and, in some kitchens, frying |
| Grillardin | Grilled foods, in larger kitchens |
| Entremetier | Soups and dishes without meat or fish |
| Garde manger | Cold foods such as salads, pâtés and charcuterie |
| Pâtissier | Desserts and baked items |
| Tournant | Roams the kitchen, covering whichever station needs help |
In a small restaurant, one cook might handle what three chefs de partie would cover in a grand hotel kitchen, such as grill, sauté and fry on a single line. The titles still help, because they describe a set of responsibilities even when one person carries several.
What a chef de partie does during service
Le Cordon Bleu sums up the core of the job this way. All food that leaves a station is the chef de partie’s responsibility, so they have to keep quality consistent on every plate, and that responsibility shapes the whole shift.
Before service, the station chef checks that ingredients are prepped and portioned, sauces are ready and equipment works. The commis cooks on the station take direction from them and handle a lot of the chopping and tool care. During service, the chef de partie cooks, times dishes to match calls from the pass and fixes problems before a plate goes out. Afterward comes cleanup, stock checks and notes for the next day’s prep.
It is a hands-on leadership job. A chef de partie still cooks all night while also training and correcting the cooks beside them.
How cooks work their way up to running a station
The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that many chefs start in other kitchen roles, such as line cook, and learn from the chefs they work under. Others attend culinary programs at community colleges, technical schools, culinary arts schools or four-year colleges, and some complete apprenticeships, a number of which are registered with the U.S. Department of Labor.
In practice, a cook moves from commis to handling a station alone, then to running it with others underneath. Taking over a station usually follows a long stretch of proving you can keep it clean, stocked and on time night after night. The same BLS page lists current pay figures for chefs and head cooks if you want to compare wages in your area.
Chef de partie compared with an American line cook
Plenty of American kitchens skip the French titles and call the same kind of work grill cook, sauté cook or pastry cook. A line cook may cover one station, but the chef de partie title usually signals someone who also leads that station, trains junior cooks and answers for everything it sends out. If a job listing uses the term, read the duties to see which version the kitchen means.
Frequently asked questions
Is a chef de partie higher than a sous chef?
No. The sous chef is the second in command of the whole kitchen, directly under the executive chef or chef de cuisine. A chef de partie runs a single station and sits one level below the sous chef, with demi-chefs and commis cooks working under them on that station.
What is a demi chef de partie?
A demi-chef, or demi chef de partie, is a cook who runs a smaller or less complex station under the direction of a chef de partie. It is a step between commis and full station chef, and it gives a cook experience leading a section before taking full responsibility for one.
How do you pronounce chef de partie?
In English it is usually said as shef duh par-TEE, with the stress on the last syllable. The plural is chefs de partie, where the added s on chefs is silent in French. Kitchen staff often shorten the title to CDP on schedules and job listings.
What does a sous chef do?
A sous chef is the kitchen's second in command. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, sous chefs supervise the cooks, prepare meals and report results to the head chef, and they run the kitchen when the head chef is away. In a brigade kitchen, the chefs de partie answer to them.
What is a chef?
A chef is a professional cook who leads food preparation in a kitchen. The word is French, short for chef de cuisine, literally head of the kitchen, and traces back to an Old French word for leader or head. That is why titles such as chef de partie signal someone in charge of a section.
