9 Cook CV Examples: UK, Australia & Beyond (2026)

A kitchen hires on what you can do at the pass, but the CV decides whether you get to show it. A cook CV that says “prepared food to a high standard” wastes that chance. A care home, a primary school, a gastropub, and a contract caterer all hire cooks, and each reads the same word, “cook,” as a different job.

The nine cook CV examples below cover the kitchens that hire most often outside the US, including the UK and Australia, from apprentice to senior cook. Each one names the setting, the volume, and the paperwork that employer screens for. If you’re applying in the US, our cook resume examples follow American conventions.

Cook CV Examples by Kitchen and Career Stage

Pick the example closest to the kitchen you’re applying to, then swap in your own figures and qualifications. The numbers shown are illustrative.

Apprentice Cook

Use this template

Best for: school leavers and career starters beginning a cookery apprenticeship or a first kitchen job with college training.

This apprentice cook CV example puts training next to practice: day release at college toward a Level 2 catering qualification, a Level 2 food safety certificate already passed, and a rotation through the larder, grill, and breakfast sections of a hotel kitchen. Reliability gets its own line, with a full attendance record across the first year.

Why this works:

• The qualification is shown as in progress, with the level, which is honest and readable at a glance.
• Naming the sections you’ve rotated through proves you’ve seen a full kitchen, not one corner of it.
• An attendance line speaks to what head cooks worry about first with a new apprentice.

Care Home Cook

Use this template

Best for: cooks in residential and nursing homes, where the menu follows residents’ dietary needs rather than a chef’s menu.

This care home cook CV example is built for a small, personal kitchen: three meals and snacks for 48 residents, texture-modified and fortified diets prepared to IDDSI levels, allergen records kept up to date, and menus adjusted with the care team. An enhanced DBS check, if you hold one, appears near the top.

Why this works:

• Texture-modified and fortified diets are named, so the home knows you won’t need basic training.
• Resident count and meal frequency set the scale without needing a covers number.
• The DBS line saves a recruiter a step, because most care employers will ask for it.

Cook

Use this template

Best for: cooks with around three to five years of experience in a restaurant or hotel who work several sections.

This cook CV example is the dependable middle: four years in a busy independent restaurant doing about 90 covers a night, working grill, larder, and sauté, ordering for the larder section, and training two junior cooks. A Level 2 food hygiene certificate and allergen awareness training sit in a short qualifications block rather than a long list.

School Meals Cook

Use this template

Best for: cooks in school kitchens, where hours are term-time and the customers are children with allergies and special diets.

This school meals cook CV example covers the work in plain terms: cooking about 380 lunches a day from fresh ingredients, maintaining the allergen matrix, preparing special-diet meals, and meeting the school’s nutrition standards. Term-time hours are stated up front, and an enhanced DBS check is listed if you hold one.

Why this works:

• The allergen matrix and special diets are the main safety duty in a school, so they lead.
• Stating term-time hours up front saves both sides a mismatch.
• Scratch cooking at 380 meals shows you can produce volume, not just reheat it.

Senior Cook

Use this template

Best for: experienced cooks who run a shift or a small team and are one step below head cook or chef.

This senior cook CV example shows supervision without overreaching: running the kitchen on five dinner shifts, writing the weekly rota, ordering for the kitchen, leading monthly allergen audits, and being the named contact for environmental health inspection visits. Cost control gets a number, such as cutting weekly food waste by £180 through tighter par levels.

Pub Cook

Use this template

Best for: cooks in gastropubs and pub-restaurants, where the week is quiet and the Sunday service is a sprint.

This pub cook CV example is built around the rhythm of the job: 120 covers on a Sunday roast service, grill and fryer sections on busy weekends, and prep for a menu that changes seasonally. It lists the allergen menu matrix you maintained and how you kept the line moving with a small team.

Cook Relocating Abroad

Use this template

Best for: cooks moving to a new country or applying from overseas, whose qualifications and employers are unfamiliar to the reader.

This relocating cook CV example solves the translation problem: it names the country and kind of each kitchen (hotel, resort, canteen) with the seats or meals per day, states how your qualification maps to the local one, lists languages, and gives your work authorisation status and earliest start date in the profile. References are named, with a phone or email, so a hiring manager can check.

Why this works:

• Setting and scale are explained, so an unfamiliar employer can compare you with local candidates.
• Work authorisation and start date are stated, which removes the first question a recruiter has.
• Languages matter in kitchens with mixed teams, and listing them is a real advantage.

Contract Catering Cook

Use this template

Best for: cooks working for contract caterers in offices, hospitals, and schools, where the client’s standards sit alongside the employer’s.

This contract catering cook CV example reflects the way these jobs work: a client site serving about 250 lunches a day, a menu cycle set by the caterer, client satisfaction and audit scores, and food safety records kept to the contractor’s system. Moving between sites to cover absences is listed as flexibility, with the number of sites named.

Cook (Certificate III in Commercial Cookery)

Use this template

Best for: qualified cooks in Australia, and anyone applying there with a trade-style commercial cookery qualification.

This Australian cook CV example puts the trade qualification up front: Certificate III in Commercial Cookery, completed through an apprenticeship, followed by experience in a pub bistro and a club kitchen. It names the sections you worked, the volume, and the cuisines covered, because the qualification tells an employer the foundations are there, and the experience tells them what you can do on a Tuesday night.

Cook CV Qualifications and Certificates to List

Outside the US, the paperwork on a cook CV is mostly about training and checks, and what employers ask for depends on the country and the kitchen. In the UK, government guidance for food businesses says you must make sure any staff who handle food are trained in food hygiene and safety, including allergens, before they start work. That’s why recruiters screen for it. Here is how to present the usual items:

List only what you’ve been awarded, with the awarding body and year. Check the job advert too, because qualification names differ by country and the employer’s wording is the one to mirror.

Copy These Cook CV Profiles and Bullet Points

These blocks are adaptable. Keep the structure and replace the figures, settings, and qualifications with your own.

An apprentice profile that shows reliability

For a first-year apprentice, training progress and attendance say more than adjectives.

A care home bullet that names the diet

Care employers hire for diet knowledge, so say which diets, and how many residents.

A school meals bullet built on safety and scale

Volume plus the allergen duty is the pairing a school catering manager looks for.

A pub bullet for the Sunday sprint

Pub kitchens run on the weekend, so lead with the day that matters.

How a Cook CV Differs from a US Resume

Conventions shift by country, so treat the list below as a starting point and check local examples before you send. The main differences:

If you’re unsure which document the employer wants, our CV vs resume guide explains where the terms overlap and where they don’t.

Anatomy of a Cook CV

A cook CV has three parts that do the work: a personal profile, a qualifications block, and role entries with results. The snippets below are adaptable, and the bracketed items are the parts you fill in. Our chronological CV template suits a kitchen career that moves from role to role.

The personal profile

Name the setting, the volume, and the certificate, in that order.

The qualifications block

Put it directly under the profile, so the hygiene paperwork is visible without scrolling.

The role entry

Each job needs a setting line, then bullets with a number.

Before You Send Your Cook CV

For a deeper look at the skills line, see our skills section guide, and choose from our simple CV templates for a layout that suits a kitchen CV.

Ready to write your Cook CV?

Turn what you just read into a cv that gets you shortlisted for Cook roles.

Create CV

Cook CV FAQ

What should a cook CV include?

A cook CV should include a short personal profile naming your setting, daily volume, and key certificate, then a visible qualifications block with food hygiene and allergen training. Follow it with role entries that each state the kitchen (a care home, school, pub, or hotel) and two or three bullets with a number: covers, residents, meals per day, or waste saved. Add referees or “available on request,” depending on local custom. Keep it to one or two pages, and list only qualifications and checks you actually hold.

Do I need a Level 2 food hygiene certificate to work as a cook in the UK?

UK guidance requires food businesses to make sure staff who handle food are trained in food hygiene and safety before they start work, and a Level 2 food hygiene certificate is the usual way to show it. Many employers ask for one in the advert, so having it on your CV saves a step.

How long should a cook CV be?

One page suits apprentices and cooks with under five years of experience. Senior cooks can use a second page for roles, qualifications, and a short list of sites or kitchens. Whichever you choose, the first page should carry the profile, the qualifications, and your current role.

Should I include a photo on my cook CV?

Leave it off unless the employer or country expects it. In the UK it is not the norm, and where you’re unsure, look at local examples and the employer’s own advert before deciding.

How do I show a qualification from another country?

Give the full title as awarded, the country and awarding body, the year, and a short note on the level or length of the course. Employers recognise a plain, accurate description faster than a guess at the local equivalent, so don’t relabel it.

How do I describe term-time or seasonal cooking work?

State it plainly in the role line, such as “term-time, 7:30 to 14:00.” It reads as a deliberate choice of working pattern, and it prevents a mismatch with employers who need year-round cover.

What do I do about Natasha’s Law and packaged food?

If you’ve prepared sandwiches, salads, or bakes that are packed and sold on the same premises, mention it. Since 1 October 2021, these items need the food name and a full ingredients list with allergens emphasised, so experience labelling them correctly is relevant for cafes, school kitchens, and delis.

Ready to build yours? Start from a template on our CV templates page, or browse all CV examples by profession.

Need a resume instead of a CV? See our Resume example for Cook.

Written by

Artur Lopato

Artur Lopato is a product designer and the founder of Wensa, with nearly a decade of experience designing digital products for startups. He leads product and design at Wensa, focused on making resume writing simple, clear, and effective for job seekers everywhere.