Commis to head chef: a chef's career path in India

Most Indian hotel kitchens run the same ladder: kitchen trainee or apprentice, commis (graded III, II and I), demi chef de partie, chef de partie, sous chef, executive sous chef, executive chef, then corporate chef. The national skill council's certificates expect about nine years of experience before sous chef for a Class XII pass (THSC on NQR).

What does each rank actually do?

Each rank runs a bigger piece of the kitchen than the one below. The clearest official definitions come from the Tourism and Hospitality Skill Council (THSC), whose chef qualifications sit on the government's National Qualification Register. Hotel-management textbooks used in Indian colleges describe the same structure.

• Kitchen trainee. Helps the commis receive and store supplies, does basic prep on instruction and keeps the kitchen clean. THSC's own progression for this role runs through kitchen stewarding to commis (THSC on NQR).
• Commis. Sets up the kitchen, helps prepare and cook food, makes sauces, salads, cold starters and base items, watches stock, and closes the kitchen at the end of the shift (THSC on NQR). The certificate has electives for hot kitchen, tandoor, and pastry and bakery.
• Commis III, II and I. Some hotel groups split the commis rank into grades. On the day we checked, IHCL's careers site listed Commis III openings (IHCL careers) as well as Commis II and Commis I openings across Indian hotels, with Commis II posts named by cuisine: Indian, Indian tandoor, South Indian, Chinese and continental (IHCL careers). Commis III is the junior grade and Commis I the senior.
• Demi chef de partie. Preps in an assigned section, guides the commis, and helps the chef de partie or sous chef cook and plate. Also watches stock and quality (THSC on NQR).
• Chef de partie. Runs one section, such as the tandoor, larder or pastry, owns its inventory and production, and helps the sous or head chef with staffing and admin (THSC on NQR).
• Sous chef. Monitors kitchen operations, supervises the brigade, and helps the executive chef plan the menu and the departmental budget (THSC on NQR).
• Executive sous chef. The executive chef's deputy in large hotels. An Indian open-university textbook for hotel management lists, among a sous chef's duties, covering the executive sous chef's work in their absence, which places this rank between the two (Uttarakhand Open University).
• Executive chef or head chef. Plans and runs the food and beverage department's policies and budget, monitors daily operations and manages the staff (THSC on NQR). The same textbook adds menu pricing, recipe standards, cost control and succession planning (Uttarakhand Open University).
• Corporate chef. THSC lists it as the step after executive chef (THSC on NQR). We did not find a separate THSC qualification or an official definition for it, so ask any employer what the title covers before you accept it.

How long does each step take?

No body publishes a promotion timetable. The closest official guide is the experience THSC asks for before you can sit each chef certificate. These are entry rules for a certificate, not promotion rules, but they show what the sector's skill council treats as normal.

Holding the certificate below shortens the wait. For example, someone with the chef de partie certificate needs 1.5 years more for the sous chef one (NQR). The demi chef de partie file counts apprenticeship time as experience (THSC qualification file).

What does a chef earn at each rank?

The only rank-by-rank pay data we found is self-reported. AmbitionBox publishes averages built from salaries that employees submit, by experience band. These are not audited, they mix hotels, restaurants, caterers and cruise lines, and some bands have few reports. Use them as a rough guide, not an offer benchmark.

Two things stand out. Pay inside a rank barely moves: a chef de partie with 12 years reports little more than one with three. The bigger jumps come with promotion, especially from sous chef upward. Executive chefs with 9 to 12 years report ₹7.5 lakh, below executive sous chefs at the same experience (AmbitionBox). The page does not say why. Our guess, and it is only a guess, is that "executive chef" is also the title of the senior cook at many small restaurants, which would pull the average down.

We left out the Commis 2 and Commis 3 pages because they rest on 50 and 30 reports.

How do you get in?

There are four common doors, and none of them is closed to someone without a degree.

A hotel-management degree. The B.Sc in Hospitality and Hotel Administration at an IHM takes three years after Class XII (NCHMCT). Our guide to hotel-management institutes in India compares the IHM, private and Oberoi routes on fees and entry.

A craft course or diploma. NCHMCT runs an 18-month Diploma in Food Production after Class XII, and a Craftsmanship Certificate Course in Food Production that takes students after Class X (NCHMCT). The craft course is two 17-week semesters followed by 20 weeks of industrial training. The council's course page says successful students are guaranteed entry-level jobs as cooks, commis and kitchen assistants (NCHMCT). That is the council's claim; the page publishes no placement figures. These courses run at IHMs and at the council's food craft institutes.

An apprenticeship. Under NAPS-2, the central government pays 25% of an apprentice's stipend, up to ₹1,500 a month, straight into the apprentice's bank account (DTET Odisha). Apprentices must be at least 14, and 35 or younger at registration for the employer to get the support. IHCL's careers site was listing apprentice posts at several Indian hotels when we checked (IHCL careers), though the listings don't all say which department.

Starting as a helper. THSC's commis certificate accepts a Class X pass with three years of relevant experience, and its kitchen trainee certificate accepts a Class VIII pass with three years (NQR, NQR). In other words, the skill council has a written route from the dish area to the line. Ranveer Brar's first teacher, below, was a street kebab maker, not a college.

Hotel, standalone restaurant or cloud kitchen?

Each kind of kitchen teaches something different, and we found no data comparing pay across them, so this section sticks to what the sources show.

Hotels have the full ladder, named grades and training built in. The IHCL listings show commis jobs split by cuisine, so a hotel commis can choose a specialism early (IHCL careers). The textbook job descriptions for hotel executive chefs include budgets, purchasing, menu pricing and training plans (Uttarakhand Open University), so a hotel career also teaches management.

Standalone restaurants are harder to map: we found no source that sets out restaurant kitchen ranks. A small kitchen cannot fill every rung of a hotel brigade, which suggests fewer formal steps between commis and head chef, but that is our reading, not data. Two of the three chefs below, Mehrotra and Brar, trained in hotel kitchens before leading restaurant kitchens.

Cloud kitchens are delivery-only kitchens, often running several brands from one site. Our cloud kitchen guide covers how they work. We found no published data on cloud-kitchen chef ranks or pay, so we can't tell you how their ladders compare.

Which skills and certificates matter?

Three things show up again and again in the official job definitions: cooking in a section to a recipe, hygiene and safety, and, from chef de partie upward, stock, staff and budgets.

FoSTaC food safety training. This is FSSAI's own programme. Food businesses must have at least one trained and certified food safety supervisor for every 25 food handlers, or part of 25, in each premises (FSSAI). The Basic Catering course runs 4 hours and the Advance Catering course 8 hours (FSSAI).

• Basic courses: fee cap of ₹700 to ₹1,200 plus GST per person offline (FSSAI).
• Advanced courses: fee cap of ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 plus GST per person offline (FSSAI).
• Eligibility for advanced courses: a graduate with a year's experience, or a final-year student in hospitality, hotel management or a related field with at least six weeks of industry training (FSSAI).

Because every licensed kitchen needs supervisors, a commis or demi chef de partie who already holds the advanced certificate gives the head chef one less thing to arrange. That is our reasoning, not an FSSAI statement.

THSC certificates. The current versions of the sous chef and executive chef certificates are listed as valid until 31 January 2027 (NQR). They are most useful if you came in without a degree and want paper that matches your experience.

Can you build a career abroad?

Yes, but we found no single official source on chef visas from India, and rules differ by country, so check the destination's own immigration site. What the sources do show is that cruise lines hire Indian kitchen staff: AmbitionBox lists Carnival Cruise Lines as the top-paying company on its commis chef page (AmbitionBox), and THSC's WorldSkills cooking qualification names ships and airlines among a chef's workplaces (NQR). Two of the three chefs below built part of their careers abroad.

Three careers, from their own accounts

Manish Mehrotra. He decided to become a chef at hotel school, where he found the kitchen "the most interesting place" (Global Indian). He studied at the IHM in Mumbai, then worked at Thai Pavilion in the Taj President under Ananda Solomon. He spent about seven and a half years in Mumbai in all before moving to Delhi in 2000 (Man's World India). In Delhi he joined Old World Hospitality's Oriental Octopus, later worked in London, and created Indian Accent in Delhi in 2009 (Global Indian). The route: hotel training, then a restaurant group, then his own menu.

Ranveer Brar. His first training was about six months under Munir Ustad, a kebab vendor in Lucknow. He then went to IHM Lucknow and joined the Taj group at Fort Aguada Beach Resort in Goa, where he launched two restaurants on his first assignment. In 2003 he moved to the Radisson Blu in New Delhi and, at 25, became what the profile calls the youngest executive chef in the country at the time. He later opened Banq in Boston and returned to India in 2015 (Global Indian).

Garima Arora. She studied at Jai Hind College in Mumbai and worked as a pharma journalist before leaving to study at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. She worked at Noma in Copenhagen under René Redzepi, then as a sous chef for Gaggan Anand at his restaurant, Gaggan. She opened Gaa in Bangkok in 2017 and, within a year, became the first Indian woman chef to win a Michelin star (Global Indian). Hers is the career-changer's route: no hotel school, a culinary school in Paris, then years in demanding kitchens.

What should you do first?

If you are starting out, pick one door and one kitchen, and stay long enough to move up a grade. The certificate experience bars above suggest the sector expects years, not months, at each step (THSC on NQR). Take FoSTaC early. Ask any employer which grade you are joining, what the next grade is, and what it takes to get there. If you are weighing a degree, read our hotel-management institutes guide before you pay a fee.