Crew Chef / Crew Cook
The crew chef feeds everyone who works on board. On a 70m yacht that can mean 25 people, three times a day, seven days a week, on a budget and around shift patterns. Crew food has a big effect on morale, and captains know it. Do it well and the job is a solid step towards sous chef or head chef.
The jobWhat fills the day
The core job is breakfast, lunch and dinner for the crew, plus night-watch snacks and a stocked crew mess. You plan menus a week ahead, order within a set budget, and cook for a crew from a dozen countries. Expect dietary needs as real as any guest's: coeliac, vegetarian, halal, a deckhand cutting weight. Variety matters most. Nobody wants the same chicken twice in a week, and crew notice when the salad bar gets lazy.
With guests aboard, the galley gets tight. Crew meals have to be ready on time and kept out of the head chef's way while guest service runs. Mealtimes get staggered so the deck and interior can eat in shifts. You will often be pulled in to prep for the guest galley, make canapé bases, bake bread or cover the crew barbecue on a beach day. Shipyard periods are the reverse: contractors may join the mess and numbers rise.
Crew chef jobs only exist on larger yachts. Below roughly 55m the sole chef or sous chef cooks for the crew. Captains and head chefs hire people with solid professional kitchen experience: restaurant or hotel line work, catering, or a commis or chef de partie season on a yacht. A culinary diploma helps. So does proof you can cook hearty food in volume and on budget, with photos of real crew meals rather than plated fine dining.
Most people stay in the role for one to three seasons. The usual next step is sous chef on the same yacht, or sole chef on a 40m to 50m yacht where you cook for guests and crew alike. Use the time to build your guest skills. Ask to plate, learn the provisioning suppliers in Antibes and Fort Lauderdale, and get your Ship's Cook Certificate done early. A head chef reference saying you stepped up during charter weighs a lot.
Skills captains look for
- Volume cooking on budget
- Weekly menu planning
- Dietary and allergen management
- Provisioning and stock control
- Baking and bread
- Galley hygiene and HACCP
- Working around guest service
A day aboardOwner trip, 80m motor yacht, anchored off Porto Cervo, Sardinia
Into the galley before the guest team. Bake bread rolls, set the crew mess with fruit, yoghurt and cereals, and start eggs and bacon.
Crew breakfast in two sittings so the deck team can get the tenders ready for the guests' morning swim.
Prep for the head chef: peel and portion vegetables for guest lunch and make a batch of focaccia for the beach club picnic.
Crew lunch out: a Thai green curry, rice, a vegan option and a salad bar. The interior eats late, so a plate goes aside for each of them.
Break in the cabin. You rarely get off the boat on an owner trip at anchor.
Check stock and write next week's crew menu. Send the order to the provisioner in Olbia, keeping within the weekly crew food budget.
Crew dinner served early, before guest dinner service takes over the galley. Roast chicken, potatoes, greens and a crumble.
Clean down your section, label and date leftovers, and leave sandwiches and soup out for the night watch.
Off duty. Rest before an early start.
Pay by yacht sizeMonthly, before tips. Estimates. Bars share one scale.
Crew chefs share in charter tips on most yachts, which can add 10 to 15 percent of the charter fee split across the crew. Rotational contracts on 90m+ usually pay at the top of the band with fewer working months. See the Yacht Chef & Galley salary guide for figures from live adverts.
Tickets and visas
Must have
- STCW Basic Safety Training
- ENG1 medical
- Food Hygiene Level 2
- Ship's Cook Certificate (MCA or equivalent) on most large yachts
Gets you hired
- Food Safety Level 3
- PDSD
- Culinary diploma or apprenticeship
- Allergen awareness training
Visas
- Schengen right to work or visa
- US C1/D crew visa
Where it leadsA typical career path
Crew Chef / Crew Cook jobsOpen now on SuperyachtRoles.com
Questions crew ask
Do I need professional kitchen experience to become a crew chef?
Yes, in almost every case. Head chefs want at least two years in restaurants, hotels or catering, and they want proof you can cook in volume. Home cooks and people with no formal background usually start as galley assistant or cook/steward on smaller yachts.
Is the Ship's Cook Certificate compulsory?
Under MLC 2006, larger yachts need a qualified cook on board, and flag states such as the Red Ensign group check for it. If the crew chef is the person named in that role, the certificate is required. Even when it isn't, having one makes you easier to hire and promote.
Will I cook for guests?
Sometimes. Most crew chefs help with prep, baking and the crew side of beach barbecues during charter. Some head chefs hand over a guest course or staff lunches to a crew chef they trust, which is how people earn the step up to sous chef.
Is crew chef a dead end?
Only if you let it be. Treat it as two seasons of paid training on a large yacht. Learn guest plating, provisioning and galley management, and move up to sous chef or sole chef on a smaller yacht.