The most impressive CV is frequently not the one that lasts the season. Here is what actually predicts a placement working — in the order I weight it.
A yacht chef is one of the highest-leverage hires on any vessel. Guests remember the food long after they have forgotten the itinerary, and a mismatched galley can sour an entire season for the whole crew. Yet it remains one of the hardest crew roles to assess, because the CV that looks most impressive is frequently not the one that lasts.
I have placed more than 50 chefs on vessels up to 88 metres while still working as a superyacht chef myself. What follows is what I look for, in the order I weight it.
A Michelin line on a CV tells you what someone can cook. It tells you nothing about whether they can do it in nine square metres, forty days in a row, sharing a cabin with the people they are cooking for.
Plenty of superb restaurant chefs fail at sea, and their references give you almost no warning, because the job is different in ways that do not show up on paper. A land kitchen has deliveries every morning, a brigade, and a door you walk out of at midnight. A yacht galley has none of those. Storage is a fraction. Provisioning ports change weekly. The chef produces fine dining underway, in a swell, for guests whose dietary requirements may only surface the evening before they board.
So the question is not “is this person a good chef?” It is “is this person a good chef in this environment, on this boat, with this programme?” Those are different questions and they need different evidence.
The single best predictor, by a distance. Not restaurant references — yacht references, from captains or chief stewardesses who shared a vessel with the candidate for a season.
Call them rather than reading them. Ask whether they would take the chef back. The pause before the answer is usually more informative than the answer.
Time on a boat of similar size and workload matters more than the prestige of any shore-side kitchen. A chef who has run a 40m solo galley through a charter season knows something a two-Michelin sous chef does not: how to be the entire kitchen, every service, with no one to hand off to.
Be specific when you compare. Two seasons on a busy charter 50m proves more than six months on a quiet private 70m, even though the second boat is larger. Look at charter weeks and guest numbers, not just length overall.
On a yacht this is not a soft factor. It is the factor. I have seen technically excellent chefs leave mid-season because they could not live in the environment — not because the cooking defeated them.
What you are looking for: someone who is straightforward under pressure, who does not carry conflict into the crew mess, and who has a realistic picture of what they are signing up for. Chefs who describe the job in glowing terms with no downsides are usually either very new or telling you what they think you want to hear.
A chef who cannot source in remote ports or hold a budget is expensive in ways that never appear on the salary line. Ask what their monthly provisioning budget was on the last boat and how close they ran to it. A candidate who cannot tell you the number has not been holding it.
The useful detail is what they did when a charter ran long — whether they flagged the variance to the captain before or after it happened.
Vegan owners, gluten-free guests, macro-counted meal plans and serious allergy management are now routine requests rather than edge cases. One of the roles I placed this year was for a 37m charter yacht whose owner is a strict vegan; another was a private chef managing meals to macro guidelines across three residences.
Ask how the candidate handles a serious allergy disclosed the night before embarkation. Strong answers go straight to cross-contamination control, separate prep and storage, and briefing the interior team so service does not undo the galley's work.
STCW Basic Safety Training, a valid ENG1 medical, and Food Safety Level 2 — Level 3 for most head chef roles. Plus MLC-compliant paperwork and the right visa or seaman's book for your cruising ground: a B1/B2 for US waters, appropriate Schengen arrangements for the Mediterranean.
Check these are current, not merely present. Expired certificates are one of the most common late-stage problems, and they are entirely avoidable.
There is no universally best yacht chef. There is a chef who suits your programme.
| Your situation | What to prioritise |
|---|---|
| Heavy charter programme | Stamina and consistency over creative range. Back-to-back charters with one-day turnarounds reward a chef who is unflappable and systematic, not one who needs a blank canvas. |
| Private family use | Anticipation and discretion. The chef becomes part of the household rhythm, learns preferences without being told twice, and cooks well repeatedly rather than spectacularly occasionally. |
| Sole chef, smaller vessel | Self-sufficiency and provisioning skill. They are the entire department — ordering, storage, guest service, crew food, food safety compliance. |
| Galley team, 60m+ | Leadership and delegation. A brilliant solo operator who cannot run a team is the wrong hire here, and it is a common mismatch. |
| Remote or expedition itinerary | Provisioning planning above all. Extended passages with no resupply demand a chef who thinks in weeks, not days. |
The salary is the smallest part of it. A placement that collapses mid-season costs you the recruitment again, at short notice and in peak season when availability is worst. It costs crew disruption, because the galley affects everyone aboard. On a charter boat it can cost guest experience during the weeks that matter most, and guest experience is what drives repeat bookings.
This is the argument for spending longer on the assessment than feels comfortable, and for insisting on a replacement guarantee in writing before you instruct anyone.
When I read a chef's CV I am reading different things than a recruiter is. I know which boats run brutal programmes and which owners are a pleasure to work for. I know which questions expose someone who has been coasting, because I have been asked them myself.
I also screen the role as hard as I screen the candidate. Every position we list has been assessed — salary, conditions, crew culture. If it does not meet the standard it does not go on the board. That is not altruism: a placement that collapses in six weeks costs everyone, including us.
“Dean moved quickly, finding both a full-time crew chef and securing a temp head for a charter. I highly recommend Dean's services — they are the top in the industry in my experience.”
Captain Clinton Roos — 63m M/Y SuRi
STCW Basic Safety Training, a valid ENG1 medical certificate, and Food Safety Level 2 as a minimum — Level 3 for most head chef positions. Add MLC-compliant paperwork and the correct visa for your cruising ground, such as a B1/B2 for US waters. Verify that each is current rather than simply listed on the CV.
No. Fine dining experience is useful but it is not the strongest predictor of success at sea. Relevant yacht experience, provisioning ability and temperament matter more. Many excellent restaurant chefs struggle with the transition, while chefs who have run a solo galley on a smaller vessel often outperform far grander CVs.
It depends on the role. A sole chef on a busy charter vessel should have proven yacht seasons behind them. For a sous or second chef position in a galley team, strong culinary fundamentals plus the right temperament can outweigh limited sea time, because there is someone above them to learn from.
Living aboard, not cooking. Chefs rarely resign because the food defeated them; they leave because of the hours, the lack of separation between work and home, crew dynamics, or a programme that turned out to be heavier than they were told. Screening honestly for the realities of the boat prevents most of this.
Rotation is increasingly standard on larger vessels and heavy charter programmes, typically 2:2. It costs more in total salary but substantially reduces burnout and mid-season resignations. On smaller private boats with a lighter programme, a single permanent chef is usually the better fit.
Reference calls with people who lived aboard with them, plus a paid trial across a real charter day. Ask candidates what crew food looks like on day nine of a charter — the answer reveals what they think of the people they live with, which is the part of the job that interviews usually miss.
Send one brief and receive a shortlist of vetted, pre-screened yacht chefs within 48 hours — every one assessed by a working superyacht chef. Choose the fixed €2,500 fee or pay nothing until you hire. Every placement is backed by the 60-day replacement guarantee, and under MLC 2006 we never charge chefs a fee.