Insights
Relief chef, agency chef or temp: which cover does your kitchen need?
Relief chef, agency chef and temp chef describe different jobs. How to work out which cover your kitchen needs and how to brief it.
Hospitality uses "relief chef", "agency chef" and "temp chef" almost interchangeably, and most of the time it does not matter. It starts to matter when you are briefing the agency, because the chef you get depends on what you ask for.
Agency chef
A chef supplied by a staffing agency for a shift or a run of shifts. The agency employs the chef, pays them and invoices you. "Agency chef" describes the arrangement, not the seniority: an agency chef can be a commis or a head chef.
Relief chef
A chef who covers an existing role while the permanent chef is away: sickness, holiday, a notice period. A relief chef is expected to step into the rota and the menu as they stand. The brief here is the existing job description, and the most useful thing you can send the agency is the normal shift pattern and the menu.
Temporary chef
A chef placed for a defined period to add capacity rather than replace someone: a seasonal peak, a refurbishment, an opening. The brief is the gap you are filling, and the length and pattern of the placement matter more than the day-to-day detail.
Working out what you need
- Someone is off and the rota has a hole: relief cover. Send the rota and the menu.
- Covers are up and the team cannot keep pace: temporary cover, usually for weeks. Say how long and which days.
- You need a strong pair of hands for one busy service: an agency Chef de Partie with a clear section brief.
- The head chef has gone and the kitchen is drifting: interim or relief Head/Sous Chef with management scope agreed in writing.
Brief the shift so it runs itself
Every Zolt shift runs to a short task list agreed with your head chef or manager: the section, the service, the prep expected, the close-down and who signs it off. It takes five minutes to agree and saves the first hour of every shift. Whatever agency you use, send the same five things: start time, section, covers, menu style and who the chef reports to.
Book relief or agency cover or ring the booking line and describe the gap. We will tell you which kind of cover it is and what it costs.
Need a chef this week?
Send the shift details or speak to a chef on the 24/7 booking line.