Restaurant Exit Interview Questions for Kitchen Staff

Run two short conversations, not one: 15 to 20 minutes in the last week of work, then 10 minutes four to eight weeks after the person has left, once final pay is settled and they have started somewhere new. Use the twelve bilingual questions and printable form below, ask someone other than the direct manager, and code every answer into one of seven categories so three leavers citing the same problem shows up as a pattern, not a coincidence. For a chef leaving on a sponsored visa, add the exit duties in section 6 before you close the file.

1. The printable form: twelve questions, English and Japanese

Most restaurants learn why people leave from rumours, a bad review on a job site, or not at all. An exit interview is a short, structured conversation with someone who has resigned, held so you can fix what drove them out before it drives out the next person. This is the form itself, not a description of one: print it, or copy it into your own document, and use it as it stands.

Use them in order, skip what does not apply, and keep to open questions where marked. The Japanese wording is deliberately soft and polite, which tends to get fuller answers from Japanese staff. Question 12 matters more than it looks: boomerang hires are among the easiest you will make, and chefs who leave on good terms refer others.

Keep a one page summary sheet across leavers, with columns for date, role, tenure, the theme from section 5 and a one line quote. Six months of that sheet is the asset this page is built around; twelve questions asked once and filed away are not.

2. When to hold it: two conversations, not one

People are rarely fully honest while they still need a reference, their last pay or a smooth visa exit. A practical approach is two short conversations:

• In the last week of work (15 to 20 minutes). Practical matters and the main reason for leaving. Do it away from the pass, before or after service, not in the middle of a shift.
• Four to eight weeks after they leave (10 minutes, by phone, video or a short written form). Once final pay is settled and they have started somewhere new, people tend to say more.

For a chef returning to Japan, the second conversation can be a video call or a short form in Japanese. Mind the time difference; our guide to scheduling across time zones has a table of workable slots and a durable rule for planning around it.

3. Who should ask

Not the person they reported to. If the head chef was part of the reason for leaving, the answers will be polite and useless. Better options, in order:

1. The owner or general manager, if they were not the direct manager.
2. A manager from another site in the group.
3. For Japanese staff whose English is limited, a Japanese speaking person outside the kitchen line. A second language hides the real reason more often than not.

Tell the person at the start what will happen to their answers: who will see them, that they will not affect their reference or final pay, and that they can decline any question.

4. Getting honest answers from Japanese staff

Many Japanese employees are reluctant to criticise a workplace directly, especially to a senior person. Common reasons given at resignation, such as family circumstances or wanting to return to Japan, may be true and still not the whole story. Some practical techniques:

• Ask about situations, not people. "What happened on the busiest nights?" gets more than "Was the head chef difficult?"
• Use the scale questions as written, then ask what would move a 3 to a 4. A number is easier to give honestly than an opinion.
• Offer a written option. Some people say more in a short form in Japanese than face to face.
• Accept silence. Leave a pause after each question. The real answer often comes second.
• Thank them for any criticism. If the first criticism is met with a defence, the conversation is over.

5. From findings to action

Write up each interview on the summary sheet the same day, in the person's own words for the main reason. Then code it into one category so you can count across leavers:

Review the log every six months with the owner and head chefs, looking for repeats rather than reacting to any single answer. Report back to the team what you changed as a result. People who stay notice when exit feedback leads to action, and it makes the next exit interview more honest.

Handle the notes as personnel records under your local privacy law: keep them secure, limit who can read them, and do not keep them longer than you need.

6. If the chef holds a sponsored visa

A resignation is not the end of the file when the chef holds a visa or work permit you sponsored. Before you close it, work through:

• Notification duties. Many sponsorship routes require the employer to report the end of employment to the immigration or labour authority within a set number of days, and some also require reporting a change of status for the visa holder. These rules are set by country and route and change; check the guide for the specific visa rather than assume a single global rule. Missing a notification deadline can affect your standing to sponsor the next hire.
• Return travel. Check the original offer or contract for who pays return airfare, and whether that duty is set by the route itself rather than only the contract. Confirm this before the last day, not after the chef has already booked their own flight.
• Final pay across borders. Confirm the currency, the bank details for a final payment after the chef has left the country, and any tax or social security reconciliation the departure triggers on your side.
• What the chef needs from you for their next move. A reference letter, a certificate of employment for a visa application elsewhere, or documents for a Japanese social security or pension continuation. Ask directly what they will need rather than waiting for a request after they have gone.

This section is deliberately short: the visa rules themselves are covered, country by country, in each of our country hiring guides, and this page does not repeat them. The point here is only to make sure the exit interview does not end before this list is checked.

7. What to avoid

• Counter offers during the exit interview. The conversation is for learning. If you want to make a counter offer, do it separately and before the exit interview.
• Arguing. You are not there to correct their version of events.
• Sharing what one person said with the team in a way that identifies them.
• Doing nothing with it. An exit interview that changes nothing is worse than none, because the team sees it as box ticking.
• Mixing it with the legal exit. Keep the conversation itself separate from the checklist in section 6, apart from confirming who will handle each item.

General information, not legal advice. Visa notification duties, return travel obligations and privacy rules for personnel records depend on your jurisdiction and route; check the official rules for your specific case.