Post a Job

Roles

How to Hire an Executive Chef for a Japanese Restaurant Group

When a Japanese group needs an executive chef, what the role owns across sites, a specification exercise, site audit and scored cook-off, a package model by group size, and L-1A versus E-2 from Japan.

Updated September 27, 2026 WashokuJob

Appoint an executive chef when your founding chef can no longer taste every site and the same dish differs between kitchens. Unlike a head chef, who runs one kitchen, the role owns specifications, head chef hiring, group supplier contracts and new openings. Test it with a specification exercise and a site audit as well as a cook-off. No official pay data exists for the role, so price it above the local head chef 90th percentile, with a group level bonus.

This page is for the owner of a Japanese restaurant group, or a Japanese head office, appointing one chef over several sites. It covers the title map, what the role owns, how to test for it, the package and moving the chef from Japan to the US. For one site, see the head chef job description; for operations in a chain, hiring a kitchen manager; for a group's second site, staffing a second location; for successors, succession planning.

On this page

  1. Head chef, executive chef, culinary director, kitchen manager
  2. What the executive chef owns across sites
  3. How to test for it
  4. Pay and package structure
  5. Moving the chef from Japan: L-1A or E-2
  6. A hiring schedule
  7. Questions employers ask

Head chef, executive chef, culinary director, kitchen manager

Groups use these titles loosely. Decide which job you are filling before you advertise, because candidates in Japan read the title as a statement of scope.

TitleJapanese equivalentScopeCooks on the line?
Head chef料理長One kitchen: menu execution, team, food cost for that siteEvery service
Executive chef総料理長All kitchens in the group: specifications, standards, head chef hiring, suppliers, openingsTo train and audit, not nightly
Culinary director商品開発部長, 料理顧問Brand and menu development, often across concepts; may have no line authorityRarely
Kitchen managerキッチンマネージャー, 店長Operations: rotas, ordering, compliance, labour cost; follows the specificationOften

Two to three sites usually need a strong head chef at each and the founder acting as executive chef. From about four sites, or when openings start to slip, a separate executive chef usually pays for itself. There is no fixed number; watch for the same dish tasting different at two sites, head chefs leaving because there is no next step, and the founder spending more time driving than cooking.

What the executive chef owns across sites

AreaOwnsMeasured by
SpecificationsRecipe by weight, method, holding times, plating photo, allergens for every dishShare of menu with a current written spec
StandardsA site audit on a schedule, with a scored tastingAudit scores by site, and the gap between best and worst
PeopleHiring, developing and, where needed, replacing head chefsHead chef tenure; a named successor for each
SuppliersGroup contracts for fish, rice, seasonings, equipmentFood cost against target, by site
OpeningsKitchen design, menu, staffing and training for each new siteOpening on date, food cost in the first 90 days

Give the executive chef authority over head chef hiring and supplier contracts, or do not use the title. Without those two levers the role becomes an expensive inspector, and good head chefs work around it.

How to test for it

A cook-off alone tests the wrong thing, but skipping it is also a mistake: head chefs will not follow a palate they do not respect. Run three parts.

1. The specification exercise (take home, one week)

Brief to the candidate
Attached are photos, the menu description and our current recipe notes for [dish], served at [number] sites. Please write a specification that a new site could follow without you present: ingredients by weight, method in steps, holding times and temperatures, a plating description, allergens, and food cost at our prices [attached]. Then write half a page on how you would roll it out to all sites and check it is being followed.

候補者への課題
［料理名］（［店舗数］店舗で提供）の写真、メニュー上の説明、現在のレシピメモを添付します。あなたが不在でも新店舗が再現できる仕様書を作成してください。材料（重量）、手順、保持時間と温度、盛り付けの説明、アレルゲン、当社の仕入れ価格（添付）での原価を含めてください。あわせて、全店舗への展開方法と、守られているかの確認方法をA4半分程度でまとめてください。

2. The site audit (one service)

Send the candidate to one of your restaurants for a full service. Ask for a written report within 48 hours: what they saw, the three things they would fix first, and exactly how they would say it to the head chef. The tone of that last part matters as much as the findings.

3. The cook-off (half a day)

Ask the candidate to cook two of your signature dishes to your current recipe, then one dish of their own. Tasters: the owner, two of your head chefs and a front of house manager. Serve the candidate's version beside a plate from your best site without saying which is which.

PartWeightWhat good looks like
Specification: completeness20A cook who has never seen the dish could make it
Specification: cost and rollout15Correct cost, a realistic plan to check compliance
Audit: findings20Specific, prioritised, fixable
Audit: how they would tell the head chef15Direct and respectful; the head chef keeps face
Cook-off: your dishes15Matches or improves on your best site
Cook-off: head chefs' verdict15Your head chefs would take direction from this person

If the candidate is in Japan, run the specification exercise and a video audit first; see testing chef skills remotely.

Pay and package structure

We found no official statistic for executive chefs of restaurant groups in any country. The nearest US anchor is BLS Chefs and Head Cooks (May 2025): national median $62,470 and 90th percentile $98,560; the 90th percentile was $120,370 in New York and $115,170 in San Francisco. An executive chef over several sites usually sits at or above that 90th percentile. Treat it as a floor for the conversation.

Group sizeBaseVariable pay tied toOther terms
2 to 3 sitesLocal head chef 90th percentile, plus a stepGroup food cost and audit scoresOften combined with running the flagship kitchen
4 to 9 sitesAbove the 90th percentileFood cost, audit scores, openings on time and on budgetTravel budget; days on site per month set in writing
10 or more sites, or several countriesSenior management level in your groupGroup margin and openingsProfit share or equity is sometimes offered at this size; take advice on local law and visa effects

A senior chef from a Japanese company will compare your offer with more than salary: bonus paid twice a year at home, a retirement allowance (退職金), and whether their Japanese pension and health insurance continue. Under the Japan and US social security agreement, a worker sent from Japan for a limited period can stay in the Japanese system; see social security agreements and, for secondment terms, secondment contracts. Put ownership of recipes and specifications in the contract (contract checklist).

US overtime status: under 29 CFR 541.100 an employee paid a salary of at least $684 a week whose primary duty is managing the enterprise or a department, who directs two or more employees and whose views on hiring carry weight, is exempt as an executive. An executive chef who truly manages head chefs usually meets this, but state rules can be stricter; confirm with an employment adviser.

Moving the chef from Japan: L-1A or E-2

L-1A intracompany transfereeE-2 treaty investor employee
The companyUS entity is a parent, branch, affiliate or subsidiary of the Japanese employerUS enterprise at least 50% owned by Japanese nationals
The chefOne continuous year with the related company abroad within the three years before filingA Japanese national in an executive, supervisory or essential skills role
Role testManagerial or executive capacity: manages a function or department and supervises supervisors or professionals, with authority over hiringExecutive or supervisory, or skills essential to the enterprise
Where you applyUSCIS petition, then a visa at the consulateAt the US embassy or consulate in Japan, after the company is registered there
SpeedPremium processing available (US$2,965 from 1 March 2026)Depends on consular appointment waits
LengthNew office up to one year at first; total stay capped at seven yearsVisa for Japanese nationals up to 60 months, fee US$315; renewable while the enterprise qualifies

An executive chef who manages head chefs fits the L-1A managerial test more easily than a single site head chef, because the people supervised are themselves supervisors. There is no dedicated L-1 guide on this site yet; see US visa options for restaurants and E-2 visas for restaurant staff, and take immigration advice before you file.

A hiring schedule

WeekStep
1 to 2Decide the title and authority; write the brief; approach candidates
3First interviews; send the specification exercise to the shortlist
4 to 5Site audits and cook-offs; references
6Offer, including the visa route and who pays for it
7 onwardVisa filing; start date set by the visa decision and the notice period in Japan, which you should ask about at the first interview

Figures that expire: BLS wages (each spring), USCIS premium processing fee (last changed 1 March 2026), E-2 visa fee and validity (State Department reciprocity tables), the FLSA salary level ($684 a week as currently enforced). Checked 27 September 2026.

Questions employers ask

What is the difference between an executive chef and a head chef?

A head chef runs one kitchen's service every night. An executive chef owns the standard across all kitchens: written specifications, audits, head chef hiring, group supplier contracts and new openings. They cook to train and audit, not on the line nightly.

How many restaurants before we need an executive chef?

There is no fixed number. Many groups manage two or three sites with strong head chefs and the founder in the role. The signs are dishes that differ between sites, delayed openings and head chefs leaving for lack of a next step.

How do I assess an executive chef candidate?

Use three parts: a written specification exercise on one of your dishes, a site audit with a written report, and a cook-off tasted by your own head chefs. Score each against a sheet so the decision does not rest on one good meal.

What should an executive chef's bonus be based on?

Group results they control: food cost against target, audit scores across sites, and new openings delivered on time and on budget. At larger groups, profit share or equity is sometimes added; take advice on local law and visa effects first.

Can we transfer our executive chef from Japan on an L-1A visa?

Possibly, if the US company is related to the Japanese employer and the chef has worked there for one continuous year in the last three, in a managerial role. Managing head chefs helps meet the test. A Japanese owned US company can also use the E-2.

General information, not legal, employment or immigration advice. Pay figures and regulations are quoted from the official sources below as of September 2026. The group size bands are a way to structure a package, not market data.

Sources

Related guides

Hiring a chef from Japan?

WashokuJob is a job board built only for Japanese restaurants outside Japan. Tell us the role and the city, and we will come back with how a listing would work for you.

For restaurants Contact us

Hiring a Washoku chef?

Reach Japanese-cuisine chefs worldwide by posting your job on WashokuJob.

Post a Job Talk to us about posting