Hiring a Sous Chef for a Japanese Restaurant: The Number Two

In a Japanese kitchen abroad, the sous chef is often the most important hire after the head chef and the hardest to get right. The Japanese title is 副料理長 (fuku-ryōrichō) or, informally, 二番手 (nibante, "number two"). The job is part cook, part translator, part administrator and part understudy. This guide covers how to define it, who to hire and how to test them. For how the role sits in the traditional ladder, see Japanese kitchen roles explained.

1. What the sous chef does in a Japanese kitchen

The textbook description, second in command, hides four jobs that a Japanese kitchen abroad needs from this person:

• Running service without the head chef. On the head chef's days off and holidays, the sous chef is the standard. The food should not change when the head chef is away.
• Bridging languages and cultures. Where the head chef is from Japan and the team is local, the sous chef often turns instructions into clear steps in the local language, and explains local habits to the head chef.
• The paperwork. Ordering, rotas, temperature and cleaning logs, allergen records, inspections. Many head chefs are happy to hand these over, and many kitchens fail inspections because nobody owned them.
• Training. The day to day teaching of juniors, while the head chef sets the standard. See hiring a sushi apprentice.

Decide which of these four matter most in your kitchen before you write the ad. A sous chef hired only as "a good cook who can cover" will fail at the paperwork and the bridging, and those are usually what the head chef needed most.

2. Hire to complement the head chef

The best sous chef is not a copy of your head chef. It is the person who covers what the head chef does not.

Promoting from within is often the best option. A line cook who already knows your menu and team, and who wants the responsibility, can learn the paperwork faster than an outsider can learn your food. Promote with a clear trial period and training in the admin side.

3. Screening: three tests for a number two

1. Run a service. Let the candidate run the pass for part of a real service while the head chef watches but does not intervene. Look at how they call tickets, correct plates and speak to the team.
2. Taste and correct. Give them a dish from your menu that is slightly wrong (under seasoned dashi, overcooked fish, rice too warm). Can they find the fault and explain the fix?
3. A paperwork task. Ask for a week's rota from given hours and availability, and a short check of a temperature log with errors planted in it. The candidate who spots the missing entries is the one who will protect you at inspection.

Add a language check suited to your kitchen. See language requirements for a Japanese kitchen. For wider interview questions, see sushi chef interview questions.

4. Pay and US overtime status

We did not find an official statistic for sous chefs in Japanese restaurants. In US federal statistics, sous chefs fall within Chefs and Head Cooks, where the May 2025 median was $62,470 and the 25th percentile $48,440; the median for Restaurant Cooks was $37,390. A sous chef usually sits between a senior cook and the head chef. Use the gap to make the promotion worth taking.

The overtime question is where many restaurants go wrong. Under US federal rules:

• The executive exemption (29 CFR 541.100) requires a salary of at least $684 a week and a primary duty of managing the enterprise or a recognised department, regularly directing two or more other employees, with real weight on hiring and firing decisions. A sous chef who mostly cooks on the line and assists the head chef may not meet this test.
• The learned professional exemption (29 CFR 541.301) names sous chefs: chefs such as executive chefs and sous chefs who hold a four year specialised culinary arts degree generally meet the duties test. It does not apply to cooks whose work is predominantly routine.

A sous chef from Japan with a one or two year cooking school diploma will not have a four year degree. If they also do not truly manage the kitchen, you may owe overtime. State law can add further requirements. Check before you set the pay as a salary. See chef overtime rules by country.

5. How visa systems treat a sous chef

No visa system has a special category for sous chefs. What matters is how the job and pay fit the chef occupation. A few examples as of September 2026:

• United States. The E-2 route for Japanese-owned businesses covers employees in executive or supervisory roles or with essential skills. A sous chef who supervises a section can fit; one who works as a line cook is harder to justify. See E-2 visas for Japanese restaurant staff.
• Australia. Chef (ANZSCO 351311) is on the Core Skills Occupation List for the Skills in Demand visa, with caveats, and the core skills income threshold is A$79,423 from 1 July 2026. See hiring a Japanese chef in Australia.
• United Kingdom. Chefs (SOC 5434) are medium skilled and not on the lists that allow new sponsorship at that level, so sponsoring a new sous chef from overseas is effectively closed. See hiring a Japanese chef in the UK after 2025.

Write the job title and duties honestly. A sous chef title on paper for someone who works as a line cook creates problems at visa renewal.

6. Keeping a good sous chef

A good sous chef leaves for one reason more than any other: a head chef job somewhere else. You can only compete by offering a path. Agree what they need to show to be considered for head chef, at your restaurant or at a new site, and review it every six months. See succession planning in a Japanese kitchen and retaining Japanese chefs.

General information, not legal or immigration advice. Pay figures, regulations and visa rules are quoted from official sources as of September 2026. Overtime status and visa eligibility depend on the actual duties of the role; take advice before relying on them.