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

A sous chef in a Japanese kitchen abroad is part cook, part translator, part administrator and often the successor. Define which of those four jobs matters most before you write the ad, since a hire chosen only as "a good cook who can cover" usually fails at the other three. No country publishes an official sous chef wage; benchmark between the local cook and head chef medians. In the US, check the exemption test before paying a flat salary: the current federal threshold is $684 a week, and many sous chefs' actual duties fail the executive exemption's management test regardless of title.

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, how to test them, what to pay, and how to build the internal promotion route most restaurants should try first.

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. See section 7 for how to run that promotion properly rather than as an afterthought.

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. Job description and 90 day handover template

Adapt this directly; it turns the head chef's "three things" callout above into a document you can post and use for onboarding.

5. Pay bands and US overtime status

A sous chef sits between the cook-level and chef-level figures in each market above; where the country published a specific "supervisor" band, as Singapore does, that band is the closer match. Use the gap between the two reference points to make the promotion or the hire worth taking, rather than picking a single number in isolation.

The US overtime question is where many restaurants go wrong. The Department of Labor's current published threshold for the federal executive, administrative and professional exemptions is $684 a week ($35,568 a year); a 2024 rule that would have raised this was vacated by a federal court, so the lower figure is what currently applies as of this check. Do not assume this is settled permanently: the rule has moved before and can move again.

• 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. Several US states set a higher salary threshold than the federal figure; California's is $70,304 for 2026, rising to $72,384 from 1 January 2027. Check your state before you set the pay as a flat salary. See chef overtime rules by country.

6. 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 for nominations lodged from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. 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, and can also undermine the US exemption tests above if the two disagree.

7. The internal promotion route, in full

Promoting a line cook is often cheaper and faster than an outside hire, but "promote and hope" is how most internal sous chef promotions fail. Run it as a real programme:

1. The pay step. Agree the new rate before the trial starts, not after. Anchor it against the cook-to-chef gap in your market from the table in section 5, and confirm it in writing.
2. The admin curriculum. Ordering, rota building, temperature and cleaning logs, allergen records, and what an inspection actually checks. Most line cooks have never done any of this; teach it explicitly rather than assuming it is absorbed by watching.
3. The trial length. Use the 90 day handover plan in section 4. Do not make the promotion permanent until the full plan has run once.
4. What happens if it does not work. Agree in advance whether an unsuccessful trial means a return to the previous role and pay, or a longer trial with named gaps. Say this to the candidate before they start, not after a failed review.

A cook who already knows your menu and team can learn the paperwork faster than an outsider can learn your food; the programme above is what makes that true in practice rather than only in theory.

8. 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.