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How to Hire an Omakase Sushi Chef: Economics, Tasting, Terms

Counter arithmetic, what the chef must be able to buy, who is ready to run a counter, the pay anchors that exist, a scored tasting, contract wording against departure, and raw fish rules by market.

Updated September 27, 2026 WashokuJob

Hire someone who has already run a counter alone, or a long serving number two ready to, and test them with a paid tasting on a fixed food budget. Before you make an offer, do the counter arithmetic: seats, seatings, nights and price set the revenue that the chef's package and the fish bill must fit inside. No published data covers omakase chef pay, so build the offer from the local head chef percentiles and the visa salary floor.

This page is for an owner or investor hiring the chef who will be the face of an omakase counter. It covers the economics, who is ready, pay, the tasting, the contract terms and the risk of the chef leaving. For a general sushi role, see the sushi chef job description; for technique questions, sushi chef interview questions; for pay by country, sushi chef salary by country; for station titles, Japanese kitchen roles.

On this page

  1. The counter arithmetic
  2. What the chef must be able to buy
  3. Who is ready to run a counter
  4. Pay: the anchors that exist
  5. The tasting: format and scoring
  6. Contract terms that protect the counter
  7. Raw fish and rice rules by market
  8. Questions employers ask

The counter arithmetic

A counter has fixed capacity, so the numbers are simple and unforgiving. The right hand column illustrates the method; it is not a market price.

LineFormulaIllustration
A. SeatsYour counter10
B. Seatings per nightYour format2
C. Nights per yearNights a week × weeks open5 × 48 = 240
D. Covers at full occupancyA × B × C4,800
E. Expected coversD × your occupancyAt 85%: 4,080
F. Food revenueE × food price per guest, before drinks and serviceAt 200 a head: 816,000
G. Weekly buying budgetF × your food cost target ÷ weeks openAt 35%: 5,950 a week
H. Room for the chef's packageWhat is left after G, rent, other staff and your marginYour P&L

The chef must buy to line G every week, not on average across a good month, and the package comes out of line H. At ten seats there is little room for a second senior salary. Work out H before you talk numbers with anyone.

What the chef must be able to buy

At twenty covers a night the chef buys small amounts of many species, often by air freight on set days. A counter head answers these with suppliers, days and yields.

ItemWhat they must be able to doAsk
TunaJudge grade and cut, buy a block that fits the weekWho do you call, what do you reject, how do you decide the price is worth it?
Hikarimono (kohada, aji, saba)Cure with salt and vinegar to their own timingHow do you change the cure for a fatter fish?
Live shellfish, uni, ikuraHold live stock, work with seasons and import rulesWhat do you serve when the uni does not come?
Local fishFind local species that stand in for Japanese onesWhich local fish have you served, and how did you prepare them?
Rice, vinegar, nori, wasabi, soyChoose and keep the house shari consistentWhat do you do when a new rice crop arrives?
Yield and wasteRecord yield by species, use trim in other coursesShow me how you track yield.

If you would rather separate buying from the counter, see hiring a sushi fish buyer.

Who is ready to run a counter

Four profiles apply. A current counter head brings proven buying, menu and guests, at a high price and with the risk that regulars follow them in and out. A long serving number two at a strong counter has the technique but has not owned buying or guests, and needs support in year one. A high volume sushi head chef brings leadership and cost control but may be new to daily menus and counter talk. A young chef from a known house has training and energy but not yet the judgment.

The number two is often the best value. Ask whether they have served guests alone on the head's day off; that is the closest thing to proof.

Pay: the anchors that exist

We found no official or verifiable published figure for omakase head chef pay in any market, and we have not compiled job postings, so we quote no package. These official anchors exist; none is specific to omakase.

MarketOfficial anchorWhat it means for a counter head
New YorkChefs and head cooks: median $71,780, 90th percentile $120,370 (May 2025)Start at the 90th percentile
Los Angeles, San Francisco90th percentile $102,760 and $115,170Same
SingaporeChef median gross S$3,650 a month (MOM, June 2025); Employment Pass floor S$5,600 to S$10,700 by age, rising in January 2027A Japanese counter head will usually need an EP salary, well above the chef median
Hong KongCook (Japanese cuisine) median HK$19,670 a month (Labour Department list, June 2026)A line cook figure; a counter head sits well above it
Sydney, MelbourneIncome threshold A$79,423 for a sponsored chefThe floor, not the rate
LondonNew overseas chef sponsorship effectively closedHire from people who already have the right to work
DubaiNo official figure we could verifyBenchmark locally

Method: start at the local 90th percentile or the visa floor, whichever is higher. Add housing and relocation (see relocation packages). Then put part of the package in a bonus on food margin, so the chef shares the outcome of line G. Check the total against line H.

The tasting: format and scoring

Pay the candidate for a full omakase for six guests: you, someone who knows sushi well, someone who does not, one guest with a dietary restriction you plant, and your manager. Give a budget per guest, not a menu, and let them buy from your suppliers with two days' notice. Keep the receipts.

  1. The day before: buying and prep; note what they chose and rejected.
  2. Three hours before service: rice, curing, knife work, the state of the station.
  3. Service: pacing, explanations in your language, how they handle the restriction.
  4. Next day, thirty minutes: spend against budget, and what they would change for a full week.
CriterionWeightWhat good looks like
Shari20Consistent seasoning and temperature from first piece to last
Fish preparation and ageing20Each piece prepared for a reason they can explain
Sequence and pacing15A shape to the meal; no guest waiting or rushed
Guest handling15Reads each guest; talks when wanted, quiet when not
Cost against budget15Within budget, with a clear account of the choices
Station and hygiene10Clean, ordered, temperature controlled
Adapting to the restriction5An equal course, not a lesser one

If travel is not practical before an offer, see testing chef skills remotely and write a trial period into the contract.

Contract terms that protect the counter

When the chef is the brand, the terms below matter as much as the salary. This is draft wording to take to your lawyer, not advice; enforceability differs by country, and California, for example, voids most non-compete clauses.

Recipes. Recipes, specifications and methods developed for the Restaurant during employment belong to the Company. The Chef keeps the skills and general knowledge of their trade.
Name and accounts. The Restaurant's name, booking system, guest records and social media accounts are registered to and owned by the Company. The Chef's personal accounts remain the Chef's. The Chef will not move guest data or followers from Company accounts.
Bonus. A quarterly bonus of [ ]% of food gross margin above [ ]%, paid while employed and not under notice.
Notice. [3] months by either side. The Company may place the Chef on garden leave for part of the notice.
Successor. During notice, the Chef will train [named second chef] to hold the counter to the Restaurant's standard.
Non-solicitation. For [6] months after leaving, the Chef will not recruit the Restaurant's staff.

The real protection against a departure is a second chef who has served the counter alone: give them one service a week from year one, keep supplier accounts in the company's name, write down the shari recipe and ageing logs, and let regulars meet the second chef early. See succession planning and the contract checklist.

Raw fish and rice rules by market

MarketParasite freezingSushi rice
United States (FDA Food Code, as adopted by each state)−20°C for 7 days, or −35°C until solid then 15 hours at −35°C, or −35°C until solid then 24 hours at −20°C. Some tunas, molluscan shellfish and qualifying farmed fish are exempt. Some counties want a supplier letter.Holding at room temperature usually needs a HACCP plan and a variance, with rice acidified below pH 4.2 and logged
UK and EU (Regulation 853/2004 as amended)−20°C for at least 24 hours, or −35°C for at least 15 hours. Applies to restaurants; supplier and restaurant can agree who freezes. UK exempts farmed Atlantic salmon, Atlantic halibut and rainbow trout.We did not verify a specific rice rule; ask your local authority
Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, UAEWe did not verify these rules for this page. Ask the local food authority before opening, and see food safety certification by country.

A Japanese fugu licence does not transfer, and the US and EU both restrict pufferfish; do not plan a menu around it. For US visas, see O-1 and E-2.

Figures that expire: BLS wages (each spring), Singapore EP floor (rises 1 January 2027) and MOM wage survey (June 2025 edition published 30 June 2026), Hong Kong Labour Department median wages, Australia's threshold (each 1 July). The FDA published a new Food Code on 17 September 2026; check which edition your health department enforces. Checked 27 September 2026.

Questions employers ask

How much does an omakase sushi chef earn?

No official or verifiable published figure exists for omakase chefs. Use the local head chef data as an anchor: in New York the 90th percentile for chefs and head cooks was $120,370 in May 2025. Start there or at the visa salary floor, whichever is higher, and check the total against your counter's revenue.

How should I run a tasting for an omakase chef?

Pay them to serve a full omakase for six guests on a fixed budget per guest, buying the fish themselves. Watch the prep, the service and the receipts, and score shari, fish preparation, pacing, guests, cost, hygiene and how they handle a planted dietary restriction.

What happens if the chef leaves and takes the regulars?

Keep the booking system, guest records, social and supplier accounts in the company's name, and train a second chef who serves the counter alone each week. Contract terms help; a ready successor keeps the bookings.

Does fish for sushi have to be frozen?

In the US, most fish served raw must be frozen under your state's Food Code, with exemptions for some tunas, shellfish and farmed fish. In the UK and EU, the rule is −20°C for 24 hours or −35°C for 15 hours, with farmed exemptions. Elsewhere, ask the local authority.

General information, not legal, food safety or immigration advice. The economics table is an illustration of the method with round numbers, not market data. Contract wording is a draft for your lawyer. Food rules are as published at the dates shown.

Sources

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