Knife and Tools Policy for Chefs: Allowances and Carry Laws

A Japanese chef's knives are personal. A yanagiba for sashimi, a deba for breaking down fish, an usuba for vegetables: many chefs bought their first ones as apprentices and have sharpened them by hand for years. They will expect to use their own knives in your kitchen, and they will care a great deal about who touches them.

That creates practical questions most employers only think about when something goes wrong. Who pays for knives and sharpening? What happens if a knife is damaged or stolen at work? Can a chef legally carry knives on the bus home? This guide sets out the choices and the legal points we could verify for the US, UK, Australia and Japan.

1. Why a Japanese kitchen needs a knife policy

• Value. Hand forged Japanese knives can be expensive. Loss, damage or a dispute on departure is a real cost to someone.
• Safety. Single bevel knives are extremely sharp and chip easily. Local staff who borrow them without training can hurt themselves or the blade.
• Hygiene. Personal knives still have to meet your cleaning and storage standards (see uniform and hygiene policy).
• Law. Carrying knives in public, and deductions from pay for tools, are both regulated in several countries.

2. Own knives or house knives?

Whatever you choose, keep a register: each personal knife brought into the kitchen, with a photo, a short description and the owner's name. It settles arguments on departure and helps with insurance claims.

3. Who pays: allowances and the law

Requiring staff to supply their own tools is not a neutral choice. Several countries have rules that make the employer bear the cost in some cases.

United States (federal)

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations, wages must be paid "free and clear". 29 CFR 531.35 gives the example that if an employer requires an employee to provide tools of the trade used in or specifically required for the employer's work, the Act is violated in any workweek in which the cost of those tools cuts into the minimum or overtime wages required. For a well paid sushi chef this may never bite; for a cook near the minimum wage it can.

California

Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order 5, which covers restaurants, says that when tools or equipment are required by the employer or necessary to the job, the employer must provide and maintain them. The exception: an employee whose wages are at least twice the minimum wage may be required to provide and maintain hand tools and equipment customarily required by the trade or craft. California's state minimum wage is $16.90 an hour from 1 January 2026, and some cities set higher local minimums. So in California, asking a cook paid near the minimum to bring their own knives is not allowed; asking a senior chef paid well above twice the minimum may be.

Australia

The Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (as consolidated to 1 July 2026), clause 21.4, requires the employer to pay a cook or apprentice cook who is required to provide and use their own tools (and does not receive a tool allowance) a tool and equipment allowance of $2.03 per day or part day, up to $9.94 per week. The employer must also reimburse the cost of towels, tools, knives, choppers, implements, utensils or other materials the employee is required to provide and that are not otherwise paid for. Check whether your staff are covered by this award or another instrument.

United Kingdom

GOV.UK guidance on the National Minimum Wage says that things a worker buys for the job and is not refunded for, such as tools, uniform and safety equipment, count against pay when checking minimum wage compliance. If a chef paid close to the minimum has to buy knives, check that the purchase does not take them below it.

4. Carrying knives to and from work

England and Wales

Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 makes it an offence to have an article with a blade or point in a public place. Folding pocketknives with a cutting edge of 3 inches or less are excluded. It is a defence to prove a good reason or lawful authority, and the Act specifically lists having the article "for use at work". This version applies in England and Wales; Northern Ireland has an equivalent version of the section, and Scotland has separate criminal law, so check the Scottish rules if you operate there.

The defence has to be proved by the person carrying the knife. Practical guidance for chefs:

• Carry knives only when needed (to and from work, to a knife sharpener), wrapped and in a closed case or knife roll, not in a pocket.
• Go directly; do not stop at a bar with the knife bag.
• Better still, let chefs store knives securely at the restaurant so they rarely carry them.

Separately, section 141A of the same Act makes it an offence to sell knives to anyone under 18 in England and Wales. If you employ under 18s in the kitchen, supply their knives.

Japan

Japan's Swords and Firearms Control Law (銃砲刀剣類所持等取締法), Article 22, prohibits carrying a blade longer than 6 cm except for work or another legitimate reason. A chef carrying knives in Japan (for example, to the airport) should keep them packed for travel, not on their person.

Other countries

Knife carrying laws differ by country and, in the US, by state and city. Ask chefs to follow the same practical rules everywhere: carry only when needed, packed and out of sight, directly between home and work.

5. Bringing knives from Japan

• Pack knives in checked luggage. The US Transportation Security Administration, for example, says knives are not allowed in carry-on bags but are allowed in checked bags, and that sharp objects in checked bags should be sheathed or securely wrapped. Airlines and other countries have their own rules; check before travel.
• Declare as required. Customs rules on bringing tools differ; tell the chef to check the destination country's customs guidance.
• Consider shipping. Sending knives separately by courier is another option. Check the courier's rules on bladed items first.

Cover this in your pre-arrival pack (see onboarding a chef from Japan and relocation packages).

6. What to put in the written policy

1. Which knives the restaurant supplies, and which roles may or must use their own.
2. Any knife or tool allowance, and how sharpening costs are handled.
3. The personal knife register, and a rule that nobody uses another person's knife without permission.
4. Storage: locked or dedicated storage for personal knives, and cleaning standards for all knives.
5. Loss or damage at work: whether the restaurant's insurance covers personal knives, and what happens if it does not.
6. Carrying: pack, go directly, store at work where possible.
7. Training: how new staff are trained to use and sharpen knives safely.
8. On leaving: personal knives go with the owner; house knives are returned and checked.

Put the policy in your contract pack alongside the employment contract checklist, in Japanese and English.

General information, not legal advice. Pay and weapons laws vary by country, state and city; check local rules before setting a knife policy.