Ramen Chef Job Description Template in English and Japanese

A ramen chef job description should say which ramen job it is (line cook, broth lead or shop head), who owns the broth recipe, how many bowls go out at peak, what time prep starts, the days off, a pay range and the visa position. Below is a complete ad in English and a Japanese 求人票 for the same job, ready to copy, plus a ten minute way to score applications.

1. Which ramen job you are filling

"Ramen chef" covers three different jobs. Pick one, because the requirements and the pay change with it.

Most single shops need a broth lead and one or two line cooks. The template below is written for a broth lead, with notes on what to cut for a line cook and what to add for a shop head. If the shop head job is really a head chef job, use the head chef template.

2. Four numbers every ramen ad needs

• Bowls per hour at peak. This is how a ramen cook judges whether the station is sane. Take it from your till data on a busy night.
• Broth batches and hours. One long pork bone batch a day is a different job from three lighter stocks.
• Prep start time. If prep starts at 7am, say so. People who hate early starts will not apply, which saves a hire that fails in month two.
• Seats and turn time. A 20 seat counter turning every 15 minutes is a different service from a 60 seat dining room.

For a new opening, give the plan instead: "We expect around [number] bowls a day in the first three months."

3. Ramen chef job description: English template

Replace everything in [brackets] and delete lines that do not apply.

For a line cook: change the title to Ramen Cook, delete the first, second and sixth duties, and ask for photos of bowls only. For a shop head: add a food cost target, the rota for [number] staff, opening and closing, cash and supplier accounts, and who approves recipe changes.

4. Japanese version (求人票)

Ramen cooks in Japan are a real hiring pool, and they read ads in Japanese kitchen terms: スープ, タレ, 香味油, 自家製麺, 仕込み. This version uses them.

If you pay by the hour, add the annual figure as well; an hourly rate alone reads as part time work to a chef in Japan. The reasons are in writing a job ad for chefs in Japan.

5. The pay line for ramen roles

No official statistic measures ramen chefs separately. Use the cook and chef figures for your market as the floor, and place each role against them.

• Line cook: at or above the cook figure for your city.
• Broth lead: between the cook and chef figures, closer to chef if they own the recipe day to day.
• Shop head: at or above the chef median.

Sponsorship is harder for ramen roles than for sushi, because some countries treat cooks differently from chefs or exclude some restaurant types. Australia's occupation list, for example, carries a caveat on chef and cook positions in limited service restaurants. Check your route in visa sponsorship for Japanese chefs before you write the visa line.

6. What to ask for and how to score it

The application asks for three things: photos of three bowls, one broth batch schedule, and (at the video call) a spoken walk through of one bowl's spec. Score each out of five:

1. Batch schedule: are times, weights and temperatures there, including cooling?
2. Bowl spec: can they give tare, oil, noodle weight and cooking time without hesitating?
3. Photos: clean rims, consistent toppings, a bowl a customer would photograph.
4. Pace: have they worked at or above your bowls per hour?

Twelve or more out of twenty goes to a paid trial shift. For trial rules, see chef trial shift rules; for remote tests, skills tests for remote hiring.

7. What to do this week

• Pull bowls per day and bowls per peak hour from your till.
• Decide who owns the recipe and write that sentence.
• Set the pay range for the role, and check whether your visa route covers it.
• Fill in both templates; have a native speaker check the Japanese one.

General information, not legal or immigration advice. Employment law, wording rules for job ads and visa conditions differ by country and change over time. Check the current rules where you hire before publishing.