Interview Questions for Chefs and Sushi Chefs from Japan

Interviews for a Japanese restaurant abroad happen under harder conditions than interviews at home. The candidate is thousands of kilometres away, you cannot put them in your kitchen, and once you hire, visa, travel and housing costs are certain. One wrong call is expensive.

This article sets out interview questions for chefs and sushi chefs by purpose, with notes on what kind of answer should reassure you and what to watch for. Questions for interviews held in English are in Sushi chef interview questions, and remote skills checks are covered in Chef skills test for remote hiring.

1. Narrow down what you are assessing to three things

There is a long list of things you would like to know about a chef, but in a one-hour online interview you can realistically confirm three. Set priorities by position in advance.

For every role, the thing to assess is whether they will last a year or more abroad. However solid their technique, if they go home after six months you recover almost none of the cost.

2. Questions that verify experience

Restaurant names and years on a CV do not tell you what the person actually did. Ask specifically about their role and authority.

• "At your last restaurant, what were you responsible for over the course of a day? Take me through it from when you arrived to closing."
  What to look for: how much of buying, prep, service, cleaning down and preparing for the next day they did themselves. Someone who can separate what was and was not their job is more credible than someone who says "I did everything".
• "Did anything change at that restaurant after you were put in charge?"
  What to look for: experience of changing something on their own judgement, whether the menu, food cost, workflow or training juniors. Essential for head chef candidates.
• "Why did you leave the restaurant where you worked longest?"
  What to look for: less the reason itself than whether they run down their former workplace too much, and what they value.
• "What did your oyakata or head chef most often correct you on?"
  What to look for: whether they can name their weaknesses specifically. People who can will also be able to adjust abroad.

3. Questions that test skill (sushi, kappo, specialist formats)

Technique is ultimately confirmed by video or a practical test, but questions narrow things down a long way. How specific the answer is tells you most.

Sushi chefs

• "Explain how you mix and cook shari at your current restaurant." Do they get specific about rice variety, water ratio, vinegar blend and keeping it at body temperature?
• "On a day when no air-freighted fish arrives from Japan, how do you build the menu?" How they handle local fish. Someone who brings up ageing or curing techniques can cope with sourcing abroad.
• "If you had to build an omakase course to a set food cost percentage, how would you approach it?" Shows both technique and business sense.
• "How do you talk with a guest at the counter who does not speak English?" You are looking not at language ability but at the will to communicate and how they go about it.

Kappo and Japanese cuisine

• "What do you watch for when making ichiban dashi and niban dashi with local water?" Whether they know how kombu dashi extracts differently in hard water areas.
• "If you had to plan a month of seasonal menus assuming you cannot get Japanese ingredients, how would you do it?" Whether they can express the seasons of Japanese cuisine with local ingredients.

Ramen, yakitori, tempura and other specialist formats

• "How would you make sure the soup (tare, batter) is made to the same taste even when you are not there?" Whether they can put recipes into numbers and manuals. The most important point for multi-site businesses.

All roles: hygiene

• "In a restaurant that handles raw fish, what do you do every day to avoid food poisoning?" Temperature control, separate boards and knives, how records are kept. You are checking for habits that will stand up to local health inspections.

4. Questions that show whether they will last abroad

This is the most important part, and the hardest to ask well. Ask "can you do well abroad?" and everyone says yes. Ask about past behaviour and specific scenarios instead.

• "What have you looked into so far about this country (city)?" People who have researched rent, safety, climate and how easy it is to get Japanese ingredients have a smaller gap between expectation and reality after arrival.
• "Do you have any commitments in Japan over the next one to two years that cannot be moved?" Avoid asking directly about family circumstances, and phrase it so the candidate can raise things easily (the reason is in the next section).
• "What would you like to do on your days off?" A hint as to whether they are likely to become isolated.
• "If you had to teach prep to local staff who do not share your language, what would you do in the first week?" How specific their approach to teaching is, and their patience.
• "Where do you want to be two or three years into this job?" Check whether their exit, whether permanent residence, moving to another country or going back to Japan to open their own place, fits the restaurant's plans.

It is not a problem in itself if the answer to the last question does not fit your plans. What matters is whether, knowing that, you can design the term and role around it. Retention is covered in detail in Why Japanese chefs quit abroad, and how to keep them.

5. Questions that pin down terms and visas

If a mismatch on terms turns up just before the offer, the whole selection process is wasted. Check the following early.

• The minimum annual salary they want, and what it is based on (current salary, money sent to family, etc.)
• When they can start, and how long resigning from their current employer will take
• Passport expiry date (it affects the visa application)
• Whether they can provide documents proving education and work history (graduation certificate, certificate of employment, a copy of the cook's licence, etc.; required documents vary by visa type)
• Countries where they previously held a work visa or long-stay residence status, and for how long

On timing, Article 627 of Japan's Civil Code provides that employment without a fixed term ends two weeks after notice is given. But some workplaces set a notice period in their work rules, and the chef will want to hand over properly and leave on good terms. Build your schedule on at least one to three months from offer to departure. For working back from the opening date, see Staffing an overseas opening.

6. Questions you should not ask

If you are interviewing candidates from Japan, you need to know how fair selection is understood in Japan. In its "Basics of Fair Recruitment and Selection" (公正な採用選考の基本), the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare asks employers not to decide on hiring based on matters unrelated to the applicant's aptitude and ability, and lists the following as matters requiring care.

In interviews for restaurants abroad it is easy to slip into "Are you married?", "Do you have children?" or "Will caring for your parents be a problem?". Even when the question comes from concern about the move abroad, it falls into the categories above. Replace it with something like the "commitments that cannot be moved" question above, which lets the candidate raise things if they think they need to.

The anti-discrimination law of the country where the employment contract is made also applies. Rules on age, sex, nationality, religion and so on differ by country, so the reliable approach is to have a local HR or legal person review your list of interview questions once.

7. Making online interviews work

Fit the time difference to the candidate

Most candidates work in kitchens in Japan. Suggesting late evening after service, or the morning of a day off, means they do not have to take time off work. Fitting around the candidate is itself a message about how your restaurant works.

Specify the camera position

Set aside time for them to talk again with the camera showing their hands as well as their face. Sharpening a knife, breaking down a fish or cutting shari: even a minute or two of watching tells you a great deal.

Ask for a video in advance

Before the interview, set a task and ask for a video, such as "break down a whole fish and cut it into blocks" or "ten pieces of nigiri". Requiring a single unedited take makes them easier to compare. In the Bronze practical exam of MAFF's cooking skills certification, three-piece filleting of a fish (sanmai oroshi) and katsuramuki are compulsory tasks, which is a useful guide when choosing tasks that show basic technique (details of the scheme in our guide to the cooking skills certification).

Bring in local staff

Having the local sous chef or front-of-house manager who will work with the candidate join for the last 15 minutes lets the candidate get a feel for the restaurant, and lets you see how they get on with people. You also see how they manage in English or the local language.

Show the restaurant

Use a smartphone to show the kitchen, the counter, the staff break area and, if possible, the housing. "This is not what I was told" after arrival leads straight to early resignations.

A trial, if possible

If the candidate can meet a head chef who is visiting Japan, or if your head office is in Japan, having them work half a day at a group restaurant in Japan is the most reliable option. Decide how they are paid in line with Japanese labour law.

8. A sample scoring sheet

When several interviewers score candidates, aligning the items and criteria keeps judgements consistent.

If the job posting has already made the terms clear before the interview, the interview becomes a check, and you can spend the time assessing skill and fit. For how to write the posting, see Writing a job posting that works for chefs in Japan.

This article is general information, not legal, employment or immigration advice. Rules on recruitment and selection differ by country. In an actual hiring process, check the primary sources below and local law, and consult a professional where needed.