Chef biography playbook
Restaurant, training, and the food you put on the plate.
What the reader is hiring this bio to do
Diners, journalists, hospitality recruiters, and partners read chef bios. The lineage matters as much as the current restaurant; cuisine and approach matter as much as either.
Credibility signals to include
- Current restaurant and role (Chef de Cuisine, Executive Chef, Pastry Chef).
- Training restaurants and chefs.
- Cuisine or approach, expressed concretely.
- Notable recognitions (Michelin, James Beard, World 50).
- Cookbook authorship, if any.
Avoid in this industry
- Listing every restaurant you have staged at.
- Borrowed-prestige claims.
- Vague culinary philosophy.
Structure
Preferred structure for the bio
A reliable order that performs in this field. Adjust to the venue.
- 1Name, role, restaurant, cuisine.
- 2Training lineage.
- 3Recognitions and press.
- 4Cookbook or media projects.
- 5Personal sentence with city.
Tone
How this industry's bios should sound
Confident, lineage-aware, and specific. The bio should convey discipline, not flourish.
Lengths
Recommended lengths by venue
Openings
Opening formulas that work in this field
Open with role, restaurant, and cuisine.
Sora Tanaka is the Chef and Owner of Ondo, a 28-seat counter restaurant in Oakland focused on Pacific Northwest fish and Japanese fermentation.
Worked examples
One hundred words. Fifty words.
Sora Tanaka is the Chef and Owner of Ondo, a 28-seat counter restaurant in Oakland focused on Pacific Northwest fish and Japanese fermentation. Before opening Ondo in 2022, she spent seven years at Saison in San Francisco, the last two as Chef de Cuisine, and before that trained at Den in Tokyo and Faviken in Sweden. Ondo received its first Michelin star in 2024 and was named to the New York Times' restaurant list the same year. Sora is at work on her first cookbook, on shio koji, with Phaidon (forthcoming 2026). She lives in Oakland with her partner.
Sora Tanaka is the Chef and Owner of Ondo, a 28-seat counter restaurant in Oakland focused on Pacific Northwest fish and Japanese fermentation. Seven years at Saison (Chef de Cuisine, last two); training at Den (Tokyo) and Faviken (Sweden). Michelin 1-star (2024). First cookbook with Phaidon (forthcoming).
Vocabulary
Words to reach for — and words to handle with care
Cross-references
Frameworks and voices this playbook pairs with
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