Kitchen Brigade System: Chef Roles & Hierarchy for Indian Restaurants

Brigade Roles Adapted for Indian Kitchens

The French brigade system adapts well to Indian kitchens with tandoor, curry, tawa, and cold sections replacing grill, sauté, and garde manger.

Executive Chef / Head Chef: menu development, costing, vendor management, quality control. Sous Chef: runs daily service, manages prep lists, fills in at any station. Chef de Partie: owns one station (tandoor, curry, Chinese, cold). Commis: prep work, basic cooking, learns stations.

Right-Sizing for Your Restaurant

Staffing depends on covers and cuisine complexity, not just seat count.

• Under 30 covers: 1 head + 2 cooks + 1 helper
• 30–80 covers: 1 head + 1 sous + 3 station cooks + 2 commis + 2 helpers
• 80–150 covers: full brigade + dedicated tandoor, curry, Chinese, cold, pastry
• Cloud kitchen: 1 head + 2–3 cooks (multi-skilled)
• Factor in split shifts for lunch and dinner service

Menu Complexity Drives Staffing Needs

A 100-item menu with 5 cuisines needs more station cooks than a focused 40-item menu. Menu rationalization directly reduces staffing needs.

Use DineCard to identify which menu categories get the most customer views. Focus kitchen staffing on high-traffic stations. Cut low-performing cuisine sections to simplify brigade structure.

Frequently Asked Questions