Kitchen hand interview questions
The kitchen hand decides whether a service runs or backs up. These questions are about pace, order and what somebody does when the pit is full and the pass is calling.
| Question | What to listen for |
|---|---|
| Have you worked in a commercial kitchen before, and in what part of it? | Any kitchen time is useful. Somebody who has only done front of house can still be right, but say so. |
| The pit is full and the chef is calling for a pan. What do you do first? | The pan, then straight back. Priorities, not panic. Somebody who finishes their rack first has not worked a service. |
| How do you keep a dish machine running properly through a service? | Scraping, racking properly, checking the rinse, changing the water when it goes. Not just loading it. |
| What prep have you done, and how were you shown it? | Specific prep and who showed them. Peeling, portioning, salads. Honest beginners are fine; bluffers are not. |
| How do you store a delivery when the cool room is already full? | Ask rather than guess, rotate what is there, keep raw below ready to eat, and tell the chef what did not fit. |
| What do you do when you are not sure whether something is still good? | Ask the chef. Any answer involving a smell test on their own is the wrong one. |
| How do you keep out of the way in a small kitchen during service? | Routes, calling behind, and staying out of the hot line. Spatial awareness is most of the skill. |
| What does a clean kitchen look like at the end of a night? | Specifics: floors, bins, filters, nothing in the sink, and the pit set up for the morning. |
| Tell us about the fastest service you have worked. | A real one, with a number on it. Listen for whether they enjoyed it or survived it. |
| How do you take direction when two people are asking for different things? | Checks who the priority is, does not sulk, does not pick a side. Simple and important. |
| What would you do if you cut yourself during service? | Stop, cover it, tell the chef, record it. Carrying on is the wrong answer. |
| This role is Thursday to Sunday evenings. Which of those can you work? | Specific nights. These are the shifts the role exists for. |
| What would you want to learn here beyond the pit? | Curiosity about prep or a section. The best chefs often start here. |
| What would you like to ask us? | Questions about the kitchen, the hours or the team. |
What is in the file
- Template, blank, with each section down the side and room for the answer.
- Example, the same sheet filled in for Wharf Road Kitchen.
- How to use, with the steps and the mistakes below.
How to fill it in
- Read the kitchen hand job description first, and cut any question the job does not actually need answered.
- Ask every candidate the same questions in the same order, so the answers can be compared rather than remembered.
- Print the blank sheet and write what each person said beside the question, during the interview rather than after it.
- Score at the end against the job description, not against who you liked talking to.
Common mistakes
- Questions about age, health, pregnancy, family responsibilities, religion, race or union membership, which are not about the job and carry real risk
- A different set of questions for each candidate, which makes the decision impossible to explain later
- Asking about availability and then rostering outside it in the first fortnight
Sources
The official pages this wording was read against, on 21 October 2026.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Hiring employees
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Protection from discrimination at work
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Job ads
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Find my award
When a spreadsheet stops being enough
Roster Flow publishes the evening shifts this role works to everybody at once, and open shifts stay visible so a Thursday nobody has taken is obvious while there is still time.
Questions
What is on the kitchen hand interview questions?
14 sections down the side, running from have you worked in a commercial kitchen before, and in what part of it? to what would you like to ask us?. The example beside them is filled in for Wharf Road Kitchen: fourteen questions about the dish pit, prep, deliveries and keeping up.
Does the kitchen hand interview questions work anything out for you?
No. It is a document with 14 sections to answer in your own words, not a calculator. Nothing on it is a formula.
Can I use the kitchen hand interview questions in Google Sheets?
Yes. Open kitchen-hand-interview-questions.xlsx from Google Drive, or use File, then Import, then Upload with kitchen-hand-interview-questions.csv. The document and its example come across either way.
Is the wording in the kitchen hand interview questions ready to use as it is?
The kitchen hand interview questions is a starting point for Wharf Road Kitchen or any business like it, to adapt rather than sign. The wording was checked against the official sources on 21 October 2026, it is not legal advice, and it has not been through a workplace relations professional.