Chef – Provides high quality food for the guests, owners and crew. Having a well fed crew makes for a happy boat! Large yachts will employ a separate crew and guest chef. Bosun – Also known as Senior Deckhand, and often has a few seasons experience.
Hierarchies are pretty well defined on Below Deck. There's the bosun, who leads the deck team, the chief stew, who runs things in the interior, and the captain, who oversees them all. Then there's the chef, who is technically his or her own boss in the galley, only reporting to the captain.
A yacht chef is anyone that works on a boat and cooks for guests and crew, guests or just crew. There are around 37,000 yacht crew members employed on the 6,000+ superyachts around the world. That's not counting smaller yachts and sailboats out there too.
Captain will oversee all the boat operations. Chief Officer/Mate is the right-hand man of the captain and responsible for the exterior along with the deckhands. Chief Stewardess is responsible for the interior, and the stewardesses will usually rotate through service, housekeeping, and laundry.
The Captain (or Master) of the ship is the final authority of the ship and is the highest rank that one can achieve onboard. He shoulders total responsibility and oversees all shipboard operations.
He said: "Head chefs are under constant demand to produce high-quality food under tight time frames, so the stress felt from this pressured environment is almost inevitable."
Cruise Ship Executive Chef: The executive chef on a cruise liner is responsible for the administration aspects and cooking of all the meals. The executive chef is the person in charge of the kitchen and all the other chefs and kitchen staff.
Junior Chef (Commis Chef)
A junior chef, also called the commis chef, works with station chefs to learn about the kitchen environment. This person has recently completed some schooling or training and is beginning to work in the culinary field.
Chef de Cuisine (Head/Chief of the Kitchen)
Compared to an executive chef, the chef de cuisine is a more hands-on role. Large restaurants will likely have both an executive and head chef in their kitchen hierarchy, but smaller organisations are likely to have one or the other.
On a vessel of up to 35 meters, a monthly yacht chef salary is between $5,000-7,000 before tips. This grows with the size of the boat – on 51-65 meter superyachts a salary of $7,500-8,500 per month is average, and on vessels over 100 meters yacht chef jobs can earn you from $8,500-10,000 monthly.
The Below Deck boss surprised the bosun with new epaulets featuring three stripes to signify his first officer ranking after earning his 1600-ton license.
This being the case, a person aspiring to be a ship's cook has to have the necessary degrees from recognized institutions and universities that provide courses on culinary subjects. In addition to this, a person also needs to have a prior work experience for a minimum of at least two years.
The chef aboard a yacht is a professionally trained culinary expert that is in charge of all guest and crew meals, provisioning and complete management of the galley.
Working in a kitchen, you're going to be standing and moving around for at least 8 hours. You'll also need to be lifting heavy pots of food, carrying large bags of food, and stocking walk-ins with food, which can put a strain on your body.
Chefs at every level of the industry face injuries and health problems due to the nature of their work. These issues range from problems caused by the job itself – such as back pain and arthritis – to problems caused by the unavoidable lifestyle that comes with being a chef.
Mates, or deck officers, direct the operation of a vessel while the captain is off duty. Large ships have three officers, called first, second, and third mates. The first mate has the highest authority and takes command of the ship if the captain is incapacitated.
First Mate had rank just below the Captain. He would take control of the ship if the Captain could not perform his duties any longer. However, pirate ships usually did not have First Mates; Quartermasters performed their duties.