Validation programme for professional qualification as a kitchen assistant

The kitchen assistant orders, receives and checks food in the kitchen, makes necessary preparations, prepares cold and hot meals according to appropriate culinary techniques and/or according to the technical sheet, finishes dishes and checks quality to deliver quality meals to the guest.

The kitchen assistant:

• ensures that service hours and timetables are adhered to and that the work schedule is completed within the specified time frame.
• works within a hierarchical team and supports kitchen staff within it.
• can be employed in both the public area and the kitchen of catering establishments.
• is responsible for the packaging, labelling and storage of products, monitoring inventory, identifying shortages and passing on orders, preparing the buffet, and cleaning equipment and areas.

All work must be done in accordance with hygiene and food safety rules.

In the validation standard for kitchen assistants (in Dutch)(PDF file opens in new window) you can find detailed info about the validation programme.

If you want to demonstrate your experience as a kitchen assistant at a validation body, you do so through a practical test.

The language of instruction in the tests is Dutch. This means you need at least a basic knowledge of Dutch to take the tests.

You will be tested on your ability to:

• prepare a minimum of four dishes for four people from a menu provided in advance with a total of at least ten different preparations. Specifically, these are:
  • a starter,
  • a soup,
  • a main course (meat, fish or vegetarian dish),
  • a dessert;
• assist kitchen staff,
• determine the closing stock after preparing the dishes.