Kitchen Porter CV Example for 2026

Use a simple reverse-chronological layout, beginning with your current or most recent work. One page usually gives a new applicant enough room, while two pages may suit someone with several relevant roles or substantial supervisory experience. Choose a readable typeface, clear headings and consistent spacing. Leave out your photo, date of birth and full street address.

Tailor each application to the vacancy and make the page easy to scan. Read the advert closely, compare it with your genuine experience and move your strongest matching evidence towards the top. Kitchen porter work commonly covers washing kitchenware, cleaning and sanitising equipment and work areas, supporting chefs, disposing of rubbish and keeping the kitchen clean. Some posts also involve basic food preparation, unloading deliveries or organising a storeroom. A kitchen porter CV template gives you a structure, not a list of claims to copy.

Personal statement

Write two or three sentences that quickly establish where you fit. Mention whether you are entering hospitality, already working in a kitchen or coordinating wash-up and cleaning routines. Add one concrete detail, such as the type of service, the number of covers supported or the frequency of a routine. That evidence makes words such as "reliable" and "organised" believable.

If you have no direct kitchen experience, draw on transferable evidence from cleaning, stock handling, retail, warehousing, customer service, volunteering or practical study. Make the connection precise. You might have followed timed cleaning routines, kept a work area orderly, checked deliveries or stayed productive during a rush. Never present transferable work as kitchen employment. If your duties overlap more with food preparation and general support, see this kitchen assistant CV guide.

Experience, skills and extras

List jobs newest first, including unrelated work when it contains useful evidence. Build each point around an action, its scope and the outcome. For example, show how often you completed a cleaning routine, how many deliveries you checked or the size of the service you supported. Use only figures you can explain at interview.

Choose skills that appear in those points. Hygiene knowledge, teamwork, communication, organisation, physical stamina and the ability to work quickly in a busy setting can all strengthen a kitchen porter CV, but a short example carries more weight than a bare claim. Keep the list selective and use wording that fits the vacancy naturally. If you are applying for a role with more cooking responsibility, show relevant food preparation experience.

Keep education proportionate to its relevance. Add the qualification, subject, institution and dates, then place useful training in its own section if that makes it easier to find. Awards, languages and volunteering deserve space only when they strengthen the application. Check the finished CV for unexplained gaps, inconsistent dates, spelling errors and unsupported claims before sending it.

Kitchen porter experience can read like a list of chores when every point begins with "responsible for". Replace that phrase with an action, a sense of scale and a result. State what you did, show how much or how often, then explain the practical difference. Perhaps equipment was ready before service, closing checks were completed, storage became easier to use or chefs received clean kitchenware when they needed it.

Useful measures include covers, shifts, deliveries, cleaning areas, colleagues trained and checks completed. Use only numbers you can verify. If you cannot support a percentage, choose a straightforward count such as "checked four deliveries each week" or "supported evening services of up to 120 covers". When no useful number exists, add honest context such as breakfast service, event catering or a school dining hall.

These are illustrative kitchen porter CV sample bullets. Replace every figure and outcome with your own defensible evidence. "Supported" is often the honest verb when the whole kitchen produced the result. Do not take sole credit for a team effort.

Useful verbs include cleaned, sanitised, operated, organised, unloaded, checked, reported, prepared, cleared, trained and coordinated. A junior applicant might cover completed routines, safe equipment use or keeping pace through a busy shift. An experienced porter can show dependable closing work and broader coverage. A senior applicant should make coordination visible through work allocation, training, handovers, checks and problems resolved.

Keep workplace procedures in context. Some posts involve loading washing machines correctly and stacking items safely. In certain settings, porters may also report accidents, near misses or equipment defects. Present these as experience gained in that workplace, rather than suggesting that every employer uses the same procedure.

Keep education concise and place the most recent qualification first, followed by the institution and dates. Higher education is not required for kitchen porter jobs, so experienced applicants can usually keep this section compact. If you are starting out, one short note about relevant practical learning, teamwork or a placement can help. Do not let unrelated study displace stronger evidence from employment or volunteering.

Kitchen Porters who handle food in UK food businesses must receive training, instruction or supervision suited to their work. Before beginning food-handling duties, they must receive written or verbal instruction in food-hygiene essentials, including personal hygiene, temperature control, cleaning procedures and pest awareness. A food hygiene certificate is not a universal legal requirement for preparing or selling food in the UK. Employers may instead demonstrate suitable preparation through instruction, supervision, workplace training, self-study or relevant prior experience.

The appropriate training depends on the work involved. Guidance for Kitchen Porters handling only low-risk foods, prepacked foods or food service only specifies food safety awareness, level 1 hygiene instruction. This applies to that activity scope rather than every kitchen porter post. For Kitchen Porters who prepare open high-risk foods or supervise food handling, the supplied route specifies training equivalent to the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) level 2 award in food safety and catering within three months of starting work. This is conditional guidance tied to those duties. More generally, training equivalent to level 2 in food safety and hygiene is preferred for Kitchen Porters who are food handlers.

Record training exactly as it appears on your documents. Give the title, provider and completion date. Describe workplace instruction as training or instruction, rather than calling it a certificate. If a course is unfinished, label it "in progress" and include the expected completion date.

Relevant awards, certifications and languages may sit in an additional section when they support the application. Keep unrelated courses brief.