How to become a cook in B.C.: from your first kitchen job to apprenticeship, certification and the Red Seal

1. First, tell them apart: Cook, Chef and the "Red Seal"

Cook and Chef are two different kinds of jobs. In Canada's National Occupational Classification (NOC), Cook is 63200, and Chef (the chef group, including Sous-Chef and Executive Chef) is 62200. Baker, who specializes in bread and pastry, is yet another group, code 63202, with its own Red Seal trade.

Kitchen jobs you often see in job ads:

• Line Cook: works one station on the line, and makes dishes to order as guests order them.
• Prep Cook: before service, cuts and prepares ingredients, weighs and portions them, and makes semi-prepared items ahead of time.
• Kitchen Helper, Dishwasher: washes dishes, cleans, and helps out. It lets you get into a kitchen and see how it runs, but the work is mostly dishwashing, and you learn only limited cooking skills. When you apply, you can ask: when can I start learning prep, and who will teach me?
• Sous-Chef, Executive Chef: manage schedules, lead staff, and handle menus, purchasing and costs. The same title can mean different duties in a big restaurant and a small one, so read the job duties in the ad carefully.

In B.C., you do not have to be certified to work as a cook. All ten provinces and three territories in Canada treat cook as a "voluntary certification" trade: this means you can legally do a cook's work without a certificate and without having been an apprentice (Alberta has a small exception for some "restricted activities"; see section 12). A certificate shows what level your skills have reached, so employers can understand it at a glance. Job Bank lists the usual requirements for cooks as: generally, completion of secondary school; plus a three-year cook apprenticeship, or completion of college courses in cooking and food safety, or several years of experience in a commercial kitchen.

How to read a job ad. If an ad lists a certificate under Required, you must have it; if it is listed under Preferred or Asset, it is better to have it, but you can still apply without it, and you should describe your related experience clearly.

What the Red Seal is. The Red Seal is a national standard for cooks. If you pass the Red Seal exam, a "Red Seal" mark is added to the cook's certificate of qualification issued by your province; this is called a Red Seal Endorsement, or RSE for short. With it, employers in other provinces can also easily understand your level. The Red Seal website states that the Red Seal only shows that you passed the Red Seal exam; it is not itself a licence issued by a province. In B.C., the Red Seal for cooks is added to the certificate of qualification for the third level, PC3 (explained in section 4).

Whether you can move up to chef depends on the employer, who mainly looks at your experience leading staff, planning menus and managing costs; having a Red Seal does not mean an automatic promotion.

2. Your first kitchen job: where to look, how to write your résumé, and what to ask in an interview

First, make sure you can work legally. SkilledTradesBC states: to work as an apprentice, you must be legally entitled to work in Canada; to take apprenticeship technical training at a school, you must be legally entitled to study, and you must also meet the school's admission requirements. For what your work permit or study permit allows you to do, ask Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC); SkilledTradesBC does not handle immigration matters and cannot see your immigration file. Apprenticeship registration, cook certification and your legal status to work are three separate things, and each has to be arranged on its own.

Where to look for work.

• Job Bank: the federal government's job website. Go in, enter a city (for example, Victoria), then search for Kitchen Helper, Prep Cook, Line Cook, Cook, Apprentice Cook.
• The careers pages of restaurants, hotels, food service companies, hospitals and seniors' care homes. For example, Island Health (the health authority for Vancouver Island) is always hiring Cooks for its hospitals and care homes on the Island.
• Newcomer settlement agencies. SkilledTradesBC lists places such as WorkBC where newcomers can look for work; you can find the free newcomer services agency closest to you by postal code on IRCC's newcomer services search page.

How to write your résumé. For a kitchen job, one page is enough. Put these at the top: the tasks you can do on your own, the cuisines you have cooked, which shifts you can work (mornings, evenings, weekends), whether you have a FOODSAFE certificate, and which languages you speak. "Can cook Chinese food" is too vague; be specific, for example: "Cut and prepped vegetables according to the prep list, portioned and date-labelled them, and supported the line during the dinner rush." Only write things you have actually done.

In the interview, you can ask:

• What time does a shift usually end? How many people work a shift?
• How are allergy orders handled? Who trains new staff on the slicer and the deep fryer?
• If you want to become an apprentice, ask directly:

(This asks whether the restaurant will be your sponsor and register you as a cook apprentice, and who will sign off on your work hours and skills.)

Here, a sponsor is the employer responsible for your apprenticeship training; it is not the same as a "sponsor" in immigration.

Trial shift. Some restaurants will ask you to come in and work one shift first. Before you go, ask: how long it is, what you will do, and whether you will be paid. The B.C. government website has a "minimum daily pay" rule: when an employee comes to work, they must be paid for 2 hours even if they work less than 2 hours; if the scheduled shift is more than 8 hours, they must be paid for at least 4 hours. B.C.'s minimum wage is $18.25 an hour (from June 1, 2026). As for whether a trial shift counts as an "employee coming to work", the B.C. government website has no specific rule; if you are not sure, call the Employment Standards Branch and ask: 1-833-236-3700.

Related: for the pay floor, see Guide No. 13, Rights at work, section 2 "The pay floor in 2026"; to work out whether your job is covered by federal or B.C. rules, see Guide No. 32, New labour rules from October 2026, section 2 "First, work out whether your job is covered by federal or B.C. rules".

3. Your first certificate in the trade: FOODSAFE Level 1

FOODSAFE is B.C.'s food safety course. Level 1 is for front-line kitchen and front-of-house staff: cooks, servers, bussers and dishwashers can all take it. The course covers how foodborne illness happens, how to receive and store food, how to prepare food, how to serve it, and how to clean and sanitize; it also covers workplace safety.

Why you should take it first when you start.

• Section 10 of B.C.'s Food Premises Regulation: the operator of a food premises must personally hold FOODSAFE or an equivalent certificate; when the operator is not on site, at least one employee who is present must hold this certificate. The regulation only goes this far; whether an employer requires every employee to have the certificate depends on the job ad, or you can ask the employer. Many kitchen jobs do require it.
• To study Camosun's cook program, to register for B.C. cook apprenticeship technical training, or to apply to challenge the cook certification exam based on experience, you first need a valid FOODSAFE Level 1 or equivalent certificate.

Ways to take it (FOODSAFE website, November 7, 2026):

The FOODSAFE Level 1 exam languages include Chinese, and the workbook comes in an English-Chinese bilingual edition. If your English is not yet very fluent, you can choose a classroom or video conference course, and ask when you register:

(This asks whether they can give you the bilingual workbook and exam for this session.)

How long the certificate lasts. FOODSAFE Level 1 (including the Refresher course) is valid for 5 years after it is issued, and the expiry date is printed on the certificate. After a classroom course exam, the paper certificate is mailed by the health authority and may take 4 to 6 weeks; if you need it quickly for a job search, ask the instructor for a temporary certificate or proof of completion right after the exam.

If you lose your certificate. To get a replacement FOODSAFE certificate from Island Health, call 250-737-2017 or email foodsafe@islandhealth.ca.

Do food safety certificates from other provinces or countries count in B.C.? This is decided by the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC); courses that are not on its list are not considered equivalent. Before you move provinces or change jobs, check with the course name, the issuing organization and the date it was issued.

4. B.C. cook certification has three levels: PC1, PC2, PC3

B.C. divides cooks into three levels: Professional Cook 1, 2 and 3, or PC1, PC2 and PC3 for short. When you pass each level, you get a certificate of qualification issued by the province (Certificate of Qualification, or CoQ for short); the third level, PC3, is the Red Seal level, and the certificate of qualification you get when you pass it carries the Red Seal.

When you apprentice with an employer (direct entry), what each level takes:

All three levels together come to 5,000 hours of work-based training plus 540 hours of technical training. SkilledTradesBC gives the usual time as: about 1 year each for PC1 and PC2, and about 2 years for PC3. Technical training is usually a full-time block at a school (called block release), but there are also online, part-time and other options. At each level you need a mark of 70% or higher in technical training.

If you study at a college first (foundation entry), the hours are counted differently. Instead of apprenticing with an employer, you first take full-time PC1 and PC2 programs at a college:

• The PC1 program is 840 hours; when you finish, it counts as 600 hours of work-based training;
• The PC2 program is 420 hours; when you finish, it counts as 240 hours of work-based training.

You still have to work the remaining hours in a commercial kitchen: another 400 hours for PC1, and another 760 hours for PC2. Before you register, ask the school to put in writing which level the program counts toward and how many hours it counts for, so you do not count hours twice. Section 6 uses Camosun College in Victoria as an example.

Two other situations:

• If you already hold a B.C. certificate of qualification as a Baker or Meatcutter, you can get credit for 500 work hours toward cook PC3;
• When an apprentice finally gets certified, the sponsor and a person qualified to sign off must also sign a Recommendation for Certification. People qualified to sign off include cooks who hold PC3, a cook certificate of qualification or a Red Seal; chefs who hold Certified Chef de Cuisine; and people who have a sign-off authorization letter from SkilledTradesBC.

How you pass the PC3 practical assessment. It has three parts, and you must meet the standard in each: in safety and sanitation, 5 out of 5 key points; in organization and technique, 5 out of 8 items; in the finished dishes, 22 out of 30 items.

5. Path one: register as an apprentice with an employer, and learn while you work

Good for: people who already work in a kitchen, or who have found a restaurant willing to train them. The advantage is that you keep earning wages; during an apprenticeship, about 80% of your time is spent working in the restaurant and 20% in school.

Step by step:

1. Find a sponsor. Most of the time, your sponsor (the employer responsible for your apprenticeship training) is the boss who pays your wages. The sponsor is responsible for making sure you learn, and for reporting your hours to SkilledTradesBC.
2. Register as an apprentice on the SkilledTradesBC Portal. Open the SkilledTradesBC website, click "Portal Sign In" at the top right, create an account and register as an apprentice; your employer also needs to create an account and confirm the registration. Once registered, you get a SkilledTradesBC registration number, which you need to register for technical training at a school.
3. Keep track of your hours and skills. Only the sponsor can report hours. SkilledTradesBC suggests that employers report them every 3 to 6 months. You should also log in to the Portal regularly to check whether your hours have been reported. Keep a record of what you learn, such as receiving and storing food, cold dishes, soups and sauces, cooking meat to the right doneness, and working the line during service; if you both wash dishes and cook, record them separately, and ask which hours count.
4. Register for technical training once a year. Seats are first come, first served, so the earlier you register, the better. Agree with your boss on when you will leave to attend training. While you are in training, you can apply for Employment Insurance (EI); see section 11 for details.
5. Pass one level at a time. Once you pass the technical training, written exam and practical assessment for a level, you move on to the next. You must hold a PC1 certificate of qualification before you can register for PC2, and a PC2 certificate of qualification before PC3.
6. Get certified. When you have met all the requirements, the sponsor and the person signing off sign the Recommendation for Certification; SkilledTradesBC mails the certificate to the sponsor, who signs it and gives it to you.

Where to take technical training in Victoria. Camosun College's Interurban campus (4461 Interurban Rd) offers apprenticeship technical training for all three levels, PC1, PC2 and PC3. Classroom training takes about 6 weeks per level, and there is also an online self-study option, "E-pprentice", which takes about 6 months per level. Tuition on the Camosun website (September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027) is $694.50 per level, plus student fees. Applications are accepted all year. To register, you need two things: a sponsor registered with SkilledTradesBC, and a valid SkilledTradesBC registration number. This apprenticeship program states that it does not accept international students.

Upcoming start dates listed on the Camosun website (go by what the school says):

• PC1 classroom: March 1 to April 9, 2027;
• PC2 classroom: November 2 to December 11, 2026 (this intake has already started; ask about the next one);
• PC3 classroom: January 11 to February 19, 2027;
• Online E-pprentice for all three levels: January 11 to June 25, 2027.

To ask about seats: Camosun Registration, 250-370-3550; to ask about the program: Camosun Apprenticeship Office, 250-370-3856, tradesinfo@camosun.ca.

You can say:

(This says you are a registered cook apprentice, gives your registration number, and asks whether there is still a seat in the next PC1 intake.)

Related: for how to register as an apprentice online and how your hours are recorded, see Guide No. 65, Becoming an apprentice in B.C., section 5 "Once you have a sponsor: registering as an apprentice online".

6. Path two: study a cooking program at a college first

Good for: people who are new to the trade, have no commercial kitchen experience, or cannot yet find a boss willing to train them. The advantage is that you learn systematically in the school's professional kitchen; the downside is that you pay tuition up front, and it is hard to work full time while you are in classes.

An example in Victoria: Camosun College's "Professional Cook Training Foundation" certificate (Camosun website, November 7, 2026)

• On top of tuition there are student fees, based on the courses you take.
• PC1 admission requirements: English 10 with a C or higher (or an equivalent course the school accepts); Apprenticeship and Workplace Math 10 with a C+ or higher (or another math course the school accepts); and a FOODSAFE Level 1 certificate. If you are missing any of these, you can first take an assessment or upgrading courses at Camosun. The PC2 admission requirement is a PC1 certificate of qualification.
• This program also states that it does not accept international students (Open to International: No).
• Every day, students make breakfast and lunch for the cafeteria at Camosun's Helmut Huber Culinary Centre, and later they also run the school's ClassRoom restaurant.
• Upcoming PC1 start dates: September 14, 2026 (to April 9, 2027), January 11, 2027 (to July 23, 2027), September 13, 2027.
• Upcoming PC2 start dates: September 14, 2026 (to December 18), January 11, 2027 (to April 16), September 13, 2027 (to December 17).

An example in Vancouver. Vancouver Community College (VCC) offers the Professional Cook 1 Plus certificate program: 32 weeks, 4 days a week, to be completed within three years at most. For VCC tuition, check the "Costs" section on its website; look before you register, or call and ask.

Ask about these things before you register (ideally, get the school to put them in writing):

• Which level does the program count toward, and how many work hours does it count for?
• Does the school help arrange a work placement? Where will you work the remaining hours?
• How much will tuition, fees, knives, a chef's uniform and non-slip shoes cost in total?

If you are still in high school. VCC has a PC1 dual credit program for high school students (28 weeks). Camosun also has a Dual Credit program for high school students. If your child is in high school, first ask the school's career or academic counsellor.

7. Path three: if you have worked as a cook for many years, challenge the certification exam based on your experience

Good for: people who have worked as cooks for many years in commercial kitchens in their home country, in Canada or in another country, but have never been certified as a cook in Canada. In B.C. this is called challenging the certification exam, and the applicant is called a Trade Qualifier. You do not have to start over as an apprentice; once your application is approved, you go straight to the exams.

How much experience each of B.C.'s three levels requires (SkilledTradesBC Program Profile for each level):

All three levels require a valid FOODSAFE Level 1 or equivalent certificate. Taking PC3 as an example, the Employer Declaration form also states that you must have done at least 70% of the work tasks listed in Section D of the form. This 70% is about whether the range of tasks you have done is complete enough; it has nothing to do with the pass mark for the written exam.

If your experience is not enough for PC3, you can challenge PC1 or PC2 first, and move up once you have that certificate. What you challenge here is the certification exam for each level. SkilledTradesBC also has a separate "challenge a Level exam" option, for people who have some practical experience but do not yet qualify for the certification exam and want to enter an apprenticeship program partway through; the Program Profiles for each cook level say this is not offered (Challenging a Level: None), so the 1,800, 3,600 and 5,400 hours on that page are general rules and do not apply to cooks.

How to apply:

1. Check the requirements first. Open the SkilledTradesBC page for the level you want (for example, the PC3 page), scroll down to the Employer Declaration, and read how many hours and which tasks are required.
2. Create a Portal account. When you create an account on the SkilledTradesBC Portal, choose "challenge a certification exam" to start your application.
3. Submit the application and declaration forms. For each period of work experience you list in your application, attach an Employer Declaration; for years when you were self-employed, or when your direct supervisor truly cannot be reached, use a Statutory Declaration. All documents must be in English. Submitting only Statutory Declarations is not accepted: unless all of your experience is self-employment, your application must include an Employer Declaration from at least one employer. Pay the $120 application fee on the Portal.
4. Wait for the review. SkilledTradesBC will call your references to verify your experience, and will also call your former companies to confirm that your references really worked there (they may contact the owner, human resources or a department manager). If your references cannot be reached, your application will be refused. The challenge exam page gives the usual review time as 10 to 12 weeks, and longer if you have experience from outside Canada; the newcomers FAQ page says 8 to 10 weeks. The two pages say different things, so plan for 10 to 12 weeks or longer.
5. Finish the exams within 24 months of approval. Once approved, you must book and pass the written exam and the practical assessment within 24 months. Book the written exam under "Exam Booking" on the Portal.
6. Get certified. Once you pass everything, the certificate is mailed to the address you registered.

How many tries, and how much it costs (on the challenge path):

• 1st attempt: included in the $120 application fee;
• 2nd attempt: no extra fee;
• 3rd attempt: first contact an Apprenticeship Advisor, and book after you are approved; $100;
• 4th attempt: you must first submit proof of upgrading or further training; $100;
• Since December 1, 2023, challengers can take the exam for the same certificate at most 4 times. Each rewrite must be at least 30 days after the previous attempt.

The practical assessment costs extra. For challengers, the fee for the practical assessment is set by the school that runs it; the website gives a range of $350 to $500. The list of assessment sites is sent with your approval letter. Camosun College in Victoria runs practical challenge assessments for PC1, PC2 and PC3; once you have your eligibility letter from SkilledTradesBC, you can contact the Camosun Apprenticeship Office (250-370-3856, tradesinfo@camosun.ca) to ask about a spot in a practical challenge assessment; the Camosun cook apprenticeship page also lists the contact person for this.

How to practise for the practical assessment. On the PC3 page, under "Practical Assessment Information", there are three sets of candidate preparation materials, Menu A, B and C, plus a general guide to the assessment. First write each menu out as a work order with a serving time for each dish, then cook the whole set once with similar equipment. Ask a co-worker to note for you which step was waiting for the oven, where you could not get a burner, and which dish went cold; adjust your timing the second time.

English and language tests. SkilledTradesBC states that you do not need IELTS or CELPIP results to be an apprentice or to take its exams; but some schools ask for them when you apply.

8. How to prove experience from outside Canada: the example of a wok cook

Work you did in restaurants, hotels or institutional kitchens abroad can be used in your application. The reviewers must be able to verify three things: where you worked, how long you actually worked, and which tasks you did yourself. Home cooking, a job title alone, or photos from cooking competitions cannot on their own prove hours in a commercial kitchen.

Prepare a record for each employer:

1. List a timeline. Write each employer separately: the company's legal name, business address (if it has closed, write the information from that time), start and end dates, job title, hours per week, and the actual total hours. Only count hours you spent cooking hands-on: time spent on management, administration, supervising, volunteering, teaching or attending training does not count. Write the hours as an exact number; "over a thousand" or "a lot" will not be accepted. If two part-time jobs overlapped in the same months, count each by its real shifts, and do not add hours twice. Keep any pay stubs, contracts, schedules and training certificates you can find.
2. Ask your direct supervisor to fill in the form. B.C.'s Employer Declaration must be completed by your direct supervisor at the time, and SkilledTradesBC will contact them. The form asks for the supervisor's phone number and email (with the international code for numbers abroad), and you must tick which languages the supervisor can communicate in (English or another language, which must be named). The supervisor must write their name and initial every page of the form. The phone number and email must be ones that still work now; if the supervisor cannot be reached, your application will be refused.
3. If you were your own boss, the restaurant has closed, or you cannot find your supervisor. Use a Statutory Declaration to declare this experience yourself. Each Statutory Declaration must include at least 3 references: people who can vouch for you at that restaurant during that period, with contact details that work now. If you were not self-employed, your application must still include an Employer Declaration from at least one employer. Before you spend money on notarization or translation, call SkilledTradesBC and ask what you need to submit in your situation.

How a wok cook can take stock of their skills. Say you worked six years in a Chinese restaurant, handling prep, the wok, seafood and stocks every day. Take the task list in Section D of the PC3 Employer Declaration and go through it item by item:

• For tasks you can do on your own, write down the steps, what equipment you use, and in what setting you serve the dish;
• List separately the tasks you never got to do, such as baking, cold dishes, egg and dairy breakfasts, desserts and costing;
• Ask your supervisor to confirm which tasks they can vouch for (the form has three choices: often, sometimes, never);
• If you are below 70%, find ways to make up the gap: practise at a different station, or take PC1 or PC2 first.

"Six years" on the calendar and verifiable "hours" are two different kinds of evidence; the review looks at hours and tasks.

When you call a former supervisor, you can start like this:

(This asks them to confirm your start and end dates, your total hours, and the kitchen work they directly supervised you doing.)

9. What the Red Seal exam covers and how to prepare

To get PC3 in B.C., the written exam is the national Red Seal exam. You register through SkilledTradesBC (apprentices book the exam in the Portal; people who challenge the certification exam book it in the Portal after their application is approved).

The basics of the written exam (Red Seal website):

• 150 multiple-choice questions, each with four options and only one correct answer;
• The exam is 4 hours long;
• The pass mark is 70%;
• The questions are not meant to trick you, but the wrong options are not always easy to spot.

Number of questions in each part:

Question types. Knowledge and Recall questions: 30% to 40%; Procedural and Application questions: 55% to 65%; Critical Thinking questions: less than 10%. So memorizing dish names is not enough; practise "what should be done first at this step, and why".

One sample question on the Red Seal website: how do you store raw ground beef in the fridge? The answer is below ready-to-eat foods. Another sample calculation question: a dish costs $1, and you want to keep a 29% food cost; what should the menu price be? The answer is $3.45 (1 ÷ 0.29 ≈ 3.45). Practise one more yourself: the ingredients for one portion cost $4.80 and the target food cost is 30%, so the menu price before tax is 4.80 ÷ 0.30 = $16. This only counts ingredients; real pricing also has to take labour and waste into account.

How to study:

1. First do the Self-Assessment on the Red Seal website, and mark each item "can do it on my own", "need guidance" or "have not done it yet".
2. Do the sample questions on the website to get used to the question types.
3. Do one timed practice of 4 hours (240 minutes), and sort the questions you got wrong into three groups: English terms you did not understand, procedures you are not familiar with, and calculation mistakes. Then work on each weak spot.

If English is your second language, you can apply for these (SkilledTradesBC):

• Bringing a translator or interpreter: the translator must be at least 19 years old and must not know the cook trade, and cannot help with the same exam a second time within 90 days; candidates who use a translator get 1 extra hour.
• Bringing a translation dictionary: it can only be a word-to-word dictionary (for example, an English word next to a Chinese word); dictionaries with explanations or example sentences are not allowed. You bring it yourself.
• Asking for the bilingual French and English version of the Red Seal exam.
• You must apply for all of these 30 days before the exam.

On exam day:

• Arrive 30 minutes early;
• Bring one valid original photo ID: a driver's licence issued by a Canadian province, a passport (Canadian or foreign), a PR card, a BC Services Card, and so on. Expired ID, ID with no expiry date, and photocopies are not accepted;
• For the Red Seal written exam and certification exams, you cannot bring your own calculator or study materials; the exam site gives you a calculator, pencil, eraser and answer sheet. Only for a Level exam can you bring your own non-programmable scientific calculator.

If you do not pass. First look at your results feedback. For the rewrite rules when you challenge the certification exam, see section 7. For the apprenticeship path: the 2nd attempt is free; for the 3rd, you must first submit a study plan approved by SkilledTradesBC; for the 4th, you must submit proof of upgrading; for the 5th, someone from SkilledTradesBC must contact you first. From the 3rd attempt on, each certification exam costs $100. Each attempt must be at least 30 days after the last one. For the PC3 practical assessment, prepare a full menu and service timeline separately.

10. Roughly how much you can earn, and where you can go from here

Hourly wages published by Job Bank (data period 2023 to 2024; wage table updated November 19, 2025. "Median" means half of people earn more than it and half earn less):

These are past statistics; actual pay depends on where you work, the position, your schedule and your contract. B.C.'s minimum wage is now $18.25 an hour (since June 1, 2026), and no employer can pay you less than that.

When you compare two jobs, do the math first. Multiply the hourly wage by the hours guaranteed each week. For example, $20 × 35 hours = $700 a week before tax, not counting overtime pay, tips and benefits. Then ask: is the schedule stable, how are tips shared, and are there insurance or union benefits?

Job outlook. Job Bank's assessment for 2025 to 2027: for cooks, both B.C. as a whole and Vancouver Island and Coast are rated "Moderate". About 5,290 people work as cooks in Vancouver Island and Coast.

Restaurant kitchens and institutional kitchens are different. À la carte restaurants value keeping track of several orders at once during the rush; banquets and large-scale food service need you to scale recipes up by the number of people and send out food in batches; hospitals and long-term care homes also require therapeutic diets made to the rules, portion control and checking meal trays. Take the Cook I position at Island Health as an example: you need to have finished a recognized cooking program, or have an equivalent combination of education, training and experience, and you also need FOODSAFE Level 1. There are full-time, part-time and casual positions. Island Health's "Cook I" is its own job classification name; it is not the same thing as B.C.'s PC1 certificate.

From working one station to running a kitchen. If you want to become a sous-chef, you can first ask to lead a prep shift, train a new person, or do an inventory count, and write down prep quantities, waste and handovers. Then in an interview you can use facts to show how you manage people and stock. Job Bank's requirements for chefs: sous-chefs and chefs usually need several years of experience in a commercial kitchen; executive chefs usually also need management training, plus several years of experience, two of them in a supervisory role.

The next step up: Certified Chef de Cuisine (CCC). This is an advanced industry certification run by the Canadian Culinary Institute, which is part of the Culinary Federation. You first need a valid Red Seal (equivalent foreign certificates are reviewed case by case). After you get the Red Seal, you need to work 5 more years, at least 2 of them in a supervisory role (for example chef, sous-chef or kitchen manager), and you need a letter from your employer. It also has its own courses and exams.

11. Money during your apprenticeship: EI, loans, taxes, and new federal bonuses and grants

First list all the costs. Besides tuition, there are textbooks, knives, chef's whites, non-slip shoes, exam and practical assessment fees, transportation, and accommodation if you take classes in another town. Your income will also drop during the weeks you are in class. Compare the two paths, "go to college first" and "become an apprentice with an employer", and work out each one: the money you pay, the hours you can get credit for, and the shifts you miss.

1. Employment Insurance (EI) during technical training.

• Who can get it: apprentices whom the province refers to full-time technical training (block release) can apply for EI regular benefits while they are in class. Whether you qualify also depends on your insurable hours: depending on the unemployment rate in your region, you generally need between 420 and 700 hours of insurable employment in the 52 weeks before your claim starts.
• You need a 16-digit "reference code": the province or the school gives it to you after approving you for the training. Enter it when you apply for EI so there are fewer delays. You get a new code for each block of full-time technical training. In B.C., you get this code through WorkBC Apprentice Services: first submit an apprentice application to WorkBC Apprentice Services (WorkBC Apprentice Application), as early as 4 weeks before your training starts; after you submit it, log in to the online system Online Employment Services to get your code, which usually takes 1 to 2 business days. For what other support there is while you are in class, see Guide No. 65, Becoming an apprentice in B.C., section 8 "Money while you are in class: EI, WorkBC support, apprentice loans and tax credits".
• When to apply: at the earliest, you can apply online 7 days before your last day of work. Camosun suggests applying before classes start, at most 4 weeks ahead; if you apply late, you may be refused.
• For the same apprenticeship program, you only serve the one-week waiting period once.
• If you take leave from work to go to class, EI ends on the last day of the course.

2. Canada Apprentice Loan.

• Who can borrow (you must meet all of these): you are a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or protected person; you are registered as an apprentice in a Red Seal trade; you are enrolled in full-time (block release) or equivalent full-time technical training; and you pass a credit check the first time you apply. High school students, people who are getting a Canada Student Loan for the same technical training, and people who have already borrowed for 5 periods of technical training cannot borrow. If you only have a work permit or study permit, you do not meet this status condition;
• You can borrow up to $4,000 interest-free for each block of technical training, up to $20,000 in total;
• The money can pay for tuition, tools, living costs, and wages you lose while you are in class;
• You do not repay it during your apprenticeship and no interest is charged; you start repaying after you finish or leave your apprenticeship;
• You can apply as early as 3 months before technical training starts;
• Apprentices in all provinces and territories except Quebec can apply.

3. Tax breaks. B.C. has a training tax credit for registered apprentices; the provincial government says the credit for apprentices ends on December 31, 2028. There are several kinds: basic is only for the first two levels of non-Red Seal trades; completion is for apprentices who complete level 3 (or level 4), and Red Seal trades can use it too; there is also an enhanced credit for Indigenous people and persons with disabilities. The "level" here is the tax credit's own level, not PC1, PC2 or PC3. According to the B.C. government's program table (updated June 16, 2026), cooks have only one option: in the year you receive your PC3 certificate (the table says graduated - received certificate), you can claim the completion credit at level 3, $2,000; PC1 and PC2 do not have this credit. The credit is fully refundable (if it is more than the tax you owe, the rest is paid to you), and you claim it on Part 2 of the British Columbia Training Tax Credit form (T1014), filed with your T1 personal income tax return. If you challenge the certification exam based on experience and receive your PC3 certificate, the B.C. government says you may also be able to claim it for that year (also under the graduated - received certificate level). The table may not reflect the latest changes; before you claim, go by what the B.C. government and SkilledTradesBC say. Also, the exam fees for getting a certificate of qualification can be counted in the federal tuition tax credit (if the certificate lets you work in this trade in Canada). For how to claim it, see the links on the SkilledTradesBC tax credits page.

4. The old grants have ended. The federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant (AIG) and Apprenticeship Completion Grant (ACG) ended on March 31, 2025, and no longer accept applications.

5. The new Red Seal Completion Bonus: $5,000.

• Applications open on November 16, 2026;
• Who can get it: a citizen, permanent resident or protected person; not a current high school student; you completed an apprenticeship program in a Red Seal trade as a registered apprentice and got your certificate of qualification. People who challenged the certification exam based only on experience, without going through an apprenticeship program, do not meet the conditions listed on the official website; if you are not sure, call and ask;
• When to apply: if you got your certificate on or before March 31, 2025, this bonus does not cover you; if you got it between April 1, 2025 and November 15, 2026, apply by May 31, 2027; if you got it on or after November 16, 2026, apply within 12 months after you get it;
• After you apply, you must send all supporting documents within 28 calendar days; if you are late, you have to apply again.

6. The new Apprenticeship Training Grant: $400 a week. The federal government has announced that apprentices taking required technical training will get an extra $400 a week on top of EI. It launches in spring 2027, and eligible training that starts on or after January 3, 2027 counts. Which training counts and how to apply will be confirmed when the federal government officially announces it.

Related: for who can get the completion bonus, how to apply, what to send and whether it is taxed, see Guide No. 28, Red Seal Completion Bonus, which covers it in more detail (who qualifies is in section 3 "Who qualifies: you must meet all four conditions").

12. Moving to another province, or moving here from another province

You already have your certificate and want to work in another province. On your résumé, say clearly where the certificate was issued, what trade it is for, and whether it has a Red Seal, for example "Cook, Ontario Certificate of Qualification, Red Seal". The federal labour mobility rules (Chapter 7 of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement) say that a certificate issued by one province should, in principle, be recognized by the other provinces. Keep your food safety certificate and your cook certificate separately; when you get to a new place, first ask the local health authority whether they accept it and when it expires.

You need to move partway through your apprenticeship. Before you leave, download and save the hours already confirmed, your signed skills records and your school transcripts, and ask both your current province and the province you are moving to how to transfer your apprenticeship registration. If you are only working in another province for a while, first agree on who will record and approve your hours there.

The provinces at a glance (the national Ellis Chart; in each province, go by the local authority):

13. Food safety you use in the kitchen every day

• Allergy orders. If a customer says they are allergic to something, first check the recipe, the labels on seasonings and the utensils used. For example, if a customer is allergic to shrimp and the dish has no shrimp, you still need to ask whether the fryer oil is shared with fried shrimp. If you are not sure, tell your supervisor and the front of house so they can tell the customer honestly; do not guess. B.C.'s cook skills list has a specific item: "prepare food for customers with allergies, intolerances and special diets".
• Temperatures and labels. Use a probe thermometer according to your workplace's rules, use separate utensils for raw and cooked food, and put dates on chilled items.
• How to store things in the fridge. Raw meat goes below ready-to-eat foods (the answer to the Red Seal sample question).

Other provinces have different rules. Ontario requires at least one certified food handler on site during every hour a food premises is open; Quebec requires the operator to name a person in charge who has "food premises manager" training, and then choose one of two options: this person is on site when staff are working (if not, at least one certified employee must be on site); or at least 10% of staff have the required training certificate, in which case a certified person does not have to be on site at all times. Before you move to another province, check the local list.

14. If you want to open your own restaurant, do catering or run a food truck

Working as a cook is one thing; opening your own place and selling food is another, and you need an operating permit.

• In B.C., all food service businesses (restaurants, take-out places, caterers) need a Health Operating Permit from the health authority. Victoria is under Island Health.
• Places that sell food that is not eaten right away (for example, grocery stores and food processing) do not get a permit, but they still need "approval to operate". A food truck may need a permit or an approval; see the province's guidelines for mobile food premises.
• Send your application to Island Health's local environmental public health office, with: the application form (a company, society or partnership must attach registration documents or a partnership agreement); a floor plan drawn to scale and equipment specifications (these must be approved before construction or renovation starts); your menu; a food safety plan and a sanitation plan; and the operator's FOODSAFE Level 1 certificate.
• After approval, a health officer comes to do a pre-opening inspection, and the permit is issued only after you pay the permit fee. The permit fee is paid once a year.
• Permits and approvals cannot be transferred to a new owner; if you buy someone else's business, you have to apply again.
• You also need a business licence from the municipality; some places also need a fire inspection or a building permit.
• Before you buy equipment or sign a lease, take your menu and how you plan to operate to the health authority and ask first.

Related: for which permits to check when you start a business, see Guide No. 8, Starting a business, section 2 "What kind of business is it, and what limits should you check?"; for selling food at a market, see Guide No. 24, Market stalls in Victoria, section 5 "Selling food: show the health inspector your menu first".

15. Who to contact with questions

16. One thing you can do this week

• If you are just thinking of getting into the trade: On Job Bank, pick three kitchen job postings in Victoria and circle the certificates, shifts and experience each one asks for; if you do not have FOODSAFE, sign up for a FOODSAFE Level 1 course first.
• If you already work in a kitchen: Ask your boss whether they are willing to register you as an apprentice; if you are already an apprentice, sign in to the Portal and check whether your hours have been submitted.
• If you have experience from outside Canada: First contact a former supervisor who can confirm your work dates, hours and position, make sure their phone number and email still work, and then download the Employer Declaration form for PC3 (or PC1, PC2).
• If you need a work permit: First check on the IRCC website whether your status allows you to do this job.

Related guides

• → No. 13 · Rights at work
  The pay floor in B.C. in 2026 (section 2); overtime counted by the day first, then by the week; how to raise unpaid wages, what you need and the time limits (section 5); and why workplace injuries and unsafe work follow a different path (section 8).
• → No. 32 · New labour rules from October 2026
  How to work out whether your job is covered by federal or B.C. rules (section 2); the new federal rules on pay and fees for part-time, temporary and agency workers; and where to complain and the time limits (section 6).
• → No. 65 · Becoming an apprentice in B.C.
  What an apprenticeship is; where to find an employer and a sponsor, and what to ask when you meet; registering as an apprentice online once you have a sponsor (section 5); how your hours are recorded and checked; EI, apprentice loans and tax credits while you are in class (section 8); and whether people on work permits or study permits and permanent residents can be apprentices (section 12).
• → No. 28 · Red Seal Completion Bonus
  The $5,000 federal bonus after you finish your apprenticeship and are certified in a Red Seal trade: who qualifies (section 3), your last day to apply (section 4), what to prepare, how to find your certification date and apprentice number in B.C., and whether you have to report it on your tax return.
• → No. 8 · Starting a business
  Whether to work on your own, with partners or as a corporation; what permits and limits to check for your kind of business (section 2); the steps for setting up a sole proprietorship in B.C. (section 8); and how to report business taxes.
• → No. 24 · Market stalls in Victoria
  Choosing your route and then finding where to apply for a market stall in Victoria; for food, showing the health inspector your menu first (section 5); and food trucks, fire safety and insurance: check the equipment before you spend (section 6).

Main official links in this guide

These are all the official web pages used in this guide, sorted into 7 groups by source, 80 in total; the end of each section also lists the ones for that section. These pages were checked on November 7, 2026. The Red Seal sample questions page for Cook is built with scripts, so the details on the page could not be read; this guide only links to it and did not take any content from it. Entries marked PDF are files to download.

B.C. cook certificates (SkilledTradesBC)

Red Seal and national comparison

Schools (Victoria and Vancouver)

Food safety and opening a business

Finding work, wages and workers' rights

Federal support and immigration status

Authorities in other provinces