Chef in Tennessee: licence, certification and what employers require (2026)

Tennessee does not license cooks: no licence; a food handler or manager certificate is required by the health department. This page says what a cook licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Tennessee, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

No state licenses cooks or chefs. Food safety certification is the only paperwork: ServSafe Manager is accepted nearly everywhere, and most states require a food handler card within 30 days of hire, which is a short online course. A few states require their own card.

What to have ready before you move

• ServSafe Manager certificate
• A portfolio or menu samples
• References

Start the paperwork before you give notice. There is no Tennessee licence to wait for, so the only clock is the employer's.

What people get wrong

• Comparing wages without tips, housing and meals; resort and remote kitchens pay differently

Who hires cooks in Tennessee

Cooks in Tennessee are hired by restaurants, hotels, resorts, hospitals, schools, cruise lines and corporate dining. The metros with the most of that work are Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Tennessee openings page.

For the money side: the median cook in Tennessee earned $35,810 a year ($17 an hour) in May 2024 across 27,300 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Tennessee has no state income tax on wages. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Tennessee, on one page

The Tennessee page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Tennessee employers hiring from out of state.