Chef Professionalism at the Human-Animal Food Interface: Developing a Pet Chef Supplementary Competency Framework

Abstract

Preparing home-prepared, fresh, cooked and customized diets for dogs and cats creates a set of interconnected requirements that includes nutritional adequacy, recipe fidelity, food safety, process control, portion accuracy and acceptance. Veterinary nutrition research describes the clinical and nutritional side of these requirements in detail, while the chef competency literature explains the technical and managerial basis of professional kitchen production. Recent hospitality research further shows the growth of a pet-inclusive foodservice context in which dogs take part in the restaurant experience, dog-specific menus shape consumer behavior, and some operators offer dedicated meals, cakes, tasting menus and celebration services. This study was conducted to identify the culinary implementation layer between these two fields of knowledge and to develop an evidence-based supplementary competency framework for Pet Chef specialization. The research combined a structured integrative evidence review with a domain-to-culinary competency mapping approach. The core analytical corpus was built from three source groups: chef competencies, canine and feline nutrition, and culinary-interface evidence. Each source was analyzed through the codes domain requirement, culinary relevance, existing chef competence, competency gap, culinary translation, supplementary competence and professional boundary. The findings identify nine supplementary competency domains: companion animal nutrition literacy; formulation interpretation and recipe fidelity; ingredient suitability and nutritional function; nutrient-aware culinary processing; pet-food safety and hazard control; precision weighing, portioning and batch production; palatability-oriented culinary preparation; quality assurance, traceability and process control; and interprofessional culinary practice. The Pet Chef role is defined as a culinary implementation specialization that converts approved nutritional requirements into controlled and traceable kitchen production.