Food Network’s Chef Hunter is an interesting look into an aspect of the restaurant business that is rarely seen: interviewing for the head chef position. As the chef who speaks for the restaurant and acts as the driving force behind the creative process, the head chef is probably the single most important part of keeping a restaurant in business.

The premise of the show is that an upscale restaurant is looking for a new head chef. These are always well-established restaurants, so they already have a kitchen staff in place, a style of cooking and a clientele. They are often searching for a new head chef that will keep improving business, as well as bringing a new twist—but not a complete departure—from the food that they are already serving.

Chef Hunter brings a chef recruiter into the restaurants on the hunt for new head chefs. Together with the manager or owner of the restaurant, the chef recruiter weeds through hundreds of resumes to find two or three potential candidates to officially interview for the position.

That’s where the show comes in. The potential candidates fly out to New York City or Los Angeles or wherever the restaurant may be to meet the owner and recruiter. Then, the candidates are required to cook several dishes, including an appetizer and entrée, for these people to see if their cooking styles are good fits for the restaurant. At the end of this test, the third candidate is typically eliminated.

The remaining two chefs are given a key to the restaurant and a dinner service that puts them straightaway into the role of head chef. They also need to plan a number of specials—appetizers, entrées and desserts—that will be advertised to the clients as coming from the head chefs interviewing for the job.

This is the part of the show that really gets interesting. More often than not, the candidates are completely overwhelmed by how quickly the ticket orders fly in from the clients, and they usually fall woefully behind. Sometimes their technique or creativity doesn’t impress the diners. Some serve cold food or don’t buy enough ingredients to make it through the service.

Chef Hunter isn’t as glamorous as other cooking shows that have chefs making perfect, multi-course dinners in under an hour. But it does show a competitive and cutthroat side of the food world that most diners don’t ever see. It’s worth a watch.