The role of sous-chef was one that certain chefs occupied. Generally, sous-chefs were considered to be of a lower rank than the head chef within the kitchen they were employed, and this was the case in Cloud City on Bespin, where sous-chefs held a rank below that of Executive Chefs. Robbs Ely, a Volpai, served as sous-chef at Takodana Castle under the direction of head chef Strono Tuggs for approximately two centuries before the Battle of Takodana, until his murder. Following this, Tuggs organized a competition, ostensibly to find a replacement, but in reality, it was to reveal Ely's killer. During the Imperial Era, Gersolik, an Ugnaught chef, was hired by Baron Administrator Lando Calrissian to be a sous-chef in Cloud City, where he worked under the leadership of Executive Chef Torro Sbazzle.
The designation of sous-chef initially emerged in the 2016 short story titled "A Recipe for Death" authored by Landry Q. Walker, featured in the compilation Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens: Volume I. The hyphenated spelling was first used in the 2020 short story "But What Does He Eat?" penned by S.A. Chakraborty, which appeared in the collection From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back.