Becoming a "Private Chef"

"When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure."
- Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics

A Personal Chef, AKA "Private Chef", is a culinary professional whose job is to provide chef services to a private individual or family. Broadly speaking, this can mean many things, but the most commonly understood definition of "Personal Chef" is a chef who comes into a client's home kitchen and prepares a number of meals which are then stored in the refrigerator or freezer to be eaten later. In these cases, the Personal Chef will probably visit once a week to do the cooking, although this depends on the client's needs, schedule, and so on.

What I am trying to do is start as a personal chef eventually becoming a private chef for one family. The hardest part in becoming a private chef I have found so far is the fact that EVERY single add for a private chef insists that you must have 3-5 years minimum experience with a private family in order to apply! Taking into account the fact I have been cooking in a commercial kitchen for more than 15 years I ind this odd but I have to figure something out to a personal chef service seems to be the logical choice at this point!

“If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.”

Richard Branson
Founder and Chairman of Virgin Group

First things first I am currently writing my business plan on how I can cater to my clients needs with time/money spent on marketing as well as creating some standard menus to start with. I do plan on being able to adjust every menu to the individual clients/families needs which should be a great draw...at least I hope..:-)

I am also researching what type of cookware (preferably a recycled or green product)I should purchase that can be taken directly from the freezer to the oven if need be. Labels also need to be ones that can be read clearly as well removed easily.

I am looking into local laws concerning what I can and cannot transport as well as what has to prepared at the clients home however with my catering background I don't see where it will be all that different yet.

As far as the marketing I am starting with fliers at the top ten condominium complexes here in Vegas that tend to have busy professionals that would prefer healthier diet but don't either have the time or knowledge to prepare it themselves. Who fits this criteria and who else should I look at after this? I believe working mothers,elderly and busy two income families could use my service as well as those with special diets and of course wealthy clients that just want the best food they can get at home.

“The only thing I had was this recipe, and with that recipe was a dream. And those were the only things that I had to build my business: a recipe and a dream. And there was no way, no way, I wasn’t going to see this dream through.”

Steve Jobs
Founder and CEO of Apple Inc.

What I intend to bring to the table (so to speak) in the beginning is:
1. I will do all the grocery shopping with a budget agreed upon with the client.
2. I will write out a menu for the week or perhaps two with the approval of the client.
3. Have labels ready in advance of my visit with the appropriate containers ready for storage.
4. Charge a set fee as opposed per hour? (This could be a wrong approach so I need advice on this one) That way I can take care of other clients if need be while not worrying about billable hours.
5. Arrive and leave with my own Knives, Tools,Pots & Pans Ect.
4. Clean-up the kitchen and leave it as I found it.

Any suggestions out there? Please let me know. I will try and post how its going as I get the ball rolling until then......

Live to Eat!