How do private chefs work?

A private chef is employed by a single household full time, cooking every meal, every day.

Private chefs

are part of the household staff; they can live inside or outside the premises. A personal chef prepares food for several customers, either in a customer's kitchen or outside a commercial kitchen. The chefs who live there usually use a single room or a small apartment and can also be provided with a car.

Once you've had some basic training, you'll want to find (and follow) an experienced private chef or staff, someone who has been doing exactly the work you want to do for a while and who can tell you what it's really like. There are also some chefs who specialize in certain types of cuisine, such as paleo, vegetarian, or raw food diets. When you're a private chef, you're your own boss, but that comes with city, state, and federal taxes, business licensing, website maintenance, billing, scheduling, shopping, lifting heavy objects, transportation, unpacking, lots and lots of dishes, and the next day, another round of dishes. A private chef always prepares the menu at the client's home, as it's an inherent part of the experience.

But beyond these six types of cuisine, our private chefs customize thousands of menus for their clients every day, adjusting every detail to find the perfect menu for every occasion and every group. Possibly the biggest drawback to hiring a private chef is that for someone on a “medium budget”, private chefs are very expensive. Additionally, these services aren't always offered in smaller communities, so you may struggle to find a chef in a smaller city. These classes are taught by industry leaders who have the experience and education needed to teach new chefs how to succeed.

While a personal chef and a private chef have a lot in common, there are some key distinctions between them, especially when it comes to tasks, hours of work, and expected salary. When you take on the role of a professional chef, you'll need to wear a lot of hats, such as a chef or waiter. However, depending on the complexity of the menu, the chef may prepare a start up before going to the client's home, as some dishes take several hours to prepare and it would be impossible to execute all the steps in the client's home.