Prior to working as an instructor at The Chopping Block, I worked as a private chef for about a year and a half. I have fond memories of this part of my career, and I often get a lot of questions of what it's like to work as a private chef for a living. If you have ever been curious what a day in the life looks like for a private chef, I am here to give you the inside scoop.
First I want to go over the distinction between a private chef and a personal chef. These terms are often used interchangeably and their definitions are even switched depending on the source. So, I am going to go with the definition I use just for the sake of distinction. As a private chef, I cooked for dinner parties and one-off events, often with recurring clients. Personal chefs generally have one client or family they cook for regularly, often planning all of their meals and grocery shopping for them as well. As I mentioned, these definitions are often swapped, but it is important to note the distinction because private chefs often don’t do the work of a personal chef and vice versa.
Entering this line of work was a huge wake up call for me. Regardless of all of my cooking experience at the time of starting, there is nothing to prepare you for the new challenges ahead. Unlike restaurants, there’s no staging, which is sort of like a working interview to get a feel for the kitchen. Unless you know an existing private chef who can let you tag along for a job, it can be difficult to get any sort of training. I, like many other private chefs, had to rely on some trial and error to figure out how to pull off successful events. Through this trial and error, I found a few essential rules that I always followed:
1. Communicate Everything
Parking, dinnerware, price, equipment, expectations, timing, kitchen space, etc. The last thing you or your client want are surprises during the event. Communicating any potential issues beforehand can make your event go from chaotic to seamless. Just because your client is having an eight person dinner party with four courses does not always mean they will have all the dinnerware or flatwear to support that, so communicating beforehand can avoid issues and even dictate your menu.
2. Heavy on the Prep
In a restaurant kitchen, mise en place is critical. Having all of your ingredients organized and prepped as far as possible without compromising the food will help you immensely. Now, you don’t want to cook the steaks at home and bring it over in Tupperware. But things like knife work and sauce work can usually be done before and will help your event go much smoother.
3. Have Sample Menus
Come up with a few menus with dishes you know can be consistent and executed in any home kitchen. Also focus on cross utilization of ingredients across your menus. There is a lot of money to be saved by repeating menu items and cross utilizing ingredients vs coming up with a new menu for each event and having to purchase all new ingredients every time. This is why most restaurants have set menus instead of changing every day, so they can avoid waste.
Like anything, finding success in the private chef world takes experience, but I think these few guidelines are certainly helpful. One of the parts I enjoyed most about being a private chef was being able to express myself through the food I was making, and really having a direct connection with all of the guests.
I think our new Tasting Table series embodies that same spirit, as you get to spend an evening with one of our chefs as they talk and demonstrate through a menu they have created. If this experience sounds intriguing, please join us at our next Tasting Table with Chef David on Tuesday, October 15 at 6pm.
