My Personal Chef story

Yes, it’s true. I’m excited to tell you that I became a personal chef! I always cooked with a lot of passion, and the more my friends and family suggested that I should open my own restaurant, the more I knew that wasn’t the way.

I ran a restaurant before. It’s a lot of work. There are days when it’s truly a torture. Everybody who ever worked kitchen in the restaurant knows exactly what I’m talking about.

As a restaurant chef, you work crazy hours, you’re hot, stressed, tired, yelled at, stuff gets messed up, people don’t show for work – yet everything must come out perfect every single time. So no, thank you. Been there, done that.

But I truly love cooking. I love it when my friends brag about what they eat. I love to create new flavors, work with new ingredients, create new recipes – and pair it with the perfect wine.

Being a personal chef is quite different than running a restaurant. First of all, you pick and choose how many clients you take on = how much do you want to work. It’s fun to meet new people, and get to cook in their own homes. I like that I get to create individual menus for my clients, based on their likes and dislikes – so I never cook ‘the same old same old’ 2 days in the row. And the dinner parties – how much fun is that! I really enjoy it. Every day is another challenge, I work in a different environment, the most beautiful kitchens, in the most beautiful houses, meeting interesting food enthusiasts … what’s not to love?

Prior even having my own website for the Personal Chef business set up, I got approached by somebody who found me on “American Personal & Private Chef Association” website. This lady was interested in purchasing a gift certificate for her parents, so they don’t have to cook for themselves. Sounded great.  I answered her the next day while I stayed overnight, quickly putting together my first website. I wanted to answer her with a link to my website. But I never heard from her again.

That’s OK because I wasn’t nearly ready to perform the service to my standards. At least, she gave me the virtual kick in the butt I needed and start “before I was ready”. She provoked me into developing my website really fast. And thinking of creating a gift certificate packages. My prospective client gave me the ideas what’s the most important to start with to be prepared for my potential customer’s needs.

Every time somebody approaches me with a job request is a new beginning. Every customer is a different challenge. And I feel blessed that they’re calling despite the fact that I didn’t spend a penny on advertising yet. Well, that’s not completely true because I’ve ordered magnets for my car. But my car is dirty, so the magnets aren’t up yet. And brochures. And nice promotion cards. But they still sit on my desk. Nobody saw them yet.

Nevertheless, it seems like this Personal Chef business is a perfect way to go. It is a new industry that’s gaining a lot of attention and momentum lately. I really enjoy cooking and entertaining, and this combines both. Where the good gourmet food and wine is involved, I’m in!

Would you be interested in attending some of my  “chef’s tasting menu dinners” ? I would like to do one at least once – twice a quarter, maybe more. If you have a group of friends who are into food and wine (a must), and will be interested in attending an unconventional gourmet evening, please shoot me an email. We can discuss whose kitchen is the best to do that in, and we’ll taste new recipes together. An evening of laughter, great food and wine. Doesn’t it sound like fun? Would you like to be a part of it and get invited? If so, please shoot me an email and let’s make it happen!

Please check out my new website. And most importantly, wish me luck!!! I appreciate your support!!