I Need a Personal Chef

Personal chef is one of the fastest growing professions in the United States. The American Professional Chef Association estimates that there were approximately 6,000 personal chefs serving 20,000 clients in 2003. That number is expected to grow to 20,000 personal chefs serving 300,000 clients by 2008. Now is the time to enroll in culinary school, get personal chef training, and surf this culinary wave of the future.

Private Chef Job or Personal Chef Job?

A private chef is employed full-time by an individual or family, generally lives in the household, and prepares a multi-course meal to a client's specifications.

A personal chef has multiple clients and every week or two:

• Plans a menu with each client
• Does the grocery shopping
• Prepares a specific number of meals in the client's kitchen
• Stores the food in the client's freezer and provides them with heating instructions
• Cleans up the client's kitchen

Who Hires a Personal Chef?

More people than ever before are hiring personal chefs for a variety of reasons. People who work long hours want to serve nutritious meals rather than fast food to their families. People who are on low fat or low sodium diets want their meals to be tasty. Cooking for someone with food allergies can be difficult. Trying to accommodate all of the food likes and dislikes in a family can be almost impossible. Hiring a personal chef is the answer to all of these dilemmas.

Personal Chef Training

Personal chef training at a culinary school can prepare you for this increasingly popular career. As a personal chef, you have the opportunity to choose the hours you work, the number of clients you have, and the variety of foods you prepare. For the enterprising chef-to-be, personal chef training may be your passport to culinary adventure.

According to Candy Wallace, executive director of the American Professional Chef Institute, "more and more culinary professionals are choosing to become personal chefs as the way to own a business that provides creative outlets plus a comfortable income without demanding grueling hours and years of 'paying dues' to the culinary field."

Sources

United States Personal Chef Association
American Personal Chef Institute and Association

About the Author

Judi Sandall is a technical writer and a regular Chef School Review columnist, who desperately needs a personal chef. Judi has also worked as a training consultant on contracts with Duke University and Bell Atlantic. She is a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton, with a BA in English Literature.

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