In the real world though, hiring a personal chef can be just the solution for those business dinners that you must give. This is especially true when you work yourself and just don't have the time to prepare the meals. Whether it is for a social event or a business dinner it makes it much nicer when you can sit down with the guests and not have to worry about preparing or serving the food. In addition, your meal will be like that from a fine dining restaurant. However, you can also hire a personal chef who can visit your home weekly or fortnightly to prepare the dishes and pack them nicely so that you can enjoy them throughout the week. At least it should be enjoyable; after all, you are hiring a personal chef. This professional should have received his education in the culinary arts just like any other reputable chef would.
Hiring a personal chef gives you the right to hire someone that will adhere to the industries rules and standards. Various states have their own rules when it comes to the culinary industry.
Finding a Personal Chef
Once you have determined that you have to begin hiring a personal chef then there are some steps you must take. First of all, make sure you leave yourself lots of time to book for the event. Good chefs are often booked well in advance. Next, see if any friends or co workers can recommend one or a few to you. If not then you could perhaps contact your closest culinary school and see if they have a list. Failing all those sources, you may want to check out the internet. There is the American Personal and Private Chef Associations that maintain lists of personal chefs. Know the questions you are going to want to ask. You need to know important things such as training and experience. References would be a good idea as well. You will want to be sure that she carries liability insurance. Doesn't sound so good when you are going to be eating his (or her) cooking does it? Don't worry the insurance is mostly for accident reasons.
Once you have decided that you are happy with the credentials and feel that this is the chef for you then you will want to discuss the menu in depth. It is important that your chef knows all of the details of your event plus any dietary issues that may be present as well. Make sure you know exactly what you are going to be paying for and the exact cost.
Becoming a Personal Chef
Perhaps you are a certified chef but are discontent with the restaurant scene and feel you would like to try another area but remain in the culinary industry. Finding some personal chef jobs may be the perfect solution. You have a few choices in you want to enter this field. You can become a permanent personal chef for a family, or you can work events only. You need to decide if you want to work full or part time. Then you need to determine if you want to work for a Personal Chef company or become a freelance personal chef. Therefore, you can see you have lots of options. You just need to figure out what direction you want to go.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to start off with a personal chef company that specializes in events. This way you are not going to make a full time commitment to a family and then quit in a few days, because you end up deciding it's not for you. Once you have determined that this is what you want to do then you can consider whether you want to find personal chef jobs that are more stable in one area such as a residential home.
If you are thinking about finding personal chef jobs by freelancing then this would be most likely better done after you had gained some experience in this area. It would make it much easier for you to find a satisfactory position. By working freelance, you will have a greater responsibility as it's basically running your own business. You must give thought to having some backup in the event something arose that you could not attend a function you had booked. It would certainly be bad for your business if you didn't show up to a client's house to prepare for a function.
There would be other cost factors involved as well should you decide to find personal chef jobs on your own. Remember you would most definitely need insurance. Then there is advertising and marketing your services as well. It does give you the flexibility of choosing when and where and how often you want to work.
