In the last couple of years, the private chef industry has been picking up. Instead of restaurants people often opt for staying in – either in their home with family or in their holiday let that has lots of amenities.
Some of the benefits of hiring a private chef to cook for you and your guests are:
- There is no need to travel to and from the restaurant / pub.
- There is no need for a babysitter if you have young children.
- Dogs can stay by their owner’s feet, and no one has to worry about leaving them in kennels or what damage they would cause to the property if they are left alone.
- Everyone can enjoy a few alcoholic beverages without the worry about driving or booking a taxi.
I’ve been working as a private chef for 3 years now and there are a few things I want to highlight in this post about industry pricing, as you don’t find information about it online.
I provide a private bespoke fine dining catering service in the guest’s home or chosen location within the 2-25 person group range. In the catering world these are considered micro events. The bigger parties are more efficient and financially viable from the business point of view, so caterers tend to refuse small parties that are not hitting their desirable financial target.
Why?
Cooking for 4 people involves almost the same amount of work as cooking for 10. If you cook 4 portions of bolognaise for the family dinner you might as well double it up to 8 and freeze the other 4 for another occasion to save some time. This applies to when you cook for 60 or 80 people as well. The investment that you need to make to scale up is not that much.
I cook for smaller parties as well, because there is demand for intimate dining, plus, I enjoy it. The vibes are different, and I like providing something professional and different that no one else does.
The way I do it is I set a base rate for myself in a similar way a plumber or any other trade worker would set a daily rate for a job that needs to be done.
Depending on what the guests want, cooking for any number of people between 2-25 will involve 2-3 days of work for me, sometimes 4.
My work starts with opening the email and doing a lot of client communication. Bespoke service requires a lot of back-and-forth communication to make sure I am doing what they want. It takes time.
Once we have the menu, I put together the recipes, write my shopping and ordering lists. I physically do the shopping as not everything can be ordered to our base. Meticulous organisation is essential.
This is the point when I organise support staff. This is further organisation and planning at the back of house level.
I will plan what I need to cook and when. I write a prep list. This can take up to 3 hours, depending on the number of events I have booked in and on the chosen menu.
I do the actual cooking. I will do the same amount of prep that chefs would do in a restaurant.
I design and print the menus, make the flowers and any other table décor that is needed.
We pack up so we can transport what is needed. I provide everything (plates, cutlery, napkins, table décor, cooking equipment, cleaning products etc) apart from glasses and furniture.
We drive to the event.
We make the occasion happen by unloading the car, unpacking, setting the table, cooking, serving, cleaning up, packing away.
Then we drive back from the event. We unpack and clean everything that was not washed up in the event venue, polish cutlery, wash kitchen towels and other bits, iron napkins, towels and aprons.
I finish with an ‘aftercare protocol’ that might include a few more interactions with the guests.
Most often than not everything goes well, but occasional mishaps could happen that need to be dealt with. Like last minute changes to the menus, last minute changes to guest numbers, missing delivery items, late deliveries, wrong invoices from suppliers, staff cancellations, staff illnesses etc…
We also deal with special requests; allergies and dietary requests are accommodated, and if we can, we will provide options for your guests to choose from. If you choose a 3-course meal, it will involve 3 different dishes. If you want to provide options for your guests, we will need to make 6 different dishes. More types of dishes involve more work, both planning and cooking and will involve more labour on the event as it will take longer to plate up. My guests like to opt for canapés, and I always serve bread with the meal as well so on average I cook 10 different dishes. This must be reflected in the final price, otherwise we would work for free.
When you pay for a private chef service the cost of food and ingredients are only a fraction of what is involved cost wise. The biggest costs are the labour to make all the above happen, because there is no shame in that we all want to work for a competitive wage.
The other misconception is that vegan or vegetarian food is cheaper than meat or fish. Well, it’s not. Kg prices on certain vegetables are more expensive than meat. Not to mention that we live in the UK, which is an island, so a huge amount of veg will need to be imported. The prices of imported vegetables are sensitive to global market conditions both weather and political levels. This will show price fluctuations. On the chef’s level the work that is needed to transform a humble vegetable to a delicious vegan / vegetarian meal involves knowledge (previous training that cost money) and high labour costs (preparation takes time).
I often receive emails when clients approach me with a budget. After they receive a draft offer from us, they are surprised our prices are way off what they were expecting. My advice is that before you enquire look around the market in terms of prices and adjust your budget accordingly. No caterer expects you to know what amount of work is involved for your special event, but we do like it when our work is understood and appreciated and our years of experience both in the kitchen as chefs and on the floor as wait staff are valued accordingly.
There are all levels of caterers out there, from affordable to the luxurious range. I believe all are important for a healthy, competitive market, so the client can make the decision based on many factors not just on money. A couple of weeks ago I received an email where they were expecting me to do an event (that involves all the above) with lots of special requests and a few allergies for £30pp. I politely declined, but I must admit I did take the enquiry a tad personally. Providing fine hospitality requires years of training in the industry at every possible level. Expecting it for nothing can come across as being disrespectful. I am 100% certain that no level of caterer will do what they were asking for £30pp.
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I am Eniko Fejer, founder and private chef at Chef to Home. We are one of Norfolk’s leading small event caterers offering private dinner and catering experiences for family or friend’s get-togethers. We have been mentioned on the EDP and on BBC Radio 2, collaborated with other small business (check the press page on our website) and we have over 80 very personalised five-star Google reviews. The concept of Chef to Home by Eniko Fejer was born in late 2020 however I started to work full time as a private chef in April 2023. My aim has been to provide a high-end, personalised culinary experience to the guests in their chosen location.
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