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PersonalChef

Increasingly, the medium-wealthy retain themselves a PersonalChef on an event basis vs. full time. The PersonalChef caters events in the home. Or sometimes the PersonalChef cooks for a day, preparing one day's meals, plus prepping one to two weeks' worth of additional stuff.

Catering is very much a business, and often gets involved with large numbers of people - hundreds - and high drama events - weddings and such. There's overhead associated with catering. Being a chef for an individual or family is really being a kind of servant. There are all the problems involved with having one boss. Being a PersonalChef strikes me as a sweet spot between full-time catering, and being a chef with one client.

At any rate, it's something I'm good at, and I enjoy doing, and the customers seem to generally be more appreciative of what they get than in this systems development stuff I've been doing for so long. I want to help people who will occasionally like what they get. And I like food, too.

- JimBullock, 17-Sept-2002

My professional chef friend runs an officers club restaurant for the Army in NY. He dreams about his own restaurant, which sounds equally grueling work. I have watched him create "flow diagrams" and financial plans. It struck me as Project Management meets Marketing, Food and Retail. A big investment in time and money. Maybe like a SW start up.

My friend who does personal chef/special events focusing on Vegetarian and Macrobiotic meals. He does a great job of attracting interest by doing 1 or 2 cooking classes at the local high school once a year.

I guess a personal chef is more like a food consultant - works for different clients on a specific project basis and runs workshops to expand contacts.

-BeckyWinant Sept 17,02

You are correct, the resturant business is grueling. Been there. Done that. No t-shirt. Actually we "lost our shirts" as the saying goes. Not my fault - I was a kid. And I did learn. I stay as far away from providing conventional food service as I can get. That's part of why contemplating the PersonalChef thing is big for me. I need a strategy for avoiding the failure modes, because I don't have the luxury of ignorance.

I suspect as a PersonalChef type, you get to cherry pick (sic) more, and do the fun, high-payoff stuff without having to sell low-margin breakfasts at 06:00, for example. I used to feel bad when I pursued cherry picking strategies. Not so much with the bad feelings any more. Who said I have to do the crappy work, just because the crappy work is out there?

- JimBullock, 18-Sept-2002

Nice deal.

I have cooked with my good friend John Wolfe, at least one holiday dinner for his (effectively mine also) extended family every year for something like 15 years. We go shopping the night before, cook all day, usually with a fair amount of wine for the chefs, and a grand time is had by all. Sometimes this spills over to other events. If there's a pot luck, and we're both coming, you can pretty much assume we'll each try and top the other. Mary (Mrs. Wolfe, also my good friend) prefers to contribute by cleaning up. Her eccentricity is clearly our gain. We missed this the last two years, but this year I'm back to Up-State over the holidays, and we're going to cook up some spectacular stuff.

There is something quite wonderful about cooking as a way of showing caring for others. Food is sensual, and also sustaining. Kind of a unique thing that way. Preparing it well is an exercise in skill, and appreciation (for the ingredients, and the fine tools, and good company, at least.) And there's an opportunity to meet people where they are, by composing food that is "Jerry compliant", for example.

Another way a chef contributes, and meets people where they are, is by allowing various sous chefs to contribute themselves. A good chef creates a context within which others can contribute. Provides guidance, and a safty net, and often adds little skills that make the difference between an acceptable dish, and something wonderful. A good chef can orchestrate dishes so that each individual's contribution gets showcased, so it can be most appreciated in turn.

I'm finding the grande diner frequency for me is about every 8 weeks, and mostly driven by the arrival of a new season's ingredients. I encounter all this stuff I want to try, and to offer to someone else, and I have to make a dinner happen to get people available to try the stuff, and to control the volume of leftovers. It works out.

- JimBullock, 20-Sept-2002

- BeckyWinant Sept. 20, 02

Oooh (waving hand madly). Invite me! Invite me! --DaveSmith

Dave, you have a standing invitation anytime you are in the Philadelphia area. Give a ring! - BeckyWinant Sept. 20,02