Personal baker?

[CanadianBakin']

I'm wondering if anyone has done this? Could it be done like having a cleaning lady who comes a few times a month and is paid hourly? Would it be possible to go into people's homes and bake all their baked goods needs for 2 - 4 weeks in about 6 hours? This is an idea I'm exploring and I'm looking for other perspectives of potential benefits or problems. I don't have a separate kitchen to use at my home but it is legal for me to bake in someone else's kitchen for them and their guests. Any thoughts?

[JeanneCake]

Maybe you could team up with an existing Personal Chef service. I wanted to see what that was like so years ago I spent a few days assisting a Personal Chef and then got a side job cooking for one particular family. That was the easiest because I didn't have to lug everything into the house each time, just the food I was preparing that night. I know there are professional personal chef organizations that are available to help people get started - here are two:

US Personal Chef organization

USPersonal Chef Association

As a side note, while I loved being a "personal chef", what I hated was having to take all your condiments/equipment in those portable plastic hold-alls and it takes you 20 mins to get everything from the car into the house before you can even get started

[sugarseattle]

Hmm. so you would be making them things to freeze and then bake as needed? I think that might be worth a try, but really think about the reality of it...for example, if people have a personal chef, isn't because they don't want to set foot in a kitchen? I mean, even with proper training and instructions, I had trouble instructing one of my employees on the proper done-ness of a scone. I'm not trying to be discouraging, just think about what's realistic for your clients and what they're willing to pay for.

Also, you need to crunch some serious numbers. So say you give them 6 hours; well, since this is basically a professional service, you're talking $100-200 bucks/hour (when I'm in production, I want to make sure the bakery is grossing at least $200/hour of finished pastry..that's 2 people working @ $10/hour and the rest is overhead, ingredients, etc.) It's just a little rule I made up in my head...not saying I follow it; You have to ask, is somebody going to spend about $600-1200/mo on baked goods? Yes, affluent people might, but perhaps that is by going to the local patisserie 2-3 times/week.

Plus, since you're throwing the whole personal chef angle to it, they're going to probably want super special things like "my mom's apple pie" and such which are going to be hard to plan for since you'll have to buy special ingredients that will potentially affect your cash flow.

You might be better off renting a shared space and mass producing frozen pastries that you can sell separately? I don' tknow because then you have to find the clients, and then you're in this whole delivery business like the zone diet??? HMMMM

I think JeanneCake is onto the right idea about teaming up with somebody...it makes the most sense, and it might be a way to get your products in front of your clients without them having to pay $600 for them.

[Cadbury]

I had a friend in highschool whose mum used to bake/cook on a casual basis for others. It was done in the person's home. Sometimes she made meals which could be frozen (lasagne, stews etc), for other people she would bake cakes, cookies etc, some of which were to be eaten straight away, some were to be frozen. I think she only left things which were to be reheated or eaten as is, not actually cooked by the client. She did it on a per hour basis just as you would if you were cleaning or babysitting.

[CaliPoutine]

I've done personal cheffing and I've sold my baking ( Informally). I'm in the process of formalizing prices and menu's for xmas baking. I found a commercial space to use( rent free) and I'm going to bake and freeze starting in November. I'll have everyone pick up their goodies by Dec 15th and then I'm off to Florida for Xmas. Hopefully, it will work out as I envision it.

[Abra]

I had a personal chef business for 4 years, and while I was making two weeks worth of dinners I also baked for my clients regularly.

My advice is that if you want to bake, you need to charge by the hour and not by the product. As a personal chef you can have 3-4 things on the stove, something in the micro, and someting in the oven all at once, maximizing the use of your time. Unless you have clients with several ovens, baking more than one item isn't very practical, since you really can't be opening the oven and popping different things in and out while others are baking.

I highly recommend the organization I used to belong to Personal Chefs Network for tons of help, advice, and support. The other organizations out there have the reputation of just taking your money.

[CanadianBakin']

Thanks for your input and thanks for the links. Abra, that looks like a great site! I have signed up for their newsletter to start and we'll see how it goes.

[CanadianBakin']

Abra, thanks so much for the link! What an amazing site and amazing people running it. Both Sharon and Brent contacted me by e-mail and Sharon even called my home. I can't believe how hands-on they are. I don't have the money to buy a membership right now but will keep an eye on the newbie forum until I do. They've got me thinking about being a personal chef. I think I could do it but I'll have to think it through plus I've still got some medical issues that need some time. I'm excited though as this isn't something I've ever considered. Something that Sharon suggested rather than personal baking is holiday baking. If I'm feeling up to it I might give it a go this Christmas.

[Abra]

I'm so glad you're finding it helpful, and Sharon and Brent are the greatest. Say hi to them for me if you have the chance. You can really get a lot of help from the newbie forum, and of course I'll be glad to give you any advice I can.

And my first bit of advice is that for holiday baking, you really need to be able to rent a commercial kitchen, unless you're allowed to sell baked goods that you've made at home. In the US that's rare, but you're in Vancouver, right? What you don't want to do is to try to do holiday baking in a client's home, as you're certain to lose money that way.