Philadelphia Personal Chefs

[Holly Moore]

Anyone have any experience with local personal chefs that come to one's home, cook up a supply of meals and then depart gently into the night?

[cinghiale]

No direct experience, but I remember an article about it in the Inky recently. Did a search and came up with Ding-Dong It's Your Chef. Since the website is so g-d awful to navigate, here's the synposis:

Tom Manning is your dream guy, bustling around in a warm, scented kitchen - uncapping spices, easing a sharp knife through sausage casing, giving his rich, meaty soup a stir.The kitchen is not his. He won't eat a morsel of the food.And, yes, the Medford man is available, after a fashion. And so is Diane Floyd of Philadelphia, and so are hundreds like them.They are part of the national boom of personal chefs - cooks for hire who prepare several weeks' worth of meals for a

There's another article out there, but I can't find it.

[herbacidal]

Straw poll: How many people here use a personal chef/are looking to?

I wouldn't suspect many, but who knows?

FWIW, I'm trying to help a friend out and get him some personal chef clients downtown.

[Holly Moore]

This is embarrassing, but I'm looking for one for a while, hence my post. Running three businesses right now so shopping and cooking have become a low priority and I'm getting tired of carry-out/delivery/slopping food together.

[mrbigjas]

you should start a new thread 'who wants to have me over for dinner tonight?' haha

[Holly Moore]

Maybe I can revive my "who wants to cook on a real restaurant range" scam.

When I first got it, I'd throw parties and folks would offer to do all the cooking cause they wanted to try out a professional stove. Best parties ever. All I had to do was a bit of clean up afterwards.

[Andrew Fenton]

Straw poll:  How many people here use a personal chef/are looking to?

I wouldn't suspect many, but who knows?

More than you'd think, I bet. For example, I know a lot of young lawyers who have no time to cook (and usually don't know how to cook anyway). They eat out a lot, but I also know that, as they move from their 20s into their 30s, they're interested in eating a little more healthfully. I'd think a personal chef, pitched right-- this is the key-- could clean up.

[herbacidal]

More than you'd think, I bet.  For example, I know a lot of young lawyers who have no time to cook (and usually don't know how to cook anyway).  They eat out a lot, but I also know that, as they move from their 20s into their 30s, they're interested in eating a little more healthfully.  I'd think a personal chef, pitched right-- this is the key-- could clean up.

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Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of:

How many Egulleteers use a personal chef/are looking to?

But yeah, I'm not entirely suprised that more than a few lawyers are interested in using a personal chef.

[Andrew Fenton]

More than you'd think, I bet.  For example, I know a lot of young lawyers who have no time to cook (and usually don't know how to cook anyway).  They eat out a lot, but I also know that, as they move from their 20s into their 30s, they're interested in eating a little more healthfully.  I'd think a personal chef, pitched right-- this is the key-- could clean up.

←

Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of:

How many Egulleteers use a personal chef/are looking to?

But yeah, I'm not entirely suprised that more than a few lawyers are interested in using a personal chef.

←

Oh sure, you did say "here". Yeah, I'm sure that that'd be a smaller number.

[xtian]

My hub did the personal chef thing for awhile (as the chef, not the client). He cooked at the client's house on Mondays and left a meal for Tuesday, and then cooked a meal on Wednesday and left a meal for Thursday. The clients would typically eat out at restaurants, parties, fundraisers on the weekend nights. It was a great set up and at the time and complemented our catering biz well, since most of our gigs were on weekends. Great for me too, because he could shop and prep two extra portions and knock out our dinner at the same time. It eventually ended due to the client's divorce.

The challenges for him were mainly the idiosyncracies of the clients-- kids didn't like fish or anything spicy, wife liked frou-frou, husband liked comfort food... it is tough to come up with continually creative meals that will please everyone at the table. On the other hand-- a single person (especially an adventurous eater like Holly) would probably be much easier in that regard.

Based on his experience as well as others that I know, it seems that word of mouth is the best way to connect. Although, I have seen listings on Craig's list from time to time and that may be a good place to posted a wanted ad. Everyone I know who has done this is a freelance catering chef & has a flexible schedule.

[chowfun]

Two summers ago we used a personal chef, because we were frazzled and exhausted. Two doctors raising two kids, tired of cooking and cleaning. I hired a friend of mine who is the cook at my children's school, who runs a small catering business. She cooked our meals at her house and delivered them each day 4 days per week. It was a real indulgence. She made crab cakes, rabbit with carmelized onions, fresh haddock, polenta topped with a tomato cheese souffle, salmon with candied ginger, chicken mole. By the end of the summer we were refreshed and ready to start cooking again, and of course buying a lot of take-out as well.

There is a member of our synagogue, Mark Heller, who runs a personal chef business. I have heard he is good, but we havent tried him.