Discussion Forums
for the
Personal Chef Industry

I have always been considered and consider myself a "good cook".I've had a short stint as a chef in a restaurant in Spain and had a business selling cakes and desserts to restaurants. Now that my daughters have graduated from college I want to get out of my secure but unrewarding office job and do something that will satisfy me.
The idea of a personal chef appeals to me a lot. I have a lot of questions. A couple are: Is it possible to make a living being a personal chef? There are no community college courses here but there is a culinary institute. Should I be getting a certificate from there? I am totally self trained as a cook and although I feel confident cooking I feel I need to know a lot more about the business. How physically exhausting is it - I'm no spring chicken. I would appreciate any direction anyone can give me. Thanks.

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DB

DeloresButler - Welcome to the forum. I am 62 and in business with my son. We operate a Personal Chef and Small Custom Catering Co. in Gaithersburg, just down the road from you. He cooks 9 days ever 2 weeks right now, and I am averaging 4=6 days a month of cooking in addtion to what he is doing. So you can see that I am no spring chicken either (more like an exhausted rooster).

Yes, you can make aliving at it if you don't expect to make 100 grand your first year. That is not realistic.

since I live so close, anytime you want to call to chat just give me a ring at 301-977-0524.

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Jim Davis
The Really Good Food Co.
A Personal Chef Service

Delores-
Welcome. There is no need of a certificate to be a personal chef. I don't care what anyone says. You don't see landscapers,painters or house cleaners being certified. We're just another service industry in short. Your clients are certification enough. Happy ones you pass. Unhappy ones...well, see about taking some classes!! Good luck.

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John McGrath
Chef de Cuisine
Boston

[This message has been edited by John (edited December 04, 2000).]

Hi Delores, welcome to the world of PCing! I have no culinary certificate, have worked in restaurants, & had a very unrewarding office job. I have been cooking for over 30 years, & PCing is a choice I should've made long ago. As far as income, it is unlimited due to how many clients you take on, if you cook for any dinner parties or cater any events. Income & number of hours worked will depend on you. We have a few members who are not "spring chickens", doesn't seem to get in their way!
If I was you, I would seriously take Jim up on his offer & call him. He will be able to give you loads of info on all in a day's work & he is considered to be a fine mentor in our wonderful organization! Good luck to you Delores & happy holidays!

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Jackie Alejo
Cooking For You
A personal chef service
Houston

Hi Delores!
I guess since I'm not quite 29 I could be concidered one of those spring chickens but I am not a certified chef! In fact, for the past five years I have been a housewife. I have however, been cooking seriously since I was nine so I have a pretty good idea how to follow a recipe and believe me, that's really all it takes to be a PC! This is especially true when you have a client choose an entree that you have never made before and don't have time to taste test! I've been there, done that! One of the great things about the APCA is that Candy provides us with some great starter recipes and as you create your own menu you can add on the old favorites that you like to cook. The best reason to join the APCA is to get the hobbit pie recipe! Ok...not the best reason but definitely a good reason! And since you are close to Jim, definitely give him a call! He is a walking fountain of valuable information!

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Samantha Ellis
The Enchanted Kitchen
Cape Cod, MA
Enchanted_Kitchen@excite.com

Hi Delores,
I just realized that since you are in Baltimore and I am in Bowie, we are neighbors! I just recently left my gov't job (got an early out in Sept) and now can pursue cooking for families for fun and money. If you'd like to talk sometime, call me at (301) 262-5094.

Thanks so much for your responses and encouragement and a special thanks to Jim and Susie who both live relatively close to me and have offered to chat - I plan to take you both up on it very soon. I am still exploring and trying to get my nerve up to take the plunge albeit part time. I think I will buy the training materials soon which I hope will help give me that extra push. And if I start slow as a friend of mine said so what if it doesn't work out since I'm not planning to quite my day job just yet. I am a bit concerned over the very unfriendly competition there seems to be with the other major pc organization which I picked up by someone called barriegirls's comments. I do have one question I would like to ask about the USPCA claim that their certification as a personal chef is the yardstick by which pc's are judged. Any comments. Am I correct in assuming that their undergraduate diploma is not an "official" diploma but an inhouse one so to speak? I don't mean to get into awkard territory but if anyone is able to clarify I would appreciate it. Although your organization appeals to me it wouldn't make sense to join one if the other one is the "official" one. Anyway I hope to be a member sooon and get tucked into some good archive reading. Thanks for your friendliness.

Delores

Hi Delores, the answer to your question on the undergraduate diploma is, as far as I know, an "in-house" certificate. I have not heard of any "yardstick" by which PCs are judged. Now, if you take formal education, certainly that is different. I will say, that I have talked to about 5 USPCA chefs ( by phone) & they have all told me that they did not receive exceptional training, & that they get little to no support from the orgainization they belong to, & very few referrals. I cannot tell you that APCA is "better" nor that USPCA is better. That is a matter of choice. I will tell you that here at APCA you will have mega support from our members, extensive training materials, a huge recipe collection, & technical support. The recipe forum & the member's forum to me, was worth every penny of the cost of training & then some. Hope this answers your question.

Please do not take Barriegirl's comments too seriously. We don't advocate bashing another organization, as it helps no one. Both organizations if utilized properly will help you succeed. A lot of folks do start off on a part-time basis, at least until their client base is built the way they are comfortable with. My advice to you on choosing which organization to go with is this: Go further back in the forums, around the beginning of this year or even further back, & you will find out what I mean about the support & knowledge you will receive thru the APCA. Maybe you can locate a personal chef in your area that belongs to USPCA & ask them for more info on their organization? By all means, do investigate fully before join either organization so you can make sure it will fit your needs. What I am really trying to say, is you be the judge. If you have further questions please let us know!

Happy Holidays!

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Jackie Alejo
Cooking For You
A personal chef service
Houston

[This message has been edited by cooking alilbit (edited December 06, 2000).]

Delores - USPCA is a privately owned organization exactly like APCA. Their internal "degree" is an attractive piece of paper that has absolutely no meaning other that the individual paid a fancy price for it.

I know that Candy is working diligently to develop a Nationally recognized certification program through an outside agency (necessarily unnamed at this point) that will allow all PC's to gain a certification that has some meaning. She will keep us all up to date on the development of that program, I'm sure.

A lot of our leads come from the internet because Dennis has tied up so many search engines and domain names tied to APCA. I average at least 2 or 3 leads a month directlly from the net.

The other organizations in the industry include a lot of good people and good chefs. I happen to believe that we belong to the industry leader and I alos believe that "you ain't seen nothin' yet."

We will be the leading organization inthe PC industry, just you wait and see.

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Jim Davis
The Really Good Food Co.
A Personal Chef Service

Jim -

I tried to reach you by phone but so far I haven't heard back from you. I imagine this is a very busy time for you. I am really interested in pursuing the pc idea further and will get back to you after the New Year. Have a great holiday.

Delores

quote:

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Originally posted by thecooktoo:
DeloresButler - Welcome to the forum. I am 62 and in business with my son. We operate a Personal Chef and Small Custom Catering Co. in Gaithersburg, just down the road from you. He cooks 9 days ever 2 weeks right now, and I am averaging 4=6 days a month of cooking in addtion to what he is doing. So you can see that I am no spring chicken either (more like an exhausted rooster).

Yes, you can make aliving at it if you don't expect to make 100 grand your first year. That is not realistic.

since I live so close, anytime you want to call to chat just give me a ring at 301-977-0524.

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Delores - I've been out of town Monday and Tuesday of this week, and was gone all week end. However, I am in all this week - you can call me at the home number above. If I'm not here please leave a message with Sandy or leave it on the tape if we're both gone. If that doesn't work, try the cell phone at 301-455-3596.

Have a great holiday season!

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Jim Davis
The Really Good Food Co.
A Personal Chef Service