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Personal Chef Industry

I was wondering if anybody would be willing to share some demographic information on their clients more specifically income levels (ie are they making $50K-100K, $100-200K or $200k+) for clients utilizing the biweekly and the weekly fresh type services. Id also be interested to hear how many people are operating in more rural areas and cities of around 100K people.
Im in the process of writing my business plan so I would be interested in any insights.

Thanks
Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your question about demographics for your business plan. While the OPEN Visitor's forums were created by us years ago as a tool for folks to use to determine whether or not this was a viable career choice for them, they were not created to supply specific information on the industry that is contained in the specific training materials for our members.

I am sure you can understand that the training materials that we created and continue to update regularly is designed to assist aspiring personal chefs to set up and operate successful, legitimate businesses.

While we have members with generous hearts who answer many questions here, and we offer a lot of information openly for folks who come here to ask questions, there really have to be limits to what we give away free, and this seems to be one of those cases.

We wish you well in your efforts, and want you to know you are welcome to visit here in the Open Forum, but please respect our members and our programs as the valuable tools they are, and do not expect us to give away proprietary information for nothing.

Best wishes to you,
Candy

First, even if we had the information available, I believe our ethics would prevent us from sharing it with anybody in an open forum situation; and second, T agree with Candy in that the information that we have relative to this issue would be highly confidential.

We would invite you to investigate all of the benefits of membership in the association. I think you will find that if you follow our education and training program carefully, you will determine that the information you are seeking is neither important or necessary in the establishment of your business.

You see, we don't sell food...we change peoples lives, regardless of income.

Jim

quote:

First, even if we had the information available, I believe our ethics would prevent us from sharing it with anybody in an open forum situation; and second, T agree with Candy in that the information that we have relative to this issue would be highly confidential

I agree. I don't know what my clients make, and frankly don't even care. It's none of my concern...my only concern is that they pay for my services...you know, no returned checks. If I was privy to that information, or could make a guess at it, I would keep it to myself anyway.

Heed Jim's suggestion regarding membership...it will only help you. Talk to Candy about joining...the traininmaterials also covers how to go about creating your business plan....see the training is more than just getting recipes or cooking tips...it's more to do with how to operate & run a successful business, and providing yourself with your ultimate work enviroment...a happier you...being your own boss, etc.

I have some serious reservations about the correlation of household income to utilizing the services of a personal chef, even if the information was available.

I agree with all the above. For us, client privacy is extremely important. If I would go to an attorney or doctor and found out that he gave our personal information to anyone, I think that I would have a great 401K and not have to worry about working for the rest of our lives.

Please understand the members with the APPCA are very generous with sharing information within limits.

I am really not too sure what a clients income has any importance at all with starting up your business.

Good Luck and we hope to see you on the inside.

Ronetta

Wow.....thanks for all the quick responses....
I'll explain my question a little further...

A great businessman once said there are 3 important things in business.....location, location, location.

Can a business survive and prosper without a great location......yes (with a lot of effort and creativity)

If you do a search on the website for personal chefs in Iowa....you will find 3 unique personal chefs listed. A corresponding search for California lists 53 in LA county and 56 in San Diego County.....which is more than the combined states of Iowa(3), Wisconsin(15), Idaho (4), Minnesota (10), Nebraska (5), Missouri (6), North Dakota (0), South Dakota (0), Wyoming (0), Idaho (4), and Kansas (5). Note...Illinois has 26 in Cook County (ie Chicago area alone.)

quote:

....see the training is more than just getting recipes or cooking tips...it's more to do with how to operate & run a successful business

There is a copy of Candy's book sitting at the local B&N waiting for me.
Im taking a serious look at becoming a member and the training materials, but there are also several options available to me also. I already left my dead end 9-5 job for the world of culinary bliss, now the real question im looking for information on is how membership would help me accomplish my goals or if it is an expensive duplication of information.

A little research while formulating my answer pretty much answered my question regarding household income ant the utilization of personal chef services.....If 2 bedroom/1bath house in Gaitherburg, MD costs twice as much as a 3-4bedroom/2+bath here in Iowa....economic theory and the number of personal chefs listed on this website, STRONGLY suggests a that a personal chef will be employed by individuals with a higher disposable income relative to the fee that the chef charges.

quote:

You see, we don't sell food...we change peoples lives, regardless of income.

I agree......but I would be suprised if there are personal chefs with businesses that work for free or accept food stamps.

quote:

Originally posted by A74GHIA:...I agree......but I would be suprised if there are personal chefs with businesses that work for free or accept food stamps.

That is probably an accurate statement.

The reason I question correlating potential for PC clients to household income? Very simply, in my personal experience, there is no correlation.

Now, if you can determine "disposable income", which is FAR removed from household income, you just might be on to something. The problem? Determining "disposable income", because you see, you not only have to know how much they make, but also, how much they spend and for what.

Not only would that information be extremely confidential, if you can find it, the chances that any one of us would have access to it is very unlikely.

I'm not sure of the current training and membership cost, but I'll bet you would recover it in, oh maybe, 4-6 cookdates?

Paraphrasing the TIK-TAC ad, "can you be a successful PC without joining APPCA? Sure, but why would you want to work so hard?"

quote:

I was wondering if anybody would be willing to share some demographic information on their clients more specifically income levels (ie are they making $50K-100K, $100-200K or $200k+)

That was your original statement, in which it could be construed as it was based on the replies you recieved.

NOW, I understand that you want to know what kind of demographics you want to target. Well, yes, a person needs a disposable income...does a personal chef need to move to a certain area?...no. Do they need to target a certain market, well, yes...I mean certainly if one is making $20/hr or 30k a year, will probably not even search for a personal chef simply b/c it is not affordable...even on a bi-weekly basis.

It's good that B&N has Chef Candy's book awaiting on you. Certainly check out Chapter 7.."Identifying your market." You will find the book very well written, & you will gain a lot of insight from it.

I think what you quoted from "the cook too"..."regardless of income"...was a bit out of line, imho. You obviously knew full well what he meant...& of course, we don't accept food stamps nor work for free...thus what he said meant was that...as long as we get paid what we charge (which varies across the US), we don't care about knowing the income our clients make....as long as the check doesn't bounce. It is up to the client(s) to decide if they can afford us or not, not the other way around!

You stated

quote:

I already left my dead end 9-5 job for the world of culinary bliss

but per your other postings...you already done that a long time ago with your once a month meals, vending & fair dealings. You also state NOW, that

quote:

now the real question im looking for information on is how membership would help me accomplish my goals or if it is an expensive duplication of information.

but in ALL of your postings, you fail to mention this until now.

When ask specific questions we answer what is asked. You specifically asked

quote:

I was wondering if anybody would be willing to share some demographic information on their clients more specifically income levels (ie are they making $50K-100K, $100-200K or $200k+) for clients utilizing the biweekly and the weekly fresh type services.

You did not ask questions about Chef Candy's book, about membership, or really about how to draw up a business plan or other "start up" type questions...so we answered based on your question from this post & the following is meant tongue in cheek only...not rudely or malicious, last I knew we are not mind readers ...just cooks...damned good cooks that run a personal chef business ...& willing to help others who want to do the same.

By all means, if you have other questions, post them...and remember, the more info you give us, the better we can help. Have a good weekend!