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I am working on getting my PC business off the ground, but have a few questions. I was wondering what works best for setting a menu for a particular client. Is it better to construct a menu for them or to hand them a list of options and let them pick their own entree's and sides? If you were to construct a menu for them, would it be best to let the client view the chef's selections before the cookdate?

Hey Tiffany
Happy Thanksgiving and or Columbus day!! Well the way it works generally is that you put together a menu, mine for example has about 80 items on it, which you take and present to the client at the interview process. The client then gets to pick his/her 5 entrees from the menu and those are the items you prepare.
Now there are chefs that work differently, but as a rule that is how we work.
I offer a standard menu, which is the one I just talked about, then I also put together seasonal menus too, at the end of the season, I take the most popular of those and incorporate them into my standard or regular manu!
I also tell clients that should they have favourite recipes or family recipes that they love but don't have time to cook, I will be happy to create them for them, as long as they don't mind sharing recipes!!
Hope this helps?

Hi Tiffany,

One of the wonderful things about running your own PC business is that you can do it anyway that suits you.

I don't let my clients pick their entrees from my menu, because I have had some VERY long days in doing so! I have a food questionnaire that my client fills out before our initial meeting. I go over the questionnaire with the client and propose certain entrees based on what ingredients they've said they liked. I always make sure to mix some fairly complicated and fairly easy entrees so I can control the time.

Going forward, I email a proposed menu and have the client approve the menu about a week before their next cook date.

There's no right or wrong answer to your question! It's how you want to run your business.

Carol

Hi, Tiffany,

Carol is correct; how you wish to run your business is strictly up to you.

I have a very extensive menu, however, I do not require my clients to choose strictly from it. Some are just so busy, they don't have the time. At the assessment (our first meeting), we discuss how they want to handle menu selections. Good communication with your client is key and so is attention to their needs. For gift certificates I do ask them to choose strictly off the menu. Here's are some examples of my clients and how each are different:

--Did not want to make menu selections each week. Gave me about 20 recipes from a favorite cookbook at the assessment. I made two from her recipes, two from mine for the first cookdate. After about 8 to 10 cookdates; we came up with a "favorites" list. She continues to give me recipes (off Food TV, family recipes, and ones she comes across), I choose from the "Favorite 25," plus I add new ones as they like to be surprised. I e-mail a menu several days before the cookdate though for approval.

--Monthly client for over a year . . . has not selected off the menu yet . . . does not intend to.

--Weekly client calls to tell me what she wants, what she is hungry for each week and we discuss. Mostly she gives me several items from my menu, then asks me what is new on the menu--what I can suggest, then asks me to surprise her with one.

Each client is going to be different, plus I just like to do new things all the time.

Thanks for all the great advise. I know that the great this about Personal Cheffing is that you can run your business however you want, it's just kind of overwhelming when you're first starting out. I know I'll get the hang of it! Thank you all again for your help!
Tiffany