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Personal Chef Industry

I am investigating the PC profession, and a huge question simply won't go away.

Why can't you just make a huge batch of whatever at home, portion it out, freeze it, do the same tomorrow, etc. etc., and on Friday, drop off one of each at each client?

"Because that's catering." I'm told. OK, so why not catering?
"Because you need a commercial kitchen." I'm told.

There has to be more to it than that.

Am I missing something? Anybody?

What's involved in becoming a caterer?

There are two government entities involved here...the zoning department of your city or county, and the health department which inspects kitchens. Some states do not allow preparing food for sale out of home kitchens, period, or you may live in a residential area not allowing businesses (zoning). "Food for sale" is always inspected by somebody, and they want you to have a kitchen they can inspect (health dept.).

Personal chefs are not preparing food for sale to the general public, they are performing the service of purchasing food and cooking it for a certain individual in that person's own kitchen. Therefore, PC's do not come under the laws governing catering.

Hope this makes it a little more clear.

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Ruth in Nashville
SuperRuth@aol.com

There are companies that do that -- and they are big players. They are just starting out, and have to work out some logistical issues -- but the time will come when you will be able to get regular deliveries of meals at home for very reasonable prices. And because those companies are buying huge amounts of food and have national accounts, they will always, always, always be able to deliver the product at lower prices, than say, you would, shopping at the grocery store or even buying wholesale for fewer than 50 clients.

There are some PC's who do just this -- and they are making money doing it. But when Wal-Mart's home delivery service, or Home-Runs, or Eatzi's, etc. comes to their area, they are probably going to lose a lot of business.

In my neck of the woods, you can get this service right now -- and for cheaper than you can get my services, that's for sure.

But here's the difference: "They" make a black bean chili. You like it or you don't -- but you and every other customer get the same damn chili.

My clients: Client A is on a diet, she gets the black bean chili in a portion-controlled size and with extra veggies added in to sub for the high calorie cornbread that Client B gets. Client B also gets a larger portion, and loves smokey flavors, so I add a little chipotle to his. Client C likes everything incendiary, so her portion is hot as hell, and she likes to have roasted broccoli as an accompaniment, go figure. Client D is an Atkins diet graduate, so we sub a little meat for some of the beans so that she doesn't go into carb-overload.

Of course, realistically, none of my clients ever order the same thing as the rest of the clients for that week...my clients each order from a menu that has between 50-60 choices, so the odds that more than one client will pick the same thing each week -- especially with one that hates lamb, another that loves lamb, one that hates mushrooms, another that is vegetarian...you get the picture.

The point of personal chef is PERSONAL -- I make what they like, the way they like it, when they need it. People will pay more for this service than they will for a limited menu, same as everyone else, mass-produced meal.

And, personally, it's a hell of a lot more interesting and fulfilling than to be cooking huge vats of mass-produced, one size fits all food -- many of us have been there, done that and ain't going back....

I hope that helps.


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Meredith
Whisk For Hire
Kensington, MD

Thanks for your good questions!
There will always be "take-out" pre-prepared HMR sources like Eatzi's and the now defunct Boston Markets, and the new "delivery" type preprepared HMR sources like home-grocer.com and webvan.com are more and more in evdence around the country, but there will ALWAYS be a market for Personal Chefs, as long as people have taste buds.

These HMR services, by their very nature are preparing meals for a very broad-based audience, and are by trying NOT to offend any particular palate actually offending all of them. Let's face it - Bland is Bland.

A personal chef is going to conduct an assessment with each potential client prior to booking a cook date, and the meals that will be prepared for that client will be PALATE-SPECIFIC to the clients wants and needs. No pre-prepared HMR service will ever be able to deliver that type of customized service, especially since the service is performed in the safety of the client's own kitchen...and if you've been watching the exposes on TV this past week you'll know just how reassuring that can be.
Hope this answers your questions.
Candy

Aside from the health regulations, etc., there are many logistical/practical issues that would discourage someone this type of catering/food delivery. Let's say that your going to cook and deliver for 5 clients each week.

First, you would need to have twice the number of containers, one set the clients use to eat from, another set for you to begin storing meals for the next week.

Second, most people (or at least my clients)can barely store one week's worth of meals in their freezers. You would need a pretty good sized freezer in your garage to store 5 clients' worth of meals each week. Also, if you didn't shop for the groceries fresh each day, you would need another large refrigerator to store groceries.

Third, you would need a refrigerated vehicle to keep the foods frozen (and safe) during transport.

Fourth, all of your clients would be required to eat from the menu you chose for them. Like Meredith said, you coulnd't do much personalizing.

Fifth, getting back to your clients' freezers, they will have to follow the regiment pretty closely, they won't be able to space their meals out unless they skip a delivery. A couple of my clients use the service as a supplemnt to their own home cooking and dining out.

Unless you already have the additional equipment need for delivery/storage, I just don't think catering makes the service any more convenient for us or for the clients.

Hope this helps.

-Ray