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Personal Chef Industry

Hi - I'm preparing to jump into the world of PC'ing and have been researching the field. I haven't seen anything about this so I'm asking it here to hopefully gain some insight from the old pros:

For those of you who get reimbursed for grocery expenses - How do you bill for items that have to be purchased for a dish, but are not completely used up on a cook date...i.e. rice, spices, flour, sugar, etc?

I appreciate your feedback and am gleaning so much information from this forum. Thanks a lot!

Roxanne

Hi Roxanne,

I think you're referring to what are called "pantry" items around here - spices, seasonings, etc. I will venture to say most PC's either tack on a pantry fee, or build it into the fee, which is what we do.

The cost of pantry items probably doesn't exceed $15-$20 for most cookdates, and my reasoning for building it in rather than charging a fee is that I think charging little fees here and there for this and that might make our clients feel nickeled and dimed.

Just one person's opinion.

Best of luck!

Shinae Godinez
The Irvine Food Co.
irvinefoodco@cox.net

I have to agree with Shinae, charging a chefs fee then fee for groceries then a fee for pantry items, then taxes I think it would start to look like my phone bill. I hate all those misc. charges on my phone bill it frustrates me. Figure the cost into your total fees. There are a number of ways to do this so find what is best for you.

Good luck

Okay there are several ways of handling this. Everyone is different. I will give just a few examples:
1.) fee plus food costs (some ask for a deposit, some don't...meaning actual cost is taken from deposit & leave change...or some will get reimbursed later)
2.) charge a separate "pantry fee" when all inclusive (I don't)

Some chefs will leave the unused items with the clients, and some take them home for personal use.

There are several other ways of handling this & other issues. They are all discussed in depth in the training materials, seminars & member forums. Yes, you can get a lot of valuable information from the visitor forum, however, if you are serious about joining the personal chef industry, you may want to consider looking into joining one of the associations available. I will say that the association you choose, is a personal choice. By all means, check each one out very thoroughly, and then you will be able to make an informed decision on which one is best suitable for you. APCA won hands down for me, and honestly, if I was just now starting, I would still choose the APCA, b/c they are the driving force of this fine industry (partnership with ACF, etc etc).

Good luck with your endeavors.

Thank you all for your input...I really appreciate it. Cooking alilibit, there is no doubt that I will be joining APCA and am waiting until I finish this Spring semester (Culinary Arts student) so I can focus my full attention on the materials. I was just curious about these pantry items as I had not seen anything in the forum about it. Thanks again.

Roxanne