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Personal Chef Industry

Dear Fellow Chefs:

Candy has it going on ... AGAIN! , READ BELOW ARTICLE THAT WAS PUBLISHED ON THE NEW "SHENETWORKS.COM"

I hope you are all having great fun, doing what you love, or consitering [potential]making a change to do what you love!

Because it is just wonderful getting up everyday knowing you will be cooking, planning, etc.. and/or sharing ideas and experiences with fellow chefs, self taught and culinary trained, and that you can find all of this wonderful talent right here, on our forum, the first and the original on- line "open" forum. Where you get to exchange ideas and experiences before you take the plunge, free of charge and full of advice! Only with the APCA!!!

Have fun... and send all of your marketing materials to your local newspapers, community papers, radio and tv, at least monthly, it will pay off! Above all, answer the phone!!!

All the best,

Chef Connie
CONNIE COOKS!!!
A Personal Chef Service
Caribbean American Soul
www.conniecooks.com


The direct link to the article is
http://www.shenetworks.com/shecooks/3/feature.html


In-House Chef
by Richard Denby

There's even a web site, naturally, which acts as a clearinghouse for
these cooks-for-hire: www.personalchef.com. Operated by the
ebullient Candy Wallace, who has been running the site since, "the time
when there were a lot of gray screens out there", personalchef.com will
help both chef and client to meet in cyberspace before tackling the
common ground of the kitchen space.

What exactly does a personal chef do? In a nutshell, the chef will come
to your home, cook meals according to your taste and dietary
requirements, pack the meals into containers, and place them into your
freezer. The cost is around $400US per week for a family of four.

Chef Connie Rousseau, owner of New York's Connie's Caribbean American
Soul, is as much sought after for her charming personality as for her
unique Caribbean/American specialties. "I can cook anything from sweet
potato pie to Creme Brulee, sesame crusted rack of lamb to collard
greens with smoked turkey. Kosher? No problem", says Chef Connie.

"First, we consult," Rousseau explains. "You may have special dietary
needs, or maybe want to splurge a little. Then I do the grocery shopping
-all fresh. If you want fish, I go to the fish market, not the
supermarket. I come to your home for one day, usually 6-8 hours. If a
chef says she can do it in 4 hours, she must be cooking meatloaf!

"Next, I cook all of the different meals. Usually an entree with two
sides. I let them cool, very important, before I label and pack them
into containers that go into the client's freezer. I recommend you take
them out of the freezer the day before you eat them to thaw. The food's
much better that way."

A recipient of Rousseau's talents is James Vasiloff, who works in NewYork but lives in Westchester. "Connie, she's great," says Mr. Vasiloff."I'm always traveling on business and taking clients out to lunch, sometimes 5 days a week. I love restaurants but I get tired of them.With Connie's cooking I can come home at 11 o'clock at night and I knowI have a home-cooked, restaurant quality meal waiting for me.There are quite a few women who are personal chefs, many of whom arerefugees from the corporate jungle. Wallace explains why: "First,
becoming a personal chef gives a woman options in the foodindustry. The schedule is flexible enough to allow women to raise afamily. Second, many women feel trapped in their jobs. Women work in
bad jobs just to support the kids. Becoming a personal chef allows womentoown their business. And third, women are conditioned from birth to giveout of love - purchasing food, cooking, nurturing - now they can channelthose abilities for other people who can't find the time to providethose things adequately for their families."
"After all", Wallace points out, "personal chefs are becoming the lastof the scratch cooks around."

Richard Denby is a freelance writer based in Vermont. Related links:http://www.personalchef.com(Candy Wallace)http://www.personalchef.com/dinnertoyourdoor.htm (Connie Rousseau)

The direct link to the article is
http://www.shenetworks.com/shecooks/3/feature.html