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Personal Chef Industry

I am trying to figure out whether I will get the information and support I need by joining APPCA.
I have been laying the ground work over the last couple of months to start a Personal Chef business. I love to cook and I have done some wholesale baking within the past year. I already have most of the legal requirements set up with the state so I should be set there and I also have a large collection of tested recipes. The problem is that I am used to cooking and serving meals fresh from the oven. To me, that is when they taste best. Aside from soups and csseroles, meals that are reheated lose something. Pasta gets mushy or dry, pork can get tough. Fish. I have seen fish selections on some Personal Chef web sites. Do you actually reheat cooked fish?!?
My question is this. Are the 1500 recipes that come with Option A geared to a Personal Chef? Does each recipe tell you how far you should bring it before packaging for the client? Are there reheating instructions? Is it ok to have the client do some last minute tasks such as chop a little fresh basil for a pasta dish or cut up an avacado for a salad? These are some of the questions that I'm hoping your recipe instructions will answer for me and save me months of testing and research.
I would also like to know if purchasing Option B is worth the extra cost. Is the information in the recorded seminar already found in the Optiona A materials? Or does the seminar contain new information?
Last question,(for now); as a new Personal Chef I will have a lot of questions. The main reason for joining would be that I would have people to go to for answers. I would like to know if other members find the continued support they need with APPCA. Thank you in advance for any responses I receive. Michele

Wow! You brought up a lot of great questions. I will try to remember each one.

Meals that are freshly prepared, & then immediately cooled to either freeze or refrigerate, do NOT resemble typical left-overs..nor tv dinners. My clients swear that if they didn't know better, they would say I just cooked it for them instead. Pasta shouldn't get mushy (unless it is overcooked to befing with...same thing with pork and all other dishes). Fish I treat a bit differently. If my client is not kitchen challenged, then I will leave it as raw but the label is in red with RAW on it...specific instructions are given. All other times, it is either flash frozen, stored in foodsaver bags (w/no chance of them overcooking it during heating process) or cooked until rare, & allow them to "finish off".

Some of the recipes actually have packaging & heating suggestions, some do not. It really isn't a difficult thing to do, becomes second nature...but still wigs out even the best of newbies. Most of it is common sense & how much experience in food a person has, or at least imho. You can use those, your own, found in cookbooks/internet or a favorite recipe your client might have.

Each client is different...& it's up to their personal chef to draw the conclusion if they can be trusted with a few minor knife tasks, whisking etc. Certainly if a client of mine has very little or no kitchen skills (they are usually very honest about this), then no....I will be very specific on heating instructions leaving everything done for them. (this would be one that I would vacuume seal fish or other delicate items for).

The package you choose should be based on your learning style. Some people are fine with reading materials, some are more visual, while others prefer a more interaction....whichever one you choose would be fine. Each are very very thorough, but I suggest the seminars...b/c you can ask questions right then & there, not having to wait...AND the interaction is great fun. It will help you jump start your business, b/c it will motivate you fiercely. Besides, we have 2 great instructors...Chef Jim Davis, and Chef Candy Wallace herself. We each never stop learning b/c so many things can crop up...that's what the forums are for, so this partly answers your last question. Bottom line, yes, the support here is tremendous. It is probably one of the reasons why we ARE the largest personal chef association in the world.

Good luck and jump on in....the water is just fine!

Jackie has already filled you in on many things--a couple things to add:

--Even on our worst days, it's probably 1000 times better than most things your client has already been eating.

--Most, if not all, of my clients can handle boiling pasta (Ask how they want it). I leave it for them in the package. For those who want it cooked, I boil to near al dente, cool rapidly, and toss with olive oil. All they need to do is immerse in boiling water. They can even do it from a frozen state. Baked pasta dishes shouldn't suffer much unless the pasta is overcooked to begin with.

--With fish...Salmon is pretty durable, as is tuna and sea bass. Any thick, oily fish is going to be fine. Sear it well and let the client heat in a low (325 to 350 oven.) If it has a sauce, even better. With thin fish (tilapia, catfish, flounder, etc.), you can get it set up for your client to bake off. Sometimes you can even get it done and hold it in a low oven. You arrange your schedule so it's the last thing you do when you walk out the door and they get it fresh from their oven.

--Know your menu items. If something is not going to hold or won't freeze well, simply inform your client. Tell them this is best as I walk out the door. Or charge a bit extra and serve it to them!

Where there's a will, there's a way with most food items I've found!

As far as continuing support, you won't find a better organization. The support doesn't end with the business. It continues on in times of trouble--death of family members, illness, accidents, you name it! At APPCA you don't just join an organization, you join a family!!

Well, I can not say too much more than Jackie and Carol did.

I can tell you that Joe and I made sure we did our homework before joining the APPCA. After one and I mean one telephone conversation with Candy, we knew the APPCA was for us!!!!

Like Carol stated, when you join the APPCA you also get an extended family. I am not too sure that the other organizations would be able to compete with the APPCA.

We joined in April of 2006 and in our hearts of hearts we know we would not be AS successful without all the knowledge that the members and training materials provide.

I hope to see you on the inside.

Ronetta