Question
Dion Turner
I want to hear your whole story for becoming a personal chef. What would you have done differently? How do you make it lucrative? What marketing did you do to gain clients?
Answer
You know, my experience as a personal chef has been, um, uh, on again and off again, uh, during my food, uh, career. And, um, I've never done it full-time. Um, it's always been something on the side, um, you know, where, uh, you know, I've done, you know, either cooking in a restaurant or teaching as my mainline activity. Um, I, I would pick up a, a gig here and there. Um, you know, I've had, uh, like a regular once a week client Wednesday night dinner, um, you know, for, for some period of time, you know, these sorts of things that are very part-time. And, um, you know, I wouldn't do anything, uh, different, uh, in terms of, of, of, of, uh, my path. Um, and, you know, rather, um, you know, I, I carved out the path that worked for me and, and my situation, and I found enjoyment and a little extra pocket money on the side, you know, as I participated, uh, you know, in these personal chefing sort of opportunities. Um, you know, this was certainly after, um, uh, gaining, uh, experience, uh, cooking, uh, professionally. Um, I, I got into, uh, cooking, you know, on a small scale, uh, for people as a, as a personal chef. And, um, you know, how do you make it lucrative? Um, yeah, I'm not sure if I'm the best person to ask, because it was never my mainline job. But, um, you know, I think you need to cost out, uh, the dishes that you're making. Uh, in other words, you, you calculate the cost of each ingredient so you can calculate the portion cost so that you know how much you are spending on the food, and then you'll, uh, understand how much you should charge for the food in order to cover your expenses. So that's gonna be step number one. And that's, uh, that's a very important step. Uh, it can be tedious, and it can also change, you know, from season to season, and even from year to year as, as prices fluctuate. But it's important that you stay on top of your own food cost, uh, in order to, um, create a profitable business, whether it's a, uh, you know, a, a full-time business or something on the side. And, um, and then in terms of making it lucrative, uh, you gotta create delicious food. It, it needs to look good, and it needs to be done efficiently. And, uh, you develop these skills and this knowhow with experience. And the quickest way to do that is to work professionally, um, for somebody else, so that you're doing these sort of things each day and, uh, developing, um, uh, you know, the, the, uh, the shortcuts and, uh, just that deeper knowledge, uh, and skill around, uh, doing these different things. As, you know, cooking methods and all the ancillary techniques that are part of cooking, as well as the knowledge of the seasonal variation of food, uh, the different quality levels of, of, um, um, imported foods that we might buy in a jar like tahini or soy sauce, as we've talked about today. Uh, and so on and so forth. And so, there's a lot of knowledge, um, that goes into creating a lucrative business. And, and that knowledge is gonna come out of experience. And, uh, so I, I always encourage people to go to work for somebody else, uh, for some period of time as you develop your chops, uh, and then branch out on your own, okay? And, uh, in this manner, you're gonna make the, uh, the best food, uh, uh, professionally, and then also the safest food, in other words, from a, uh, food safety and, uh, and hygiene perspective, okay. Which is, uh, super important as well. All right, thank you.
