Who doesn’t dream of having a private chef? Just the idea of having one comes with an air of luxury. And why shouldn’t it? With a private chef, you have access to someone who prepares restaurant-worthy meals in the kitchen—and their job is ensuring that you and your household have healthy and delicious meals and snacks!
But what exactly is a private chef, and what does the job entail? Find out more in this article as Food Fire Knives tell you what it’s like to be a private chef:
What Comes with a Private Chef Job?
As with other jobs, a job as a private chef comes with responsibilities and perks, making it a desirable career for professional cooks looking for an alternative to working at restaurants.
Private chefs work for a single client’s household. They are responsible not only for cooking meals but also, in a way, running the whole kitchen. That means they have to do the grocery shopping, the clean-up, and ensure that they always prepare meals that meet the expectations and any diet restrictions of the members of the family. It can be a demanding job because they are on-call any time. They may also be required to travel where their client goes to provide them with the culinary service that they are accustomed to.
Most private chefs stay in the homes of their clients (or in their yachts). They may be given a small apartment or a room in the house and a car that they can use. Often, their clients’ families consider their private chefs as part of the family .
How Does One Become a Private Chef?
Most chefs possess at least a high school diploma. Today, though, the competition has become more challenging because a lot of chefs get their training from culinary schools or a 4-year college. But there are still those who learn their skills from experience in restaurant kitchens. Many start their career as line cooks. Most get promoted eventually and move through the various levels.
What an aspiring private chef should have is knowledge. They need to understand how different ingredients taste, their nutritional value. What dishes can they come up with their ingredients that are on hand. A private chef job means you run a kitchen, You need to know how to plan menus, purchase ingredients. You also need to follow sanitary procedures in handling ingredients and cooked dishes.
How Much Do Private Chefs Earn?
To give you an idea of how much private chefs make, PayScale showed that those who are considered entry-level chefs with five years of experience or less earned an average of $43,000 in 2019, including overtime pay and bonuses.
Those with over five years of experience earned an average of $62,000 a year. If you want to make as much money as possible, consider pursuing private chef jobs in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco as those are the areas that pay the most. Note, however, that for that reason, the competition is more demanding in those cities.
Conclusion
A private chef job is something that culinary professionals can consider. Especially when working in a restaurant may not be as stable because of the pandemic. More and more families seek the services of private chefs. They want to enjoy sumptuous meals without having to leave their own homes. You can work as a private chef in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or New York if you want to earn in the higher income range of this field.
If you are interested in working as a private Chef in Savannah or any other city for that matter, you can be a part of Food Fire + Knives’ network of private chefs. Contact us today to know more about this opportunity!
