18 Secrets About Being A Private Chef, Revealed By Actual Chefs
Sure, we see glimpses into the lives of private chefs on TV shows and TikTok, but what is it actually like to be a personal chef?
Here's a look at what private chefs from the BuzzFeed Community, Reddit, and more have to say about what their job is really like:
1.A lot of the meals that the chefs make are just really good "homemade" meals: "Cooking for clients is mostly cooking everyday food. Think of your favorite meals from your mom. Imagine if your mom was a chef and she didn’t have to do anything else but work on her craft of creating meals."
2.It's not uncommon for personal chefs to do the grocery shopping themselves: "I buy everything myself, and I shop all the time. I use a variety of different shops, and I prefer to buy from farmers markets and specialty shops for fish, meat, deli items, and cheese."
3.When you have a wealthier client, one of the biggest differences is the quality of ingredients: "In general, it's going to be extremely similar to what you would expect an upper-middle-class person to eat, except there's a lot more money to buy better ingredients. For example, making bruschetta is a thing my boss loves. Except the bread is going to be freshly made either by myself or picked up from a bakery that morning — I'm never going to use day-old bread. If the tomatoes aren't in season, I'll have them flown in so that way they're picked up peak ripeness. The balsamic vinegar is going to be an especially aged one (the normal balsamic I use is aged 25 years in casks, but I've got some that are aged as much as 100 years)."
4.Pay can drastically vary depending on the client: "I know one guy who literally just preps meals and puts them in a fridge and maybe will cook one big dinner a week for his client and guests and still makes $200k."
5.And some private chefs live on the premises: "The biggest benefit is having no expenses (they provide a car and apartment), salary is around $150k before taxes."
6.Some chefs are part of a packaged employment deal: "Private chefs (Estate Chefs) are often provided as part of an overall employment package for professional athletes like NFL players, news anchors, and corporate executives. In these cases, we are paid by the corporation. My paychecks will say 'Ford Motor Company' or 'CBS,' for example."
7.Work hours can vary drastically: "Hours are all over the place. Sometimes they’re on vacation and I don’t have to work at all. Other times they have 15 guests every meal for a week and I’m working 70+ hours. Life balance is terrible. Usually, I work 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 at night (they like to eat late) with an hour or two break in the middle of the day."
"I've had clients who want me in six days a week, 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Then I have had clients who have me working 18 hours a day, seven days a week, for four-week stints."
8.And time off can be hard to come by: "I had a blast doing it but it is not a very sustainable job in my opinion. I did it for two years for an extremely rich family in Dallas, Texas. They were great people but didn't understand personal space or time off."
9.Depending on the client, a private chef will eat the same thing they made for their client: "I always eat whatever I make for them. Might not be as fresh as their meal since I'm eating after theirs is done, but it's otherwise the same."
10.Some chefs aren't limited to a budget when buying ingredients: "I have a credit card. I simply buy whatever I need. They keep loose tabs on it, but they've learned to trust me."
11.Some chefs make lunches for when their clients go to work: "I generally do breakfast and dinner service with the family being on their own for lunch, though I do provide box lunches for them when they leave to begin their workday (usually made of leftovers from the previous dinner)."
12.Working for a professional athlete's family can be especially difficult: "I hate the schedule for athletes. They're often not home so you mostly cook for their family who has strangely been high maintenance with every athlete family I've met. Also, their schedule changes a lot with the seasons and they tend to live in two cities in a year. Then they move when they’re traded! No guarantee it's long-lasting... which is OK if you do yearly contract work, but I tend to take other clients in the meantime."
"I'm a personal chef to basketball player now and it's my first gig as a PC. I've negotiated a salary that allows me to rent a room there and fly back to LA when I have time off. Hours range vastly and I've even had to serve dinner at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. when they arrive back from away games. My client is super chill and doesn't ask for much but it's just the crazy hours."
13.Depending on where the client is going on vacation, a private chef might need to go with them: "Even on vacation, my client typically stays on his yacht or rents a house/villa and I will continue to act as his personal chef."
14.Private chefs have to deal with their share of difficult behavior: "One of my clients got drunk one night and came home at 3 a.m. demanding the chef to cook for him. The chef had to say no because they didn’t have the ingredients, so my client took frozen baguettes out and challenged him to a duel, then started throwing them at the chef."
15.Some personal requests can be...quite interesting: "I once worked for a lady who was pretty normal, except for her favorite food: pickled catfish sliders baked in mayonnaise. There were many times when I would be cooking it and I could not stop from physically gagging because the smell was so bad. I don’t think it agreed with the woman I worked for very well either, because this lady farted like no one before or since! She was mostly nice and paid well, but I had to quit when I got pregnant because the odor of the dish combined with her farts literally was making me violently physically ill."
—Andrie, Alabama
16.Some downsides to the job include isolation: "The worst thing is boredom and lack of colleagues. The best thing is flexibility."
17.Sometimes the work/life balance just isn't worth the money: "Some are very cool, some are more demanding. Even the demanding ones I liked and understood because they’re paying out the wazoo for my services. I’m pretty sure I’m done though, even for the month-long gigs because the last one I did, it felt like it took a year off of my life. A very close friend has been one for almost two years and just quit because the money was insane for a chef but it meant changing plans on a dime. The thrill of being on private jets and luxury homes really wears off quicker than you’d think. Ultimately no matter how glamorous, you’re ultimately domestic help."
18.And finally, many private chefs find the job much less stressful than working at a restaurant: "Working in restaurant kitchens was great, but the stress was bad for my health. Working as a private chef is so much less stressful, plus the working environment is so much better. For example, I can currently watch dolphins play in the ocean from my kitchen window while I work!"
Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
