Personal Chef Business Plan

Candy Wallace, executive director of the Personal Chef Association reports that there were 9,000 personal chefs in the field in 2004 with anticipated growth projection of 25,000 by 2009. Brent Frei, Director of Marketing for the American Culinary Federation, believes this is the fastest growing segment in the culinary field.The attraction to this culinary field is the independence that it offers.As a small business owner they are responsible for all aspects of the business from the day to day hands on tasks to the marketing and accounting.

When you’re first starting out you may want to do a few jobs at a discounted rate to get experience, testimonials, and referrals."—Jenné Claiborne What kind of experience do you need to have? If you have the money to invest, and if it will give you the confidence you need to start working professionally, [go to culinary school].

It is not necessary to go to culinary school to become a professional chef.

For example, say my ideal client is a wealthy working mother of two on the Upper East Side of Manhattan who is interested in health and fitness for herself and her family.

That description gives me a lot of clues about where I could find a person like that.

Startup Costs: Under $2,000 Home Based: Can be operated from home. Personal chefs are becoming a popular alternative for people that don't have the budget for a full-scale catered event or for people that hosting small events that don't require complete catering services.

Prepare gourmet meals for busy professionals, people hosting house parties, small special occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries and for corporate luncheons; basically, anywhere there is a kitchen you can use for your chef service.Many personal chefs previously worked in the restaurant business as Chef James Davis said about the restaurant business: “the hours were long and the stress high.” The personal chefs determine how many clients they will be working for and what services they will offer.Some chefs will also prepare meals for special occasions and parties. No Take your pots and pans, cooking skills and love of food and hit the road as a personal chef for hire.The advantages for starting this type of unique service are apparent: low overhead, low startup costs and part-time operating hours."I never recommend charging hourly for your services as an entrepreneur.A flat fee, mine starts at 0 groceries, is best.This is the type of business that can easily be supported by word-of-mouth referrals and repeat business once established, leading to a full-time, profitable business venture. Typically, chef rates are quoted on each job and vary on factors such as the supply of food and the type of menu requested.However, on average, personal chefs generally earn in the range of to per hour.The industry associations report annual revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually With 29% (2005) of consumers reporting they will be increasing their purchases of prepared foods, there is a corresponding increase in the demand for healthy, exotic, and ethnic foods.From fast-food to gourmet shops companies are fighting for this section of the market.