Private Household Cooks: Salary, Job Description, How To Become One, and Quiz

I’m a mom who has been working as a personal household chef for almost four years.

My Typical Day

Well, as a personal household chef, it’s actually more than just cooking. On every client’s cook day, I load the needed equipment, do the grocery shopping for the needed ingredients, go to my client’s home, and prepare the menu. Sometimes, I prepare some dishes for future use. So, I also cool, pack and store the food, however, my client would prefer it. After cooking everything, I clean up and get paid.

One of the best things I like the most about being a personal household chef is that I have freedom and autonomy. Since I’m working alone most of the time, I can decide what food preparation or cooking techniques I will be using. But still, I make sure that my clients will love and enjoy what I have prepared for them.

I also love the part wherein every client can be a completely new creative task. Since every client has different tastes and food preferences, I’ve got the chance to prepare different cuisines and dishes. But of course, I’m doing my homework which is to research how to cook such dishes to make sure that I will reach the expectation of my clients. In fact, I even watch tutorials during my free time as it helps me to cook better.

Pros

Above all, the best part of being a personal household chef is that some of my clients become my friends. Maybe because they usually invite me to join them as they celebrate special occasions in their lives like reunions, birthdays, and even simple family dinners. I believe that there’s a closeness to such events, and it feels really good to become close with your clients.

Cons

But, I’m not going to lie, there are a few things that I don’t like about my role, which I think is quite normal, right? For one, since I’m working alone, I will need to deal with lots of dishes after cooking. When I say a lot, believe it’s more than what you think, especially if it’s a big celebration.

I’m also having a hard time getting discounts from suppliers since I’m only getting the needed ingredients to avoid wasting money. There’s even an unpredictable and long working hour. To all aspiring personal household chefs out there, know that it isn’t the typical 9-5 job. Actually, there are times that I go home late because my clients want me to prepare something for their overnight party.

But despite these disadvantages, I still love being a personal household chef because I love cooking foods not just for my own family but other people as well. And I’m so happy because I get to express my creativity and I’m learning a lot of new things every experience.

Advice to aspiring Personal Chefs

My advice to all students who want to become personal chefs is to make sure that they always do their best in everything.

If they always give their best, they’ll get results more than what they’re expecting. It will even guide them to the greater things in life. The workers who rise above in this world are always rewarded with a fulfilling career that can offer a lot of creativity and freedom and is changing constantly.

However, I just want to inform these students that the job of a personal chef is not only to cook. They will also need to interact with other people. So before committing to a personal chef career, ask yourself if you enjoy the idea of pleasing and interacting with other people.

Can you be professional, especially in hard circumstances? If yes, I can say that you will become successful in this career. But if not and you want to pursue it, I can assure you that you will get used to the ins and outs of being a personal chef and become successful too. Just trust the process and do what you think is the best.

Most importantly, it is also crucial that you master a variety of cooking styles and skills so that you can handle whatever culinary desires or needs your clients might have in mind.