Transcript
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Speaker: [00:00:00] Have you started your personal chef business and had someone that you cooked for once and they loved the food, they said they’d definitely call you again, and then crickets. They ghost and you never hear from ’em. Yeah. That’s happened to me too in the past until I figured out how to turn that first Cook Day client into a weekly long-term client.
In this video, I’m gonna walk you through exactly how to make that shift so that you can stop. Constantly hustling for the next person and start building a schedule full of people who want you to come back week after week after week. Hey there. I’m Chef Shelly. I’ve been a personal chef for over 19 years, and I help passionate home cooks and burn out pros.
Build your own successful personal chef business that gives you the freedom, the income, the joy you want. And you don’t need a commercial kitchen. You don’t have to go to culinary school if you haven’t. And especially [00:01:00] without working nights, weekends, and holidays, and second guessing yourself every step of the way.
So one of the most powerful shifts that you can make in your business is turning. Thanks. Bye into, I’ll see you next Tuesday, so let’s talk about how to do it. Let’s start with why this matters. So one time gigs like dinner parties, brunches, stuff like that can be fun, but they’re also unpredictable. You spend a ton of time trying to get the job and then planning and creating the menu, and then doing the shopping and the cooking and everything, and then you’re right back to square one looking for the next person to hire you for another gig.
There’s nothing wrong with offering small catering services, but if your business depends on ’em, it can be exhausting and super inconsistent. So here’s the thing, one happily, [00:02:00] one Happy weekly meal prep service. Client is worth so much more than one Happy. Cook day. If you’re not inviting people into that ongoing schedule, you’re leaving money and your freedom on the table.
So let’s talk about how to change it. Step one is changing your own mindset. Most new chefs treat every booking like a performance. You show up, you do your best work. You hope they’ll contact you for another cook day, but your goal isn’t just to impress them. Your goal is to position yourself as the solution that they can regularly count on.
Here’s what I mean. Instead of saying. Thanks for having me. I really enjoyed cooking for you. Let me know if you need your help again, if you need help again or let me know when you’re ready to schedule again or whatever you say. It was such a pleasure cooking for you. You’re going to love the relief of having dinner handled all week without lifting a finger.
Do you wanna stay [00:03:00] on Mondays for weekly service or do you think you’d rather have every other week? ’cause for that I have Thursdays available. Which one would work best for you? Boom, that one sentence moves the relationship from whenever based to an ongoing relationship. Next step is the experience. If you want someone to hire you again, their first experience with you needs to feel easy.
Organized professional, stress-free for them and delicious. That means you need to have clear communication before the cook day. You need to show up on time and prepared. You need to look like a professional. You need to leave their kitchen spotless. Giving them a follow up message or thank you, asking them to confirm their next cook day is key.
And if it’s messy or stressful experience even for you, and they feel that even if the food’s [00:04:00] great, that can make people hesitate to reach out again. But this smooth experience makes them think, that was amazing. I want my life to feel like this every week. So here’s one of the biggest mistakes I see, and that’s waiting for the client to follow up.
Don’t. Don’t wait. Take the lead, offer the next step. Make it easy and natural. Here’s an example. My clients love having meals ready for the week, and I have openings on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Which one would work better for you? Or even better, if you know exactly why they’re trying meal prep services.
Is it because they don’t have time or for, for their health or for kids, or they’re busy with work? Use that in what you’re saying too. So things you can say too are
now if you say something like this and they don’t immediately say yes, no worries. That’s totally normal. But don’t just disappear. Don’t wait for them to reach out to you. You should always, on [00:05:00] every cook day, follow up, two days later, checking in on how they’re enjoying the food and how it’s working out, if they have any questions or concerns.
Now, I know this might feel scary because we’re sure that they hate all the food, they hate us. There’s a problem, and if we don’t ask, it’ll be better if we don’t know. But first of all, the vast majority of the time things are going great and they are loving the food. More importantly, if anything isn’t great, this gives you the opportunity to fix it and then really shine as someone who gives a crap about them and not just doing the job, getting paid, and you’re out.
Okay, so after you’ve followed up to make sure everything’s good, or if there are any questions or little issues that you can handle after a couple days after that follow up again, if you haven’t heard and say, it was so great cooking for you. I have a couple repeating client spots left this month and I thought of you.
Would you like me to send you more info? Okay, that’s friendly, clear, and super low pressure, and it [00:06:00] just puts the ball back in their court and it keeps you in front of them and keeps the relationship going. You’d be surprised how many people will say yes simply because you asked. You made the first move if they didn’t commit to weekly service in the beginning, or if you haven’t heard from them yet about scheduling.
Now, if they decide not to go forward with regularly scheduled services right now. Add them to your list, that you send out an email once a month with your openings, asking if they’d like to book a cook day. First you confirm with your current clients their cook days, make sure they’re not traveling or skipping or anything, and then send everyone else an email, something like.
Hey, one time client just wanted to let you know next month I have a couple openings for personal chef service. I have Monday the third, Thursday the 17th, and Wednesday the 22nd open. If you’d like to schedule one or all, just let me know. This helps you stay top of mind even if they don’t need you next month.
[00:07:00] But the people that do step in to fill those spots helps you keep your schedule full ahead of time, more consistent, more reliable. So let’s recap how to turn those one-time cook days into long-term clients. Shift your mindset from this is a one-time performance to delivering an experience so smooth, so enjoyable, and full of so much excellent service.
They can’t imagine their week without you. Offer the next step before they ask. If you haven’t talked about it, don’t wait. Invite them in, follow up professionally to stay top of mind and keep that door open. This is how can help you go from random bookings to a more reliable schedule from scrambling for your next client.
To being fully booked and in control of your time, schedule, and money. If you think this was great and you’d [00:08:00] love to have more help from me, send me a DM on Instagram, chef Shelly b, or Facebook Chef Shelly. I’m happy to answer your questions if you wanna even more help. Uh, we can talk about working together one-on-one to get you fully booked with clients fast because the clients are out there and they’re hungry for what you’re cooking.
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