Restaurant work, personal chef biz, private chef, something else, how do you know which one to do_
[00:00:00] Food and cooking is how we express ourselves. It’s how we experience joy, how we live our passion and how we connect with other people. And being a professional personal chef is about as far away from cubicle life as you can get. See, a million years ago. Before I was a personal chef, and I’ve been doing this for 15 years, so a long time ago, I had a cubicle job.
I worked for a huge corporation in Denver, and it ticked all the horrible job boxes. It was a huge, long, crappy commute in crappy traffic. I wasn’t paid what I was worth. I [00:01:00] literally was in a cubicle and I can’t remember because the building was so big. I’m pretty sure there were windows, but they were nowhere near where I was.
And I certainly never saw daylight or breathed fresh air while I was at work. And it was a huge company that did all the crappy company things. We went through mergers and layoffs and changing management and changing job duties. All that crap that you have to do because, you know, after I went to college and maybe this is what you did too, I needed to get a job and preferably one that had even anything remotely to do with my degree.
And by the time I got through school, I realized. I really wanted to go to culinary school. I loved to cook even then, and I really wanted to do that. [00:02:00] But again, after all that school, I needed to get a job. The last thing I was going to do was take on a bunch of loans to go to culinary school, especially because what was I going to do with it?
At the time then, And the only option, if you love to cook, was to be a restaurant chef. That was the holy grail, to be a restaurant chef. And somehow we had this like, glamorous idea of running a restaurant and walking around and greeting customers or cooking or whatever. And the irony is, that’s not even…
What it looks like, it’s nights and it’s weekends and it’s low pay. I worked in a ton of restaurants while I was in school as a server. And I tell you, I could probably count on one hand the number of restaurants that actually had chefs instead of just line cooks. [00:03:00] And they worked. All nights, all weekends, horrible hours, totally underpaid, totally burnt out.
And it’s funny that that isn’t really the dream that culinary school sells you on. And that’s what they teach you to do is how to be a restaurant chef. So… I love to cook, but I went to my, you know, regular crappy job for years. And while I was doing that, you know, I would still cook for me and my boyfriend at the time, who’s now my husband.
And like occasionally I would do little caterings for friends, like if someone had a bridal shower or a cocktail party, and that was awesome. I love doing that. But I didn’t know like how was I going to turn that into a job, especially one to replace my corporate job because Like, you know, [00:04:00] catering special occasions and stuff.
And I didn’t have a commercial kitchen and leasing one was ludicrously expensive. And it’s kind of like the chicken and the egg. Like I couldn’t afford to do it without having a bunch of catering clients, but I couldn’t get a bunch of catering clients until I had that. So like, I didn’t know how to get.
started with that. And again, that got back into all nights and weekends and inconsistent money. And it just wasn’t a good fit either, but I had fun doing it on the side, small and boutique style like that. So when I finally heard about personal chefing, it was like this huge epiphany. When I learned that I could become a personal chef, I could cook days.
not nights and weekends. I could cook during the week like my friends and family. So still be on the same schedule, not working till midnight or 2 a. [00:05:00] m. being burnt out. Ellen holidays. Did I mention the holidays? Yes, that’s also all the restaurant work, holidays, all the catering work too. So again, when I learned about personal shopping and that I could be hired by families to cook a week’s worth of dinners for them and they would have me cook for them week after week after week and pay really good money to have me do this.
It was like, the clouds parted and the sunbeam shone through and the angels sang, I mean it was… It’s amazing and it still amazes me that I get to cook for clients who love me. They adore the food I make, but most importantly, they love the effect of not having to do their dinner shopping, not having to worry about what’s for dinner, not doing that.
567 o’clock scramble to figure out what [00:06:00] they’re going to feed their families. They have delicious food ready to go exactly the way they want it. Not even the pre made crap that they could pick up at the grocery store that then they have to go through and, Oh, well we’re gluten free. So none of these work or, Oh, we’re getting this frozen crap shipped in the mail and no one really likes it, but it’s the best option we can come up with.
They get food. perfectly cooked for them by their personal chef. And it’s just a beautiful thing. So how much would it mean to you if you could do that? If you could Cook for clients who adore you and love your food and you don’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on culinary school and you don’t have to sacrifice all your nights and weekends and holidays away from your family, running yourself ragged just physically wearing you down with that [00:07:00] demanding work.
If you’d love to have this kind of passion to cook for clients again, who adore you and love your food, then come join us in my personal chef business academy, because that is where all the best. Passionate home cooks who are getting started as personal chefs are learning all these things to get dialed in to get these clients and get to live and work their passion of cooking and sharing that joy with other people.
Because I’m telling you, the clients are hungry. They’re out there and they’re hungry for what you’re cooking. So go to the link below and check it out and come join us in the personal chef business academy.
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