Becoming a personal or private chef often involves cooking for specific families or residents in a particular location.
These chefs have a number of responsibilities, from preparing menus to shopping for and cooking ingredients for their guests, all whilst factoring in any personal requests or nutritional requirements.
Compared to professional kitchens though, personal chefs tend to suffer from less stress. After all, it’s like cooking for your family and once dinner is over, there will be no stray walk ins 5 minutes before closing time!
Personal chefs typically work full time, though your hours may fall over every single day of the week. The salary for many personal chefs though, often more than makes up for this, the UK average is around £37,000 a year.
So, how do I become a personal chef?
Unlike cooking in many smaller establishments and training from the ground up, being a personal chef usually requires a lot more in terms of skills and experience.
Qualities
Personal chefs need creativity when it comes to planning menus, a little bit of flair can help you stand out. You’ll also need dedication to your host family, great time management and the general ability to use kitchen equipment.
Qualifications
You’ll more than likely need to have completed your GCSEs and have further certifications in a culinary arts field.
It is advised that in order to become a private chef, you also undertake some form of course or further qualification, such as an apprenticeship or NVQ, to supply you with both practical and academic knowledge of the cooking industry, health and safety and the culinary trade.
Many people will expect at least 1-5 years’ experience from you, families and employers will need to know you’re able to deliver!
Once you can master all of these skills and have all the necessary qualifications behind you, it may be time to start looking for your first personal or private chef job.
To browse jobs, take a look at our job search here.
