Curiousity Question.....

[hcmalon77]

I just wanted to know out of curiousity what everyone thinks of a personal chef? I was seriously looking into this, as I don't have the time or the resources to attend a cullinary school(there isn't one in AR, and I know there are great ones in states around me, but I have a family and can't afford to take the time to go.) I have such a PASSION for cooking, I absolutly LOVE cooking and I would love to eventually do it for a living. So, to make a long story short.....from the professional end , I would love to know your opinion. Thanks!!!

[LogghiB]

If you can find a nice paying personal-chef gig with benefits, yeah. Sounds like a scam deal. If you really want to get serious about cooking then you should put some serious time in large, high-volume kitchens... but if you want to skate by with decent money then go for it.

However, any bad habits you have in that environment will just fester and grow, as opposed to an exec. chef yelling them out of you.

I wouldn't feel bad about the culinary school thing, though. A good portion of major, four-star operation chefs didn't bother going either. They just worked, paid attention, and got their stuff together.

[OzarkRose]

But there IS a small cooking school in Melborne, and soon to be another in Batesville! The best way to learn cooking is by doing it, and by choosing which surroundings you work in will determine the perspective you learn. If you attend a school, you will have the added advantage of learning several perspectives at once (everyone does things differently and knows different tricks) as well as having a "label" to put on your card when you're done. But the "old fashioned" way of working under different chefs works great, takes a long time though. But in the end, if you love to cook, and cooking every night for a local is what you can do, DO IT! The begining of your path is not the end!

[mmpvail]

While you may have success as a personal chef without culinary school or much professional training, I think you would be wise to take the ServSafe sanitation or other food safety training course. You'll learn a lot, and that certificate can be a marketing tool as well as covering your a#@. Contact your city or county health department, or your local community college to see where and when courses are offered.

Also, make sure you know just how much you'll need to charge - when I have done personal chef jobs, I've run up against the fact that it takes as much time, and costs proportionately much more to cook for two as for twenty.

Good luck!

[chef john]

Now the ACF ( American Culinary Federation ) now has a certification level for Professional Personal Chefs. This is tremendous recognition for this burgeoning profession. Maybe contact the ACF @ acfchefs.org for more info. There are also a growing number of personal chef websites starting to show up on the web. They could be a great source of insight. Just search "personal chef".
Good Luck, Chef John