To ask how much you would pay for a private chef (London and outskirts)

[mouche202]

Hi, I'm a long time lurker but this is my first post. I would really appreciate if any of you who live in London or the outskirts (up to 30 miles away) could help me with some initial market research.

How much would you pay (per head) for the following service:
A professional chef plans a menu based on you (and your guests) likes, dislikes, allergies, dietary preferences, then comes to your house on the day and prepares the meal in your kitchen. The chef serves the meal, answers any questions, does the washing up and leaves the kitchen clean and tidy.

The food is of the standard you'd get in a high end restaurant. You'd provide your own alcohol though the chef can suggest good pairings for the food.

Basically a restaurant experience in your own home with no need for babysitters, taxis etc. A good way to celebrate with your support bubble or older, vulnerable guests. Or a nice way to treat a new mum.

For the voting:
YABU - no one wants to pay for this!
YANBU - I'd use this

But really I'm looking for is what you'd pay for this.

Thank you.

Post Covid, I think this could be popular, if people want good food but not surrounded by strangers

My parents like to see their friends, but not fancy food. They would be delighted with fairly simple food eg lasagne, so they can focus on enjoying their guests' company and not have to clear up. I know you can buy from Cook, but help in the kitchen, serving drinks would be attractive to them

For me, I like the idea of private dining, but fear it's beyond my budget. I might be tempted eg for unusual food that I can't cook, or if it included a bit of a demo

I paid £75 for 4 courses at a Michelin star restaurant in Derbyshire. No way would I pay anything near that to eat in my own home. I'd probably pay £50 at the most. But I'm not in London.
However I think people are craving going out so once restrictions lift I think people will be much more likely to want to eat out. We've been in our houses enough for now.

I'm not sure it's really a growable business is it, get larger than a single chef and you'll run very quickly into needing to charge VAT, which given the thread is mostly people not valuing the job at anything like enough (120quid for min 5 hours anti-social hours work + travel time of a skilled trade?) (as well as employing a 17 year old at minimum wage as a waiter!)

So recruiting more chefs to be able to do more jobs would have to have them as more independent contractors with the business providing a job providing service (ie it's "Uber for chefs")

But as a single chef working just for himself and growing it, then I'm not sure you really want to appeal to most people, you want to get the best value of the 4 or so nights a week he'll be able to work, so it is about maximising the revenue from a single visit, not appealing to the most.

It's completely not something I would buy at the minute, but if I did, I certainly think the fixed price for up to a number (6-8) and food only, with the menu agreed, and I'd certainly be expecting to pay at least 250 quid for even the most basic menu.

I think you may have more luck doing it as prepared at home and then deliver, at least then you know you have the right equipment and have control over cleanliness.

I can easily anticipate the complaints about food poisoning in order to get out of paying so you’d need to be prepared for social media both good and bad and good insurance.

We did exactly this last September for a meal after our civil partnership. 6 adults and a child. I think it cost about £800 including a few bottles of wine. It was great but I'd only do it for a special occasion.

People do pay for this- someone I know had caterers come to her house and cater an excellent meal for her 30th. Don’t know what it would have cost, but a lot I imagine.

I have been thinking how nice it would be to have a chef at my small business. They would make muffins for everybody for breakfast, then a lunch. Then pack up a few portions of lunch for myself and the family to take home, so I wouldn’t have to cook in the evening. They would also prepare the children’s lunch boxes.

I wonder if anybody else would be interested in a service like this?

@Birdslovesinging

I'd say £45-55 per head. I'd absolutely love to have this service.

If the chef is also providing the food then I think that's a very low figure, I would be looking at £100 per head plus. £45 wouldn't get you much a meal in a restaurant of the type you're wanting.

I'm in London and I don't think I'd enjoy this, I'd find it intrusive to have someone in our house and I wouldn't be able to relax. I would much rather hire a room in a restaurant for private dining, or just go out for a regular restaurant meal.

I've looked at the boxed meal kits you can prep at home but to be honest I find them expensive (even though I'll pay quite a lot for a decent meal out). For me a big part of the benefit of eating out is getting someone to deal with all the food for you, and the general atmosphere of being in a nice restaurant, outside of your home.

We live in London and this is definitely the kind of thing we would use. I have researched before. What puts me off is lack of clarity on pricing on websites ("call for pricing details!" = no thanks). I'd want at least a guide on line of rough costs, menu suggestions and what was included and how it worked.