For anyone who has great culinary skills, considering cooking for corporate firms, individuals and politicians is not a bad idea. While you might relish the opportunity to create a great-tasting meal for your family, there are several other people, who just don’t have the time to worry about meal preparation as they are quite busy with their career that can pay fortunes for such service. With such huge market, there is an opportunity waiting for you to tap!
Starting a cooking business can help to augment your earnings, depending on how good you are and your contacts.
Starting a cooking business can help to augment your earnings, depending on how good you are and your contacts
Sometimes, corporate individuals, business persons and politicians need chefs to prepare meals for them in their homes for personal consumption, house parties, and other special events like birthdays or anniversaries.
Starting such business requires planning, sense of direction and target audience; that is, if you have already sharpened your culinary skills, probably with an experienced hand. You may eventually get more than you can chew at once, which means you need to plan for expansion.
Many personal chefs specialise in specific areas such as gourmet foods or special diets demanded for health reasons and get paid for ability to prepare what others cannot do. Other factors that will determine your success are the trainings you had received on culinary courses, neatness and presentation.
Chief Executive Officer, Tasty Delight Treats and Catering Services, Mrs. Aramide Aloba, says that the advantages of starting a personal chef business is that it requires a very low start-up costs. In most cases, you can use the kitchen supplies and utensils provided by the client. Generally, anything you buy for your client will be reimbursed, through your fees. So, all you need is transportation, possibly cooking utensils as items, sometimes, may not be available.
“The good thing about this venture is that you can grow this business, even on a part-time basis, at your own pace, through referrals from satisfied clients and wordof-mouth advertisement. When you are starting, it is very important for you to decide on your target group.
“For example, will you do only corporate parties and retreats or rather do home cooking for small families of five? Also, you can try your hands on cooking practical, and food presentations in culinary schools,” she said. You need to create a menu of services as well as a menu of food you cook. This is more like a recipe inventory because customers will have a variety of tastes and needs. For example, some may require low-salt menus or desire kid-friendly recipes.
When doing these, also, make sure you prepare a budget and that comprises time spent on preparing the food, expenses for the food, transportation, among other expenses. Remember, some foods cost more; so you will need to consider that when providing a bid to your client. Before you start shopping, it is better to insist on advance payment, especially for new clients because something may come up and the client may call for a lastminute cancellation.
Set a due time for cancellation; say, like 48 hours. If they cancel within that time, they may lose their deposit.
After cooking, make sure you clean up the kitchen before you go, and try to leave their refrigerator stocked with delicious and balanced meals. Also, remind them not to use a dirty spoon or fork to eat right out of the bowl because food goes bad more quickly when they do that.
While professional chef experience or training may not necessarily be a requirement for you to start out, it would still be very helpful to you, and might allow you to charge more than other regular chefs without professional training because you tend to stand out from the rest.
You can start scouting for clients by starting with families and friends; then consider advertising in bulletins, in religious gatherings or local stores.
To get the ball rolling, let everyone know that you are in business. Consider attending local networking and social events to meet corporate people or business owners, who might want a personal chef for their home or business functions. You might offer to cook for networking events to show off your skills.
