BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Personal Chef Catering to Personal Chef?

Hi Chef Michelle!

I come from a rather culinary family (I have the skills, but NO desire to cook for the masses, got that out of my system as a teenager!). My brother is a chef from the Atlanta Institute of Culinary Arts, and my mom is a caterer that just kind of grew her business and her training on her own.

What I was wondering is this: My mom had to give up the catering for health reasons. She is a diabetic, and all to often could not stay on a regular schedule to take care of herself, she was very sick by the time she "retired".

Now that her health is shaping up she's going nuts! AND starting to take on the occasional small catering job for church and friends. You know small things like weddings for 500 people in the June heat. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> I can see her heading right back down the same path, but she loves the cooking and the art of it so much that it just about kills her not to do it.

i think she would be really interested (and good) at being a personal chef, and it wouldn't be nearly as stressful on her. Can you tell me about it?

Hi There, as you see by the lag in response personal cheffing can be as time stressed as regular catering. The nice part about being a personal chef ( and an important aspect of the business from your Mom's health side) is that your client load is under your control. I have done both catering and pcing and find the ease and relaxing pace of pcing much more enjoyable and easier on the body. I used to be up, running around and cooking at least 36-45 hours STRAIGHT for all those 500 people events. The pcing is more intimate and due to your Mother's catering background I can't see her spend more than 4 hrs a cookdate. I love personal cheffing, it offers the right amount of challenge and down time to suit many people. I suggest you go to the USPCA link off my site and look into their home study program. it is extremely comprehensive and offers tons of support and information. Best luck with your endeavors and sorry again for the delay in response. as you can see, I still enjoy piling on work !