About Chef Wendy Perry Expertise Ready to launch your own Successful Personal Chef Service? The Personal Chefs Network is the place to call home. Founded by working Personal Chefs, we offer the newest and most Comprehensive educational materials available on the market..."The Making of a Personal Chef!(c)" We provide unique benefits to our membership and unsurpassed Support! Chef Wendy Perry will be glad to answer all your questions as you pursue this exciting new career, and guide you every step of the way!
Experience After over 20 years in the catering industry, Chef Wendy refocused her services to the Personal Chef industry and has been a successful Personal Chef for several years. Along with Co-Founder Chef Sharon Worster, she launched the Personal Chefs Network offering innovative educational materials for new PCs along with Network membership for those already providing the service. PCN membership spans the US and Canada!
Organizations Personal Chefs Network, International Association of Culinary Professionals
Publications Chef Wendy writes a syndicated newspaper column and has appeared on WRAL tv (CBS affiliate), WTVD tv(ABC affiliate) and local radio talk shows. Chef Wendy is a Primary Contributor and Editor of "The Making of a Personal Chef," and has written one cookbook of her own.
Education/Credentials B.S. Home Economics Education from East Carolina University; has taught numerous cooking classes and participates in ongoing educational courses. Hosts chats at the Personal Chefs Network on various topics.
Question Hello Wendy,
My husband and I just completed a catering kitchen on our property where I plan to bake cakes, pastries and, eventually, meals. My question is about the decision we're trying to make about the meal aspect of our business. We live in a rural area but we are 15 miles from town. We would like to prepare lunch meals and take orders a week ahead of time and deliver. I've never seen this type of catering/food service. Do you think it's worth a try? Is this a common practice in other cities? The city we're located by is teeming with oil field businesses as well as banks, doctor's office etc.
Thank you,
Carolyn
Answer Hi Carolyn,
I hope you first checked with your local health department and built that kitchen to their code requirements, or you'll have an illegal facility that is useless. I know a lady down the road from me who did not do that, spent about $75,000 on her kitchen, but it was deficient in many ways and the health department never approved it. It has sit as a "stoarge" building for over a decade now. She ended up renting a facility in a retirement home to cater from in exchange for preparing the lunch meals for the residents...
One cannot just cook food and sell to the public without being inspected and approved by county health departments. They have jurisdiction and then there are also some state codes that may come into play in your state.
In NC, the NC Dept. of Agriculture issues a permit for "some" home foods, but nothing perishable... mostly baking like breads, pies, etc. Their permits are outside from my local health department. If you plan to cook meals, you will have much more stringent rules to follow (typically) than with baking. You will be required to have NSF refrigeration and freezers (very expensive). Home-type refrigeration doesn't fly. Where I live, there must be separate hand washing sinks for ANY staff (can't use the required 3 compartment pot sink) and separate toilet as well. Floors and walls and ceilings must be of approved materials with drains in floors for cleaning. Ventilation (also NSF standards) is required... you will have to have approved food transportation containers, etc. I could go on and on but just trying to paint you a picture.
There is a lot of money in the right places being a personal chef. I co-founded the Personal Chefs Network but sold my half to my business partner back in 2005. www.PersonalChefsNetwork.com
I catered over the years, but only leased space from local restaurants and worked w/in their permits because I didn't want the expense of my own health department approved kitchen because I didn't want to spend YEARS paying for it.
Do some research:
A) To see what your county/state requires for doing ANY kind of food resales to the public before taking one step further on anything
B) On the personal chef industry (great money for much less work/investment than catering)
C) NEVER EVER EVER do one bite of food for one person without liability insurance. There are few companies who offer that to personal chefs, but if you do and someone gets sick, you could lose EVERYTHING. And no legit insurance company will insure you operating in an illegal kitchen. Catering insurance is more costly.
A local (illegal) caterer here in the Raleigh area did that (food poisoning)... his food sent 75 folks to the ER and about 10 were admitted VERY ill (and made the news as well). And you'd never guess what food made all those folks sick... Baked Beans!
I also highly recommend (and some counties require it, which I think it should be that way) taking a safe food handler's course. There's much to know to lessen liability. His improper handling of baked beans got him into a lot of deep "doo doo."
If you are going to do this, do it right and professionally. There's a LOT of money to be made in catering and personal cheffing, but it's long hard work so if you have any back/leg problems, RUN and do something else. (And if you don't have them now, you probably will before long. Catering wrecked me physically and my back is a mess now.)
Good luck. Don't mean to rain on your parade, but I want anyone who contacts me to know what they are getting into. I wish someone had clued me in a little more when I got started 30 years ago. There's so much more than cooking and doing the food. That's the smallest part of the business... I don't cater any more... quit that in 1998 when I started cheffing and started Personal Chefs Network. I only have 2 cheffing clients now and do occasional dinner parties. This is what I do now...
www.LivingInsideOut.net
Have fun in whatever you do. Hope this is helpful information. :)
