Find and Hire A Personal Chef
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About Find-A-Chef Now! How it Works Frequently Asked Questions about Personal Chefs Questions to Ask Your Personal Chef Personal Chef Discussion Forums Contact Us Copyright
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Q. How do I pay for your service? A. We accept personal checks and credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover). Q. Do you provide a guarantee? A. We guarantee our frozen food items for up to 45 days and our refrigerated items for up to 1 week. Q What is a Personal Chef? A. A personal chef is an accomplished cook who comes to your home for a day to prepare a number of meals for you. Personal chefs assist with menu planning and do the grocery shopping. They provide their own cookware, spices, oils and other cooking items. They usually cook the meals in your home, package and label the meals and clean your kitchen. Meals prepared by our personal chefs are refrigerated or frozen and then can be reheated as desired. They also give you detailed reheating instructions and menu plans so that you can quickly put together complete delicious meals. Because Windy Plum Farms is also a caterer, we can prepare your Personal Chef meals in our kitchen and deliver them to you. Thus, we do not need access to your home or kitchen. Q. Where do I find a personal chef? A. Start by going to www.personalchefsearch.com. Look for personal chefs who have liability insurance and are ServSafe certified. Liability insurance is particularly important if they are going to cook in your home. ServSafe certified means that they have been trained and tested in safe food handling procedures. Note that counties also have safe food handling certifications, ServSafe is more rigorous training and is applicable to all regions. A personal chef should not require that you sign a contract, but may give a discount if you do. Q. What type of services do you provide? A. For a complete list of Windy Plum Farms services, see our services page. Q. Isn't a personal chef expensive? A. When you consider the time you save in grocery shopping, meal preparation and cleaning combined with the money you spend on groceries and eating out, you are probably going to save money. The cost of our personal chef service is about equal to your family eating out 3-4 nights per week at a family restaurant. Q. Do I need to sign a long-term agreement? A. No, Windy Plum Farms does not require any long term commitment. If you feel our services are not beneficial, you can terminate the service without obligation. Q. Can you work with special diets? A. Yes, we can provide meals that are low-fat, low-sodium, low cholesterol or low-carb based on you needs. Q. What qualifications do Windy Plum Personal Chefs have? A. All of our personal chefs are Le Cordon Bleu certified and have ServSafe certifications. Q. How do I start my Personal Chef service? A. After you contact us, we will arrange for you to meet with one of our chefs to discuss your food likes and dislikes, what types of food allergies you may have, and any dietary requirements or restrictions. This is a free consultation. Then its time to pick your food and schedule your day of service. Q. What kind of menu does a Personal Chef provide? A. Some personal chefs don't have a menu. They base your weekly meals on your likes and dislikes so your meals are always a surprise (hopefully a good surprise). Other chefs provide a limited menu that changes monthly or seasonally. Finally, some chefs have a very extensive menu. All chefs should be able to customize your menu choices to meet your dietary needs. Q. How do I choose my meals? A. First, download our Personal Chef Menu.. Next, choose a protein (beef, chicken, lamb, fish, etc.) and corresponding vegetable and starch side dishes. Continue choosing proteins and side dishes until you have come up with you meals. Vegetarians can select a vegetarian entree and two side dishes as well. If you are having any problems selecting the appropriate side dishes, just give us a call and we can help you select. Q. What happens on the day of Personal Chef service? A. For Personal Chefs who are required to prepare the food in your home, they will usually do the grocery shopping in the morning, arrive at you home early in the day, clean your kitchen, prepare the food, place it in storage containers and then clean the kitchen and leave. The chef will leave you heating instructions for all your food. Windy Plum Farms delivers food to you already prepared in storage containers of your choice. We do not cook in your kitchen. Q. What storage containers can I use? A. You have a choice of disposable containers (Ziploc, Glade), reusable containers (Pyrex) or vacuum seal bags. You have to purchase either disposable or reusable containers. If you choose vacuum seal bags, Windy Plum Farms will charge you each week for the bags. Q. What is the cost for Personal Chef service? A. Windy Plum Farms' prices are based on the number of servings you order. The more servings, the lower the price per serving. Windy Plum Farms includes groceries in the price. If you order 20 or more servings of food, the price is $10 per serving including the cost of groceries. If you order 10-19 servings of food, the price is $12.50 per serving including the cost of groceries. If you order from 1-9 servings of food, the price is $15 per serving including the cost of groceries. So for example, for a family of four ordering 5 meals per week (meals include protein, starch and veggie) they would pay: 5 meals x 4 servings of each = 20 servings x $10 = $200/week A family of two ordering 5 meals per week would pay: 5 meals x 2 serving of each = 10 servings x $12.50 = $125 A single person ordering 5 meals per week would pay: 5 meals x 1 serving of each = 5 servings x $15 = $75 If your order every two-weeks (which would give you one week of fresh food and one week of frozen food), you can reduce you're cost. For example, for the family of two above: 5 meals x 2 serving x 2 weeks = 20 servings x $10 = $200 or a saving of $50 every 2 weeks. When you order every two weeks (what we call bi-weekly service), you get a different set of meals each week. You may also order on a monthly basis (four weeks worth of food) which would give you one week of fresh food and 3 weeks of frozen food. This option is excellent for single people who can order larger quantities of food and get the lower pricing. The above pricing is for food selected from our menu. Special requests, desserts or special dietary requirements are extra. If you choose to have your meals vacuum packed, we seal each meal's protein, starch and veggie separately. The cost for this is $1.50 per meal. For example, the family of two above who is ordering 2 servings of 5 meals per week would pay $1.50 x 5 meals = $7.50/week. Each vacuum seal bag holds up to 5 servings of a protein, starch or veggie. We also charge $5 for delivery at up to 30 miles, and $15 for delivery up to 50 miles (which is our limit). ------------------------------------------------ Guide to Hiring a Personal Chef One of the most daunting daily milestones busy singles, couples, families and on-the-go people face is figuring out what's for dinner. We recognize that deciding where and what to eat, while trying to be health conscious, is an issue for everyone struggling to maintain busy schedules. By educating yourself about personal chef services, you will understand your options and can make informed decisions, knowing that you have done your research and found the best possible arrangement for your needs and lifestyle. Hiring a personal chef is a developed personal relationship much like a trusted family physician. You develop that relationship with a professional personal chef by interviewing the personal chef and establishing a compatibility. Questions to Ask a Personal Chef The relationship between you and your Personal Chef is most often of a personal nature. You will want to talk with the Personal Chef as well as meet with him/her as you would with any other professional service. Some areas you might want to ask about are: A Personal Chef's Background Experience in cooking is key to a successful personal chef service. Ask how your personal chef has acquired their cooking experience and how their service differs from others. You'll find that personal chefs will have a wide variety of backgrounds. Some began their love for cooking by providing for their families while others polished their skills in the restaurant industry. For many, transitioning to a second career as a personal chef is a natural process as it incorporates their passion for food, creativity and cultural background. Knowing more about them can help you decide if they are the professional you are looking to hire. Liability Insurance Just like other professionals who come and work in your home, you want to be sure that in the unfortunate and rare event that your personal chef's actions cause injury to you, your family or your property, that your personal chef has the appropriate insurance to make it right. National Organization Affiliation Knowing your personal chef is affiliated with an organization such as the United States Personal Chef Organization can reduce concerns of whether the personal chef is proficient. Being affiliated with a professional organization communicates that the personal chef is interested in: Conducting business in a professional manner Continuing their education and increasing their knowledge base Access to the ideas, research, insights, and expertise of the field's most esteemed personal chefs. Membership demonstrates that the personal chef understands the importance of continuing education through professional affiliation. Client References Personal chefs should be able to provide references, testimonials and endorsements from contented clients. Sample Menus Asking to review sample menus can provide insight to the personal chef's style of cooking. A sample menu is not always an indication that the personal chef will prepare only those types of foods. Questions to Ask Your Prospective Personal Chef!
In an effort to help you make a more reasonably-informed decision when hiring a Personal Chef, we have compiled the below list of questions. Also included are some answers to questions that some may feel are important but, in reality, have little or no bearing on your Personal Chef's performance or on the quality of meals that will be prepared for you and your family. Important Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Personal Chef: 1. Where Did You Receive Your Experience? Although somewhat important, this question will help you determine your Personal Chef's level of experience, as well as the quality of food you can expect to receive. Keep in mind, however, that not all Personal Chefs have been trained by culinary schools. In fact, many Personal Chefs are excellent "self-taught" cooks. 2. Do You Have a "Food Handler's" Certificate? Food safety is of primary concern to the American Personal Chef Association (APCA) and its members. Although not currently mandated in every state, a Food Handler's (or ServSafe) Certificate lets you know that your Personal Chef has taken the required training and has the knowledge to handle the food you will be eating in a safe manner. 3. Do You Have a Business License? The American Personal Chef Association strives to ensure that all of its members adhere to the laws of their state and city. Lack of a license to operate a business indicates that a Personal Chef is unprofessional and careless regarding the law. 4. Do You Carry Liability Insurance? The American Personal Chef Association feels this is an extremely important question. In the unfortunate (and rare) event that injury or damage is caused to you and/or your property, you will have the peace of mind knowing that your Personal Chef has insurance available to "make it right". 5. Do You Have a List of References? An established Personal Chef should be able to provide you with a list of contented clients that you may contact. Newer Personal Chefs, however, may not yet have an extensive reference list so you may need to rely on the answers to Questions #1-4, above, as well as on your general "feel" for the chef. Additional Questions to Consider Before Hiring a Personal Chef: 1. Do You Have a Personal Chef "Certification?" Do not be misled by this "marketing vs. quality" issue. The American Culinary Federation (ACF) IS the industry's accrediting agency with the authority to certify Personal Chefs. The American Personal Chef Association and the ACF have collaborated to set the standards and criteria for certifications and the ACF is currently offering two levels of Personal Chef "Certification." When fully implemented, this ACF Certification Program WILL BE the industry standard. 2. Are You a Member of a Professional Association? Again, this is a "marketing vs. quality" issue. While joining an association does enable Personal Chefs to more easily access their peers, as well as obtain marketing information and materials that can help further their professional goals, not all associations are alike. In addition to being the leader in its industry-accredited Personal Chef Certification through its partnership with the ACF (see above), the American Personal Chef Association is the leader in defining and setting professional standards for the industry through its Best Practices "Focus Groups." BEST PRACTICES FOR PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS:
American Personal Chef Association All rights reserved. © American Personal Chef Association 1996-2006. Updated 1/04/06. |
