What is the difference between a Private Chef, Personal Chef and Caterer?
What really is the difference and which is right for you
In the near decade that I have been working as a Personal and Private Chef this is a question I get all the time. Often I get asked asked at an event “What is the name of you catering company?” This is an understandable misunderstanding due to Private and Personal Chefs are just now becoming more popular. By understanding the differences you can make the best choice for your event and receive the best service for your needs.
A caterer is typically a larger operation that is run out of a commercial prep kitchen or restaurant. The food is prepped off site and transported to be served on site. This can be an advantage for serving large parties. Caterers also often offer full service, meaning set up and breakdown, bartenders, service equipment rental, table and chair rentals ect. Often this means the food options are limited and simpler due to the need for them to be transported.
A private chef is a chef who is hired to serve one client full time. They typically work for a family, individual or business to fulfill all of their culinary and dietary needs. Private chefs typically are not free to host clients other than their main client. This is a great option for those who like to host often or have very limited time or strict dietary requirements. Private chefs typically prepare all of the food on site and are “on-call” to meet the clients needs whenever necessary. This option is typically quite expensive but is worth it if you have the need and the resources.
A Personal chef is a chef who can service multiple families as well as provide one off services for multiple clients. Personal chefs offer clients the ability to have a chef prepare food for special events as well as meal prep on an as needed basis. Rather than pay for a full time chef, you hire them when you have a need. A personal chef typically prepares some food off site, but finished a la minute preparations on site. Personal chefs typically offer a range of menus, not limited to having to be completely prepared off site. Personal chefs typically have limits on the number of guests they can serve and may or may not offer additional services such as rentals, servers and bartenders.
Field & Forage is a personal and private chef company and we are constantly working to offer you a large variety of options and services. We use the flexibility of our business model to have the ability to serve our customers in the best way possible.