How to hire a private chef

How to hire a private chef, step by step

Here's a step-by-step private chef hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a private chef job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new private chef
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The private chef hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

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   Hiring the perfect private chef also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   The following list breaks down different types of private chefs and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Private Chef	Description	Hourly rate
   Private Chef	Chefs and head cooks oversee the daily food preparation at restaurants and other places where food is served. They direct kitchen staff and handle any food-related concerns.	$16-37
   Head Cook	A head cook is responsible for organizing the food preparation, organizing the kitchen operations, and ensuring the quality of the food presented. Head cooks' duties include monitoring the food inventory, creating new recipes, researching current market trends, responding to guests' inquiries and complaints, distributing kitchen tasks to the staff, and maintaining budget goals while maintaining the highest food quality... Show more	$15-29
   Chef De Cuisine	A chef de cuisine, also known as an executive chef, oversees a kitchen's daily operations in public and private establishments to ensure food quality and efficient services. Their duties require cooking and leadership skills because they involve leading menu development and meal preparation, coordinating staff, delegating responsibilities, selecting and sourcing ingredients, and handling customer issues and concerns promptly and professionally... Show more	$17-35

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Kitchen Equipment
   • Culinary
   • Cuisine
   • Food Preparation
   • Fine Dining
   • Diet Restrictions
   • Seasonal Ingredients
   • In-Home
   • Allergies
   • Meal Preparation
   • NYC
   • Vegan
   • Meal Planning
   • Food Service

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Control food and payroll costs to achieve maximum profitability.
   • Prepare innovative vegan and children's menus.
   • Provide demonstrations, caterings, and in-home cooking classes.
   • Shop for groceries on daily basis for each day's meals.
   • Source the freshest suppliers, procurement facilities, local farmers and groceries.
   • Tailor gluten-free and vegan offerings for special needs and provide child friendly-healthy snacks.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your private chef job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A private chef salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, private chefs' average salary in idaho is 63% less than in new jersey.
   • Seniority. Entry-level private chefs earn 56% less than senior-level private chefs.
   • Certifications. A private chef with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a private chef's salary.

   Average private chef salary

   $51,657yearly

   $24.84 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level private chef salary

   $34,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 24, 2025

4. Writing a private chef job description

   A job description for a private chef role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a private chef job description:

   Private chef job description example

   Job brief
   
   We are looking to add a few passionate, part-time chefs to our team at SavorWe! We are a startup based in Chicago, IL and are currently expanding to Minneapolis, MN and the surrounding suburbs. Feel free to apply for this role if you have a strong passion for cooking, you're eager to build a name for yourself, and have strong social skills. Our chefs come from a variety of backgrounds including some who are classically trained and others who are completely self-taught. Whatever your background looks like, we need a highly-skilled, motivated, and eager chef to fill this role!
   
   SavorWe is a mobile app that provides Uber-like simplicity for booking private chefs in cities and suburbs for groups of 10 or less. Our platform allows customers to browse multiple different menus provided by our chefs. Once an experience is booked, you travel to the customer's home with all the ingredients needed to prepare or teach the selected menu, actively prepare the meal, and clean everything up at the end. For more information, please visit
   
   Responsibilities
   
   Travel to customers' homes to either teach or prepare a menu, these menus are set by you.
   
   Source and prep ingredients prior to each experience. You may use our Instacart account to source your ingredients.
   
   Clean up the kitchen after each experience.
   
   Represent the SavorWe brand throughout the entirety of the customer experience
   
   Opportunities
   
   An awesome source of income doing what you love when you want to do it
   
   Expanding your personal network through connections made at SavorWe
   
   Build a name for yourself outside the walls of the restaurant
   
   Ability to create your own schedule based on your availability
   
   Full control over your menus so you can truly showcase your skills
   
   The opportunity to work as a long-term chef for families
   
   A network of chefs in the SavorWe circle that you can talk to for collaboration and support
   
   Periodic features of menus and chefs on the SavorWe social media platforms
   
   Requirements
   
   Must have strong social skills
   
   Create gourmet menus and update seasonally
   
   Must have a car or a valid driver's license to rent a car if need be
   
   Willing to teach and prepare menus
   
   Passionate about their cooking skills
   
   Clean up after each experience
   
   Willing to travel to customers' homes in downtown Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs
   
   Be able to schedule out openings to cook a month in advance
   
   Ability to communicate effectively
   
   Take videos, photos and gather content from experiences
   
   

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find private chefs for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your private chef job on Zippia to find and recruit private chef candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with private chef candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new private chef

   Once you've found the private chef candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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