Lately I have had quite a few of my consult calls have some of the exact same questions pop up. “Does the price listed on your website include groceries and all your service fees?” and, “What all is included with that price, and how much more should I expect to pay?”
I have worked directly, and indirectly, with a good many of the other private chefs in the area. I know we all have different prices and payment structures, I’ve also gotten quite a bit of feedback on how we differ and the good and bad of it. I personally never add on service fees and I encorpate the cost of groceries into the price that I list on my menus. I have worked with Chefs that add these fees on later, and that’s totally okay. However, I have also heard about customers who were given a price and told that it didn’t include one thing or another only to end up hit with a bill that was well beyond what they were expecting. If you speak to a chef and they can’t give you an approximate quote off the cuff, and back it up with a contract, you might want to start looking elsewhere. Also keep in mind when you’re shopping around that if you see a 4-course meal listed at half the price of the other sites you’ve been browsing, it’s probably a bait tactic to get you locked in and you might end up spending well over the other half you thought you were saving.
The other big thing I’ve been talking to customers and potential customers on is the, “What’s included?” With some of the more recent groups even saying things like, “With our group what are we going to need to pay your help/server?”. This coming from a party with a group size of 8. So first off, everything should be included in whatever price you’re quoted, next YOU as the customer should not be paying for anything else. That is unless YOU want to add that service on. There is literally no reason why a group of 8 people should be told that their group absolutely has to pay for a server, or that you have to rent plates and flatware from the chef. I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and have plenty of experience inside of a restaurant, with that serving a party of 8 should be a cake walk for any real professional. On top of that most of the houses we go into are stocked for the number of people that the house can sleep. So, if you booked a house that sleeps 20 the odds are in favor of there being 20 of each type of plate and silverware in the cabinets and drawers. Don’t get me wrong though, some people really just want their experience to be taken to that next level, and they want everything in their experience to feel like it’s a 5-star restaurant and not just the dining area of their rental. In that case we can absolutely help you out with providing a server for your experience, and we can without a doubt find the perfect plating to fit with your meal and overall theme of your party. My point is that if you have a “chef” telling you, YOU HAVE to hire a server for your dinner party of 6 and that you have to pay to rent their plates and forks, you should really consider looking elsewhere.
We are all part of our own community, and within my community even us chefs are our own subset of community. No, we don’t all do things the same way, and that is totally okay. Part of being in that community though means that we have to truly believe in the values of that community, and in the end, we are a part of the service industry. Which means serving our clients is what we are all about, and making sure they are happy with their experience with us and our field is a big part of that. I want each one of my clients to be elated by their experience from beginning to end. From booking, the price, the experience, the meal, to the warm goodbye I want to make sure each one of my clients will be one that comes back, not just for the view, but so that I can make them another wonderful meal.
