Working As Personal Chef VS Working At A Restaurant

In a typical restaurant experience, a chef might emphasize bringing a different culture to the area, or some art form of flavor and aromas they might be trying to weave onto your dinner plate, but at the core of our business we are ultimately trying to serve dinner, and offer our clients a pleasant experience.  A typical restaurant has a team of professionals to work on the former, but rarely do we emphasize the latter, and when operating out of a client’s home, it is the execution of this facet of the job that really stands out.

Chef’s typically stop their art at the edge of their plate, sometimes venturing into the dinner table, or the space between courses, but our art form must extend to fill our client’s living space.  My commercial experience has given me habits of simply emptying a space.  I know that my focus will have to shift to beautifying what is left as well.  Rarely have I ever given thought to how to make the reheating of food seem inviting.

Working for Atlanta Personal chef Service it’s been great and I very much enjoy. In certain ways, the job is extremely simple.  Cooking for one family over the course of a few hours seems like light work for someone who is accustomed to the hustle of a busy dinner shift.  However, it requires the average restaurant worker to think differently, and that request is probably the most difficult thing someone can be asked to do.

At a restaurant, the demanding storm of tickets in a restaurant provides an easy access to stress relief.  Being knee deep in tickets is a daily occurrence, and tackling such a problem is a simple one - head down, focus, work hard, and work fast.  The task is very easy to accomplish, and the panic can easily be overcome.  Simply push that energy into your work, give it more effort, speed, gusto, and your coworkers look upon you with approval.  Honestly, adversity isn’t so scary when you can simply decide to work harder, in order to be more effective.

The job of a private chef is much different.  The difficulties don’t require effort; they require focus, and precision.  Developing those qualities isn't something that is learned on the fly, nor will you be inspired to because of an insurmountable list of tasks.  Our tasks aren't mountains, but many piles of dust.  Qualities like focus and precision simply need to be attained through dedicated practice.

The jobs are similar in some ways, but the two feel very different.  A good comparison might be a car mechanic, and watchmaker.

Our job comes down to getting all the little things right, and it simply has more delicate parts than a standard restaurant.  We walk the odd line of guest, friend, and employee.  Our line of work has no room for discourtesy, or ego.  The job is its own art, one of compassion, empathy, and of course, food.