Local personal, private chefs see a spike in interest: Andrew Coppolino

Kitchener-based private chef Terry Salmond says word of mouth gave him a start for the current phase of his long cooking career in Waterloo Region.

"The route to this work chose me, in a way. I had just finished a Christmas dinner experience at the home of a client and shortly after at another client's home, a guest recognized me and shared my name with other guests. I gave him my card, and business snowballed from there," Salmond said.

That was then; this is now. Salmond's Lighthouse Culinary is a busy private-chef service that specializes in finer in-home dining. But the range of services also includes meal planning and food preparation for busy families and providing assistance for people who have special medical or nutritional needs.

"The in-home dining aspect is about a more elevated food experience including wine pairings," Salmond said. "It might be a one-time event, or I might be back in their homes several times a year."

Having initially done a gig earlier in 2014 – "that opened my eyes to the possibilities," he said – while cooking at a restaurant. Salmond says that the power of social media today has helped significantly when it comes to boosting business.

He has two large New Year's Eve events coming up this year: one for a private client, another that is open to the public – and both will require staffing of a couple dozen cooks.

This type of work gives Salmond flexibility and a choice of where to spend his time and put his effort, as well as allowing his creativity a wider range. But he points out that the foundation of his work as an executive chef at restaurants was instrumental.

"I had to cultivate a business and entrepreneurial mindset which I didn't yet have. As executive chef at Charcoal Steakhouse and the Walper Hotel, I learned the responsibilities of finances, budgets, hiring, training and marketing. Now with those skills, I apply them to my own endeavours with Lighthouse," said Salmond.

Perhaps ancillary to the larger catering business, private or personal chefs have found business is growing. In addition to social media, there are apps, booking agents and hospitality staffing services that help chefs get their names out there.

In-home catering increasing in popularity

In Cambridge, Daniela Sfara - Private Italian Chef has a robust website that leads to her cooking for clients in their homes as well as cooking for two to eight guests in her own in-home "trattoria". She welcomes customers to her dining room for a range of food events that include hands-on regional Italian cooking classes and multi-course dinners over the course of a couple of hours.

Like Salmond, it was serendipity that helped establish the business.

"It was the pandemic and there was major road construction on King Street in downtown Preston. I made a bunch of veal sandwiches and brought them down to the construction guys. That helped me get started," she said.

Both Salmond's and Sfara's businesses have grown over the course of the last few years. For the latter, it's in part a case where dining habits of the general public have evolved.

"With what I do, there's a lot of opportunity. I see the future of dining as being more of an experience than just saying, let's go out for dinner," Sfara said.

And like Salmond, Sfara adds that she's had to embrace the business and entrepreneurial aspect of the specialty.

"It's 60:40 business to cooking," she said. "For me, cooking is the easy part, and this allows me to connect with my customers."

Carving out a space in a niche market

Chef Destiny Moser owns and operates FoodZen, a slightly different personal chef business.

The company opened in September 2021 before Moser introduced ready-made, balanced and healthy home-style meals in March 2022: you place an order online from the menu on Friday, and meals are delivered on Wednesday.

Moser has four chefs working with the company and will hire more in the new year.

FoodZen also offers in-home food services including local and seasonal meal planning, grocery shopping, from-scratch cooking with re-heating instructions for busy families and people with allergy and nutritional needs.

"During the pandemic, there was a lot happening simultaneously with kids at home and restaurants closed. People started to realize the impact eating out can have on health. We stepped in as personal chefs to help provide healthy options," Moser said.

Regardless of the variations in their business services and models, all the chefs agree that there are opportunities for private and personal chefs in an industry that continues to evolve after the darkest days of the pandemic.

"It has changed and there's certainly a lot of demand for it," said Salmond. "More than I've ever seen and even in the last 24 months. Before, I would only hear of a possible gig a few times a year."

And the nature of the "gigs" themselves allow for chef and guest to connect directly through the food, something that rarely occurs in a restaurant, according to Sfara.

"I love seeing people enjoying authentic Italian food, but I also love that we get to share stories and enjoy an evening together. It feels organic. And I think that experience is something that we're all really craving."