Word: chef
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Even people without families to feed are finding the service indispensable. Richard Rodriguez, 40 and single, got tired of subsisting on fast food. Last summer he hired a chef who cooks 10 meals for him about every two weeks for $280. "I used to think a chef was too ritzy for a middle-class guy like me," he says. "But I was wrong...
Even in a slumping economy, more and more two-earner families like the Bachas have been hiring personal chefs who do the shopping, cook in clients' kitchens and clean up after themselves. Five years ago, there were just a few hundred such workers; today an estimated 7,000 personal chefs are finding that demand for their services around the country is robust. Last year the American Personal Chef Association trained about 1,000 new chefs, twice as many...
Since Sept. 11, personal chefs have been inundated with requests for simple comfort foods like chicken pot pie and noodle soup. "People are still reluctant to go out to eat," says Candy Wallace, who heads the American Personal Chef Association. "They'd rather be home." Michael Zytowski, 33, a Long Beach, Calif., chef, agrees that current appetites run more toward pot roast than foie gras. "I haven't run into a client yet who wants Chateaubriand or lobster," he says...
...Personal chefs hope to shed the perception that they are only for the wealthy. If you can afford a lawn service and housecleaning, they say, a personal chef is likely to be within your budget. "This has made a real difference in our family life. It's a relief not to have to worry about dinner anymore," says Cindy Abbott, 39, an attorney for Motorola who is the mother of two. The Abbotts spend about $300 for 10 meals that they eat over the course of each month, supplemented by takeout meals and Cindy's cooking. Like many clients...
Hallie Vanderhider, 44, a single mother of 15-year-old twin boys in Houston, hired a chef in January to prepare three family meals a week for $200, including the cost of the food. "Before this, sometimes all I had time to make was peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches," she says. Evenings with her kids are much happier, she adds. The three of them have reached a consensus on ingredients: no mushrooms, onions or artichokes. Says their chef, Jackie Alejo: "No problem." Vanderhider, chief financial officer for a money-management firm, has just one regret: "I wish I had thought...