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Confessions of a Personal
Chef
Angie’s
List
® Columbus | June 2004
by Mandy Stetzel
Anne Hayward, owner, Premier Concierge of Columbus Worthington
614-846-3449
Hayward tested her culinary skills on family and friends for
almost 50 years before opening Premier Concierge four years ago. “I’ve
loved to cook and bake since I learned how to read a recipe,” she says.
Her business offers meals cooked to clients’ personal tastes, then labeled
and frozen for future use.
Q: What kind of services can someone expect from a personal
chef?
A: Personal chefs come to your home and prepare meals to your
specifications — typically five meals are prepared with 4-8 servings each.
Some chefs deliver meals from a pre-set menu. Some offer additional
services, such as dinner parties, cooking classes, cooking parties,
catering and home-meal replacement, where the meals are prepared in a
commercial kitchen for several families at the same time and delivered.
This is usually from a pre-set menu and isn’t customized to individual
tastes or diet restrictions.
Q: Surprise us. Tell us something most people don’t know
about your profession.
A: You can afford it! Most personal chefs in
the Columbus area charge about $275 per visit, plus the cost of groceries.
In one visit, I usually prepare five entrees of up to eight servings each.
That would be 20 evening meals for two people, which works out to about
$10 per individual serving once you add in the cost of groceries. Most of
my clients schedule me once a month and use my meals when they don’t want
to cook, go out to eat or order take-out. Also, personal chefs can work
with your specific requirements and accommodate food allergies, likes and
dislikes, vegetarian diets, diet of the month, etc.
Q: What is the craziest menu request you’ve ever received?
A: When I first started cooking for people, I was surprised that they
wanted macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, bean soup and other simple comfort
foods. I realized that personal chefs were filling a need for healthy home
cooking.
Q: If you could share your culinary knowledge with clients,
what would you teach them?
A: Our eating habits are established when
we are children. I feel the best thing parents can do for their kids is to
set an example of sensible eating. Expose them to a wide variety of foods
and teach them how different foods are good for them — and the
consequences of eating too much unhealthy food. Even a 3-year-old can be
told that carrots are good for the eyes. Most of us know how difficult it
is to break old, unhealthy habits we learned growing up.
Q: What’s the funniest thing that has ever happened to you
on the job?
A: I get some really funny stories from parents who report
cute things their children say when they try some foods for the first
time. Some little children love spicy-hot food ... spicier than most
adults I know. One 9-year-old recently requested an encore of my Gazpacho
(cold vegetable soup). Who said kids won’t eat vegetables? Just so you
know, personal chefs are good at disguising vegetables in soups and stews.
I’ve been known to blend carrots into mashed potatoes or mix shredded
vegetables into meatloaf.
Q: What’s your favorite pizza topping?
A: Lots of
roasted garlic and artichokes.
Q: Do you have a tip that will make cooking dinner a little
more fun and a lot less monotonous for people? A: If you like to cook,
double the recipe and freeze half for another evening. Try one new recipe
a week. If you don’t like to cook, hire a personal chef! v All comments
are the opinion of the service provider and not Angie’s List.
Premier Concierge of Columbus
Ph: 614-846-3449
Fax: 614-846-2977
Email: ANNECOOKS4U@EARTHLINK.NET
 
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