My Personal Chef

Alexander, a successful IT consultant and his girlfriend Fiona wanted a belated birthday dinner for friends at home. Fiona is a busy estate agent and property manager.
“ There is absolutely no time left for me to prepare elaborate dinners.” She says.
“ I really like good food and it would take me hours to source all the best ingredients etc, so I now leave it all to Fay, my Personal Chef. She shops, prepares and cooks whatever I fancy. Her range is so extensive that I can trust her to cook everything perfectly, however ‘off the beaten track’
“ A few months ago we had seared Foie Grass on Brioche toast followed by marinated Sea Bass fillets with a wonderful lime sauce. For dessert Fay made a beautiful hot dark chocolate and vanilla Soufflé, It was to die for! “I just never need to get all stressed out in order to entertain my friends at home any more. I just come home bathe and change, if I wish I can do all the fiddly girlie things to set the table or I can just leave it to my Personal Chef. It doesn’t actually cost much more than a really good restaurant, and the more guests the cheaper the comparison. The quality and enjoyment of it has no comparison. It is just absolutely heavenly. When it’s all over the kitchen looks like a new pin and there is usually something left for lunch the following day so really it is extremely good value for money.
" I work a lot of hours and didn't have time to get everything ready, and I wanted to be able to spend time with my partner's friends, instead of cooking.”It was fabulous," Fiona said.

A Country House Weekend party is a piece of cake when you use the services of a Personal Chef. Fay and her husband, Adrian, who is the butler, arrive in mid-afternoon while guests are all unpacking and sorting out the children at a rented house just outside Chipping Norton. There are 18 adults and 5 babies staying for the long weekend. Saturday night is a birthday celebrations for Fiona’s mother, she will be 70.
“ The family have come down from Scotland to help us celebrate so we have rented Beech House for the occasion. Dad loves this because there is a piano in the lounge and he sits and plays for most of the evening.”
“ We start with freshly cooked lobster and foaming Hollandaise sauce, followed by perfectly cooked, pink leg of lamb that was so incredibly delicious we all had second helpings.
Our dessert was the old favourite Fruit Pavlova; Fay makes this New Zealand style and while the slightly caramelised meringue base looks huge it dissolves in the mouth like fairy dust. Fay always makes more than enough, good thing because we all had seconds of that too. Fay’s expert choice of cheeses are wonderful and they are presented perfectly ripe with lovely fruits and interesting crackers etc.”

Adrian serves all of the drinks and wines and generally fusses over everyone. He makes sure the fire is going well and there are plenty of logs. Not much point in an English country weekend without a log fire!
Everything is done. No clearing up or washing up. It’s as if fairy’s come in the night and worked magic.

Personal-chef service can range from a divine dinner party, the expert handling of a pig roast BBQ to preparing a week's worth of meals for a family or individual.

The service typically is all-inclusive -- involving shopping for ingredients, preparing them in the client's kitchen, packaging meals for freezing and cleaning up.

There is so much more choice in this way of eating than supermarket ready meals. The quality and substance of the meals bear no comparison. There is always enough and we know there are no additives or ‘funny foods!’

Repeat business is common for personal-chef services. For example, Gary Page, a Cisco engineer, contracted to a large university in South East England has been using personal-chef service from Personal Chef UK Ltd for a over a year now.

"I enjoy cooking myself, but sometimes, because of my schedule, I just don't have the time," Page said. "The personal-chef service allows me to continue to get healthy, home-cooked meals, even when I'm busy."

Gary Page has recommended the service to some of his friends
“ I am reluctant to pass this on to too many, I would hate to have Fay too booked up to cook for me. I do know she has a number of chefs on the books who are rapidly becoming just as popular as her so perhaps it’s not such a bad thing. As long as she stays in business I will be happy.” Gary says.
Interest in and use of personal-chef service is growing because:

Fiona, Alexander and Gary, and other professionals like them are too busy to cook for themselves, either on an ongoing basis or periodically. Others prefer not to cook, but enjoy home-cooked meals, rather than those from restaurants or the frozen-food section.
Some have special dietary requirements and need help in sticking to them. Also the kind of people who employ live in staff are finding it dificult to obtain the skills required to carry out a formal dinner with all the responsibility involved.
The biggest misconception about personal-chef service is that it's only for lifestyles of the rich and famous. People confuse the concept with having your own private chef.
Actually, a personal-chef service can be quite cost-effective, especially for those who eat out a lot.

Average prices for the service range from £35 to £56 per person, Prices made up by the chef’s fee plus the cost of the ingredients, so those with richer tastes -- opting for filet mignon and the like -- will pay more.

In general, the more servings ordered at one time, the less the per-serving cost for personal-chef service. That's because it takes only a little more of the personal chef's time to add a few more ingredients to the cart and cook a few more meals in the client's kitchen.

Personal chefs typically are happy to offer some value-added features, as well.
“I will pick up any little extras for my clients while I am shopping. I can also do very nice flower arrangements which will last long after the dinner itself.” Fay says.

Fay Olinsky considers herself a food purist and goes out of her way to locate the very best ingredients, even travelling abroad for the right things.
“ I have a wonderful old fashioned butcher who really understands what I want. I get fish fresh from the market and also grow many of my own salads herbs and vegetables. My most favourite thing is to cross the channel and spend a morning shopping in a French Market for special ingredients.”

Food and cooking has been Fay’s passion for many years. She has appeared on TV and Radio shows cooking in her restaurants or on location for various occasions. For the past ten years Fay has cooked for individuals in their own homes and truly loves her work.
” I will never compromise the quality of the food I make. My client’s are my most valued asset and I promise to do my utmost to give them the very best possible.” This is Fay’s closing statement.