The Professional Personal Chef: The Business of Doing Business as a Personal Chef

I was really excited about getting this book. I thought for almost 50 bucks it would go in depth and provide all the information I needed to become a Personal Chef. Unfortunately it is a very shallow book. It hardly goes into detail about the personal chef side and most of the book is about starting your own business. I was disappointed that the business part wasn't even specific to becoming a Personal Chef, it was just very general business knowledge that takes up over half the book. The layout of the book is poor. It doesn't flow well. If you are looking for a book about how to run a business, there are better, cheaper, more in-depth books for that. I will be returning this book, I don't believe it is worth $46. If this was only a $13 book I wouldn't be so disappointed. I believe there are better, cheaper books out there. Hopefully the next two books I just ordered (How to Start a Home-based Personal Chef Business & How to Start a Home-Based Catering Business, both by Denise Vivaldo) will be more in-depth. :)

This book is very informative and has guided me from the moment I checked it out of my school's library 2 years ago. I knew I had to buy a copy for myself when I got tired of re-checking it out from school.It gives you all the information you need: legal, licenses, how to apply for licenses and how to state your type of business as a "service" when it comes to licensing (different fees or no license is required for some), etc.It is an invaluable resource for me and I know I will refer to it again and again. I will also look for an updated version to be certain I am up to the minute when it comes to this business.

I was a little disappointed to see that the first 100 pages or so is a basic primer on starting a business. There are better books for that, my favorite is Small Time Operator. The rest of the text is more of what you would expect, but I think it could go much more in depth. I would like to see the author leave the basic business info, such as whether to incorporate, run as a sole proprietor, etc., to other books and expound on the daily issues of a personal chef. All in all a good basic primer, but I think something more is needed for someone really considering starting a business in this field.

Great primer for starting your own chef service. Good basic introduction to marketing, finance, operations, and so much more—it’s all in there. Reinforces what you already know and points out things you need to brush up on. Well worth the money.

This is the most COMPLETE book one can get when wanting to start your own Personal Chef Business. It explains EVERYTHING you need to know including a small contract to sign on your behalf as well as the clients, a client assessment form, quizzes at the end of each chapter, how to store your foods after cooking them, a few recipes... A MUST GET BOOK if you want to start your own personal chef business. I highly recommend it.

Everything you need to know in a nutshell about starting your personal chef career for a great price. Learned a much here as I did in an expensive class. Great information for kick-starting my new career. The information was spot-on and the templates needed to get up and running were a great help.

Just what I needed to get started in my new venture as a personal chef. I recommend it highly for anyone getting into the business.

What a well written book! I wish this textbook had been available when I took the personal chef course at my local community college. It would have made a tremendous difference.The book is perfectly organized, easy to read and understand. Kudos to Ms. Wallace and Mr. Forte. They did an excellent job!