Such perks, when compared to the grind of restaurant or banquet cooking, are enticing more chefs than ever to private service. Since 1998, Four Star Private Chefs in the San Francisco area has interviewed more than 300 restaurant chefs interested in private service and placed more than 250 of them in positions, reports Susan Flynn, cofounder of the firm. “All of them are seeking a shorter work day, better pay, a more balanced and less stressful lifestyle,” Flynn explains. Paier says he gets 50 resumés a week from qualified chefs (he will represent none with less than eight years of professional experience) who are fed up with the grueling hours and high stress of commercial kitchens.
However, merely yearning for a change hardly means a chef is a good match for private service. Restaurant chefs can bring massive egos that require stroking, and they are accustomed to having support cooks and other staff, as well as brimming larders and frequent deliveries. Unlike a restaurant chef, says Flynn, a private chef has “no lackeys to Brillo off the burnt bottom of pans, and no place to hide.” He or she may fill the roles of executive chef, general manager, shopper, host, server, bartender, sommelier, bookkeeper and dishwasher—and must do so with a smile. “Excellent private chefs have excellent interpersonal and communications skills,” Wells points out. “They are able to put the needs of their client first and check their ego at the door.”
Most important, that ego must never make its way to the table. “The chef has to adjust to the client, the opposite of a restaurant,” Paier says. “It may be a Nobu menu one night and Mel’s Diner the next,” Flynn adds.
The lesson that Lowey quickly learned after Geffen hired him away from Spago was that his new job was to please one employer, not to wow a succession of diners. After Lowey had prepared a few fancy meals, Geffen took his new chef aside and reminded him that he preferred less elaborate fare. “Mr. Geffen asked me a good question: ‘Are you going to be happy and comfortable cooking me the meals I want to eat?’” That was five years ago. In time, Lowey adjusted. Perhaps the most important quality a private chef can possess is the knack for blending into the environment. “It is very important that you first like the character of the individual and feel that he will fit in with your household,” says Barbara Jaynes, a Beverly Hills resident who was married to Cary Grant at the time of his death in 1986. “You do not wish to have a prima donna who lords over the other staff, or feels that he is too important to listen to your suggestions or occasionally help out with other errands or the household.”
Austrian-born Paier, Jaynes’ private chef for eight years before he started Private Chefs, suggests a simple test for a prospective chef: Is this somebody I want to have in my house tonight? If the fit is a good one, Jaynes maintains, the most effective methods for retaining a chef are simple. “Give him a great deal of freedom regarding the planning of meals,” she advises. “Introduce some incentive plan for him to stay with you long term. Also, just like any other employee, treat him with respect.”
Haley notes that keeping a good chef requires time and effort. He suggests an annual compensation review, adequate time off, constructive (not complaining) comments, limiting supervision to one person, respect for good work, frequent praise, leaving the chef on his own for shopping, prep and kitchen supervision, equipping the kitchen as well or better than a restaurant and avoiding pinching pennies on food and supply costs. “Show him your tastes are gourmet and your standards are the highest, and if he has the stuff, he will perform in kind.” Richard John Pietschmann is a Los Angeles-based author and journalist who has written for Travel & Leisure, Departures, Newsweek and The New Yorker. pietsch3@aol.com
Illustrations by Mr. Fother Ingham. Additional Information
 Resources for Finding a Private Chef
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