Career profile for Private Chef

What does a Private Chef do?

Private Chefs prepare meals in private homes.

In addition, Private Chefs includes personal chefs.

What kind of tasks does a Private Chef perform regularly?

Private Chefs are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

Plan menus according to employers' needs and diet restrictions.
Stock, organize, and clean kitchens and cooking utensils.
Cool, package, label, and freeze foods for later consumption and provide instructions for reheating.
Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries.
Keep records pertaining to menus, finances, and other business-related issues.
Prepare meals in private homes according to employers' recipes or tastes, handling all meals for the family and possibly for other household staff.
Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment.
Specialize in preparing fancy dishes or food for special diets.
Direct the operation and organization of kitchens and all food-related activities, including the presentation and serving of food.
Create and explore new cuisines.
Serve meals and snacks to employing families and their guests.
Plan and prepare food for parties, holiday meals, luncheons, special functions, and other social events.

The above responsibilities are specific to Private Chefs. More generally, Private Chefs are involved in several broader types of activities:

Activities	Importance	Details
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships		Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Getting Information		Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work		Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Monitoring and Controlling Resources		Monitoring and controlling resources and overseeing the spending of money.
Thinking Creatively		Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.

Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships

Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

Getting Information

Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work

Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.

Monitoring and Controlling Resources

Monitoring and controlling resources and overseeing the spending of money.

Thinking Creatively

Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.

What is a Private Chef salary?

The median salary for a Private Chef is $32,630, and the average salary is $46,810. Both the median and average roughly describe the middle of the Private Chef salary range, but the average is more easily affected by extremely high or low salaries.

Many Private Chefs earn significantly more or less than the average, due to several factors. About 10% of Private Chefs earn less than $27,860 per year, 25% earn less than $29,650, 75% earn less than $47,920, and 90% earn less than $98,980.

Between the years of 2020 and 2030, the number of Private Chefs is expected to change by 2.2%, and there should be roughly 6,100 open positions for Private Chefs every year.

Median annual salary: $32,630
Typical salary range: $27,860 - $98,980
Projected growth (2020 - 2030): 2.2%

What personality traits are common among Private Chefs?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Private Chef are usually higher in their Artistic, Realistic, and Conventional interests.

Private Chefs typically have very strong Artistic interests. Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Also, Private Chefs typically have moderate Realistic interests. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Lastly, Private Chefs typically have moderate Conventional interests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Private Chef tend to value Independence, Achievement, and Relationships.

Most importantly, Private Chefs moderately value Independence. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions.

Second, Private Chefs moderately value Achievement. Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

Lastly, Private Chefs moderately value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Private Chefs must consistently demonstrate qualities such as dependability, integrity, and attention to detail.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Private Chefs, ranked by importance:

Demands	Importance	Details
Dependability		Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Integrity		Job requires being honest and ethical.
Attention to Detail		Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Independence		Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Cooperation		Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

Dependability

Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

Integrity

Job requires being honest and ethical.

Attention to Detail

Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.

Independence

Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.

Cooperation

Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

What education and training do Private Chefs need?

Private Chefs often have training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Private Chefs usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Private Chefs

27.3% did not complete high school or secondary school
41.9% completed high school or secondary school
18.5% completed some college coursework
6.1% earned a Associate's degree
5.4% earned a Bachelor's degree
0.7% earned a Master's degree
0.2% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Private Chefs

Private Chefs may benefit from understanding of specialized subject areas, such as customer and personal service, food production, or sales and marketing knowledge.

The list below shows several areas in which most Private Chefs might want to build proficiency, ranked by importance.

Knowledge areas	Importance	Details
Customer and Personal Service		Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Food Production		Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Sales and Marketing		Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Administration and Management		Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Administrative		Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

Customer and Personal Service

Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Food Production

Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

Sales and Marketing

Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Administration and Management

Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Administrative

Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

Important Abilities needed by Private Chefs

Private Chefs must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Private Chefs need abilities such as near vision, problem sensitivity, and information ordering in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Private Chefs, ranked by their relative importance.

Abilities	Importance	Details
Near Vision		The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Problem Sensitivity		The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Information Ordering		The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Arm-Hand Steadiness		The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Manual Dexterity		The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.

Near Vision

The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Problem Sensitivity

The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.

Information Ordering

The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

Arm-Hand Steadiness

The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.

Manual Dexterity

The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.

Critical Skills needed by Private Chefs

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Private Chefs frequently use skills like critical thinking, service orientation, and management of material resources to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Private Chefs, ranked by their relative importance.

Skills	Importance	Details
Critical Thinking		Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Service Orientation		Actively looking for ways to help people.
Management of Material Resources		Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
Reading Comprehension		Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Active Listening		Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Critical Thinking

Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.

Service Orientation

Actively looking for ways to help people.

Management of Material Resources

Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.

Reading Comprehension

Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.

Active Listening

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this information, please send a message.

Career profile Private Chef

Private Chef

Table of Contents

Would Private Chef be a good fit for you?