---
title: "Personal Chef FAQ: Answers for Selected Chefs"
description: Find answers to the questions chefs ask most about Personal Chef, from hours and pricing to menus, payments and changes.
---
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# Personal Chef FAQ: Answers for Selected Chefs
## Find answers to the questions chefs ask most about Personal Chef, from hours and pricing to menus, payments and changes.
Personal Chef is an invitation-only program, available only in selected countries and only to chefs selected by Take a Chef. If you have not received an invitation email, the program is not available to you yet. Below are the questions chefs ask most, grouped by topic.
### The program
**What is Personal Chef?**
Weekly clients in your area: the same client, the same day, every week, in their home. You cook practical, home-style meals tailored to each client's goal, tastes and restrictions. It is not events or fine dining. Clients are validated by Take a Chef. Session hours come from a fixed table; you decide the menu with the client.
**Who can join Personal Chef?**
Only chefs selected and invited by Take a Chef, in selected countries. There is no open sign-up form. If you have not received an invitation email, the program is not available to you yet.
**How is it different from regular Take a Chef services?**
Regular services are one-off events and special occasions with multi-course menus. Personal Chef covers the client's meals for the week, tailored to them.
**Is there a guide to how the service works?**
Yes. The Personal Chef guide, linked from your invitation email, explains the service from start to finish, from the proposal to the client to each weekly session.
**What does "the client has already seen the price" mean?**
Before choosing a chef, the client receives proposals from chefs in their area, each with its price: that chef's hourly rate, transport fee and shopping fee.
**How many sessions per week? Can it be every two weeks?**
Usually one session a week. Two if the volume requires it; two is the maximum. Every two weeks is also possible if your calendar allows.
**Can I combine it with my events and other clients?**
Yes. Most clients book Monday to Thursday mornings, so your evenings and weekends stay free.
**When do I start receiving clients?**
As soon as you are activated: complete the onboarding call, where you commit to keeping your calendar up to date, and create your Personal Chef menu. From then on, the system offers your rate to clients in your area on the free days in your calendar.
**How many clients will I get per month?**
We cannot promise clients or a number. It depends on demand in your area and the free days in your calendar. As a reference, one client is about four sessions a month.
**I live outside the destination city, or where Personal Chef isn't available yet. Can I take part?**
Clients come from your area, set by the location and radius on your Take a Chef profile, not by the city name. Personal Chef only works in active destinations: if your area reaches one, you can receive clients; if it doesn't reach any, not yet.
### Getting started
**What are the steps to activate Personal Chef?**
1. Do the onboarding call with the Take a Chef voice agent, using the link in your invitation email.
2. Confirm anything still pending, such as your calendar commitment, from the link in the follow-up email.
3. Create your "Personal Chef Weekly Meal Prep" menu in Private Chef Manager.
4. Check the location and radius on your Take a Chef profile, and correct them if needed.
**What is the onboarding call for, and how do I do it?**
It is a call with our voice agent. It explains how Personal Chef works, answers your questions, and is where you commit to keeping your calendar up to date. Start it whenever you like from the button in your invitation email. If you prefer not to talk to a voice agent, the Take a Chef team can call you.
**The onboarding call won't start. What do I do?**
Try another browser or your phone. If it still doesn't work, the Take a Chef team will call you.
**What happens after the onboarding call?**
The Take a Chef team reviews the conversation and emails you what is already confirmed. If anything is missing, such as your calendar commitment, you confirm it from the link in that email.
**Why do you ask me to confirm my calendar?**
The system offers you to clients on the free days in your calendar without asking you first. We need your explicit confirmation that you will keep it up to date: if a client chooses you on a day you can't do, the client receives a cancellation.
**Which menu do I need to create, and how?**
A single menu named exactly "Personal Chef Weekly Meal Prep". It is the list of meal prep dishes you can make, and it is what the client sees to choose you; you close each client's actual menu with them on the call. Without it, the Take a Chef team has nothing to send on your behalf. To create it in Private Chef Manager:
1. Go to Gastronomic proposal, then Dishes, and click "Add dish" for each dish.
2. Go to Gastronomic proposal, then Menus, and click "New menu".
3. Name it exactly "Personal Chef Weekly Meal Prep" and add your dishes.
**How many dishes should the menu have, and what kind?**
At least 5 dishes, with variety. Use practical, home-style meal prep dishes with options for vegetarian, gluten-free, high-protein and allergy clients. Avoid the fine dining menus you use for private dinners: that is not this service. Session hours depend only on volume, and a modular menu (a few bases that combine) fits in the session.
**The menu editor asks for price, timings and guests. What do I enter? When will you review my menu?**
Anything. The editor uses the experiences format and those fields are not used; starter, main and dessert don't matter either. Treat it as a collection of dishes. What you earn comes from your hourly rate, the two fixed fees and the commission. There is no fixed timeframe for the review: the Take a Chef team reviews your menu and replies.
### Rate and hours
**What does my hourly rate cover? Are transport and shopping included?**
It covers planning the menu and all your time at the client's home, from when you arrive until you leave: cooking, portioning, storing and cleaning. Transport and shopping time are not included: they are two fixed fees per session, added on top of your price. The shopping fee pays for your time at the shop, not for the ingredients.
**How is my rate set? Is it the same for every client? Can I change it?**
You set it, within your destination's range: you start with the rate you sent by email or the one you confirm on the onboarding call. It is the same for all your clients. To change it, always within the range, reply to the Take a Chef team's email.
**What do other chefs in my city charge?**
That is confidential. The onboarding call tells you your destination's range. The more competitive your rate within the range, the more likely clients are to choose you.
**How far do I have to travel? Can I charge more if the client lives far away?**
Only within your area: the location and radius on your Take a Chef profile. Transport is a fixed fee per session, with no extra charge for distance. Since you visit the same client every week, think about how far is worth it for you; if your radius feels too wide, reduce it in your profile.
**Who decides how long a session is, and how?**
Take a Chef, using a fixed table based only on volume: meals per week and number of people. Menu complexity does not change the hours; the menu adapts to them. Most sessions are 4 to 6 hours, the largest reach 8, nothing above 8 is quoted, and the shortest is 3. With a modular menu you usually finish early. Hours per session by meals per week (for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 people):
- 4 meals a week: 3, 3, 4, 4, 4 and 4 hours
- 6 meals a week: 3, 3, 4, 4, 5 and 5 hours
- 8 meals a week: 3, 4, 4, 5, 6 and 6 hours
- 10 meals a week: 4, 4, 5, 5, 6 and 6 hours
- 12 meals a week: 5, 5, 6, 6, 7 and 7 hours
- 14 meals a week: 5, 5, 6, 7, 7 and 8 hours
Example: 10 meals a week for 2 people is a 4-hour session.
**What if the client adds a person or more meals?**
The hours are recalculated with the new volume and, if they go up, the price is adjusted.
**What if a session takes longer than planned? Can I charge extra hours?**
Don't charge extra hours yourself. Design a modular menu that fits the planned time. If it still runs over, because of complexity or because the client asked for more variety than agreed, the Take a Chef team reviews the case.
**What if the client prefers to do the shopping?**
Your pay doesn't change. You use that time to plan the menu and prepare the list of what the client needs to have ready.
**Can I do one- or two-hour sessions, or several clients on the same day?**
Several clients on the same day, yes, if they fit. But you don't choose session length: it comes from the table, and the shortest session is 3 hours.
**Do I write the quote for the client?**
No. Take a Chef builds the proposal with your rate, transport fee and shopping fee, and sends it to the client with your Personal Chef menu. When the client chooses you, you call them, agree the menu and details, and send the Request Money from Private Chef Manager with the session date in the note.
### Payments
**What is the Request Money, and how do I send it?**
It is the payment request you send the client from Private Chef Manager for each session. Send the first one after your call with the client, for the final agreed amount, then one every week in the same chat, which stays open. With your first request, the Take a Chef team sends you a video showing how to create it. Steps:
1. In your Private Chef Manager inbox, open the chat with the client.
2. Click the three dots and choose "Request money".
3. Enter the amount the client pays, commission included.
4. In the note, write the session date as year-month-day followed by "Personal Chef", for example: 2026-11-12 · Personal Chef. Another format delays your payment.
5. Click Next to send it. Tell the client about the menu in the chat, not in the note.
The session is confirmed when the client pays: you receive an email, and you block that day in your calendar yourself.
**How do I calculate the Request Money amount? Is the commission taken from my pay?**
The commission is not taken from your pay. It is 20% of what the client pays and always sits on top of your price; it guarantees your payment and protects you both. Your price is your hourly rate × the session hours + the transport fee + the shopping fee. The Request Money amount is your price divided by 0.8. Example: a price of 200 means a Request Money of 250, and you receive 200. Adding 20% to your price falls short (it gives 240).
**Am I paid upfront? How do I know I'll be paid?**
There is no upfront payment, but you never work unpaid. A session is only confirmed once the client pays the Request Money; don't shop or plan anything before that. All payments go through Take a Chef.
**When and how do I get paid?**
As with all Private Chef Manager services, Take a Chef pays you 48 hours after each session.
**Who pays for the ingredients?**
The client, at cost. You shop, share the receipts, and the client pays you directly. If the client has no cash, Take a Chef can send them a payment link with a 3% surcharge paid by the client. Check any substitutions with the client first.
**What happens if the client cancels a session that's already paid?**
Take a Chef's standard cancellation policy applies, the same as for all services. Take a Chef handles any refunds.
**Can I charge the client anything directly?**
Only the ingredients. All bookings and all service payments always stay inside Take a Chef: no transfers or cash.
**How do taxes work? Do I sign a contract?**
Ask the Take a Chef team and they will answer you in writing.
### Meals and menu
**What does "8 meals, 2 people" mean?**
Eight meals for two people: sixteen portions in total. A meal is a breakfast, lunch or dinner; the number of people is the portions of each meal.
**Do I have to make completely different dishes for every meal?**
No: use a modular menu. A few bases, for example two or three proteins, two sides and vegetables, plus sauces and dressings that combine into different meals. It gives variety and saves ingredients and time. The menu adapts to the hours, not the other way round.
**Do I cook the same for the whole family or something for each person?**
Something for each person, if needed. The menu fits each household member's diet, allergies, intolerances and goal, and you close it with the client on the call. A modular menu helps: the same bases adapt to each person.
**Who defines the menu?**
You, with the client, week by week, once the session is paid. Each week ask what worked and what they would change, and adjust. A fixed menu, the same for everyone, is not this service.
**Are allergies and restrictions covered? What if I can't handle one?**
Yes, almost every client has some. An allergy is never negotiable; with an intolerance, ask how strict it is. Anything you can't handle, such as kosher or halal, tell the agent on the onboarding call or the Take a Chef team: you don't send proposals yourself, the team does, with your Personal Chef menu.
**Do the meals need to be portioned and labelled?**
Yes. Each meal portioned and labelled with how to store and reheat it, so the client can tell each dish apart.
**What should I discuss with the client on the first call?**
First, get to know them: their goal, what they love, what they like less and how they want things. Then the meals, portions and each person's restrictions; the kitchen equipment and containers available; fridge space and how to get into the home. Bring menu ideas rather than a fixed menu, and don't promise extras that won't fit in the session. If you don't know an answer, don't make it up: confirm it with Take a Chef.
**What do I decide with the client, and what is fixed?**
Decided together: the menu and its bases week by week, the weekday, portions and preferences (spice on the side, quick dinners), containers, fridge space and home access. Fixed: the hours (from the table), the price the client saw (commission included), no payments outside Take a Chef except ingredients, and no shopping or planning before the client pays. After the first session you can offer more meals, another household member or a second weekly session (two at most).
### Shopping, kitchen and the service day
**Where do I buy the ingredients?**
Wherever you like, as long as the ingredients are good quality. The client can tell you which supermarkets they prefer.
**Can I use ingredients the client already has?**
Yes, if the client agrees.
**Does everything I buy stay at the client's home?**
Yes: everything bought for the service, leftovers included.
**Do I bring my own pots and pans?**
No need: you use the client's kitchen. Bring your knives and basic tools if you need them, and before the first session check with the client what equipment they have.
**Who provides the containers?**
The client. If they have none, you can buy them and add them to the grocery receipt; they stay at the client's home.
**What if there's no room in the fridge?**
Check with the client before the session so they can make room.
**Do I have to clean up?**
Yes: leave the kitchen clean, utensils included.
**Can I cook in my own kitchen and deliver the meals?**
Not for now. The service is always done at the client's home.
**Do I get the client's address? Do we talk on the platform or by phone?**
You receive the client's contact details as soon as they choose you, and you confirm the exact address with them. You talk both ways: you call in the slot you chose, and before and after you message in the chat of your Private Chef Manager inbox, where the client sees all your menus. However you talk, bookings and service payments always stay inside Take a Chef: no transfers or cash, except for ingredients.
### Bookings, calendar and changes
**What happens when a client chooses me? How fast do I have to reply?**
1. Take a Chef checks your calendar and sends the client a proposal with your Personal Chef menu.
2. If the client picks you, the request appears in your Private Chef Manager inbox, and the Take a Chef team sends you the client's phone number and two call slots within the next 72 hours, between 8:00 and 21:00 local time.
3. Choose one slot as soon as possible and confirm it to the client in the inbox chat. You can message as much as you need before; what matters is being on that call at that time.
4. Call the client at that time: get to know each other and agree the menu and details, so the service fits them.
5. Send the Request Money from Private Chef Manager with the session date in the note. The session is confirmed when the client pays; until then the client pays nothing.
**Who decides the days? Where do I set my availability?**
You do, in your usual Take a Chef calendar; there is no separate one for Personal Chef. All days are available by default, so only block the days you can't work. The system only offers you on free days, so an up-to-date calendar is your confirmation. Clients usually have a preferred day, ideally the same every week, often Monday to Thursday mornings at a time that also suits you. Your area is the location and radius on your profile.
**I'm going on holiday. What do I do?**
Block those days in your calendar and tell your clients in advance. Those weeks there is no session and no Request Money.
**The client cancels, travels or there's a public holiday. What happens that week?**
First, try to move the session to another day that same week. If that isn't possible, the week is skipped: don't send a Request Money that week, and send it for the following week.
**What if I can't make it one week?**
Tell your client as soon as possible. Ideally move the session to another day that week; if that isn't possible, skip it and resume the following week.
**What if the client wants to change their weekly session day?**
Let the Take a Chef team know; they handle the case.
**Can I turn down a request? What if a client already chose me and I can't do it?**
The system only offers you on the free days in your calendar, which is why it must be up to date. If you get one you can't do, let the Take a Chef team know as soon as possible so they can find a solution before the client receives a cancellation. An unjustified cancellation carries a penalty.
**What if I meet the client and we're not a good fit?**
Let the Take a Chef team know. They review the case, just as when a client wants to change chef.
**What if the client has a complaint, asks for a refund or wants to change chef?**
Let the Take a Chef team know. They review each case, ask for your side and tell you the decision.
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