Understanding the Channels Section

The Channels section is where Private Chef Manager brings together all the ways clients can find and book you, in one place. Think of it as the hub for your distribution and online presence: it shows which channels you already have active, which ones you can activate, and which are coming soon.

What Channels is (and isn't)

Channels is an inventory of the booking channels around you You'll find it in the left-hand menu of your PCM account.

The page is organised into three groups:

• Active channels — channels that are already working for you.
• Available channels — channels you can activate or set up.
• Coming soon — channels that aren't live yet, nothing to do for now.

The channels you may see

Take a Chef Your main booking channel, and it's active for every chef by default, on the free plan. These are requests from clients on Take a Chef, including its partner companies. Nothing to activate; this is switched on as soon as your profile is live.

Chef Site (your personal website) A whitelisted website under your own name, free of PCM branding, to help you attract and win your own clients. This is a Pro feature. From the Chef Site card you can request your site by choosing a template; once you select one, the card moves to a "creating" state while our team builds it.

Airbnb If you're on Pro, you can connect an Airbnb Services listing and manage it from PCM. Airbnb is a separate platform, bookings from it are paid to you directly by Airbnb under their policy, and PCM charges a small 2.9% fee per booking. The Airbnb card only appears when the integration is available for your account.

Marketplace The PCM white-label marketplace, where partners can book chefs and menus directly. To appear here, you need at least one menu that's been verified by our supply team.

Coming soon (e.g. ChatGPT) New channels we're preparing, such as discovery through ChatGPT. These appear so you can see what's ahead; there's no action to take yet.

Quick reference

Frequently asked questions

What is the Channels section for? It's the hub where you can see all the channels that can bring you bookings, Take a Chef, your Chef Site, Airbnb, the Marketplace, and more to come. It shows what's active, what you can activate, and what's coming soon, all in one place.

Does Channels show my bookings, earnings or stats? No. Channels is an inventory of your channels, not a performance dashboard. It doesn't show bookings, revenue, visits or conversion. For your monthly performance figures, check the Home page.

What do "Active", "Available" and "Coming soon" mean? "Active" channels are already working for you. "Available" channels are ones you can set up or activate now. "Coming soon" channels aren't live yet and need no action from you.

Where can I find my website? Under the Channels section. Log in to PCM, click Channels in the left-hand menu, and your website (Chef Site) is listed there alongside your other channels.

Do I need to pay to use Channels? No, the Channels page is visible to all chefs, and your Take a Chef channel is active for free. Some channels within it, your Chef Site and Airbnb, require a Pro subscription.

How do I get my Chef Site (personal website)? You need to be on Pro. From the Chef Site card you can request your site by choosing one of the available templates. Once you select a template, the card moves to "creating" while our team builds the site manually. If you don't see the option to request one, your Chef Manager will reach out if you're eligible.

Which templates are available for my Chef Site? There are two: Culinary Storyteller and Modern Hospitality.

Why does my Chef Site still say "creating"? After you choose a template, your site is built manually by our team, so there's no guaranteed timeline. The card stays in "creating" while that happens. If it's been a long time, contact info@privatechefmanager.com.

Can I edit my Chef Site myself? Not at the moment. The site is built from your PCM profile and managed by your Chef Manager, and the structure is based on the fixed templates. If you need a change, request it through your Chef Manager.

How do I connect Airbnb? You need a Pro subscription. Once you have it, you can connect your Airbnb Services listing from the Airbnb card and follow the setup steps. Listings can take several days, sometimes weeks, to be reviewed and go live on Airbnb, and Airbnb Services is only available in certain countries.

Why don't I see the Airbnb card? The Airbnb card only appears when the integration is available for your account, which means being on Pro and having the connection set up. If you're on Pro and think it should be there, contact info@privatechefmanager.com.

What is the Marketplace channel? It's the PCM white-label marketplace where partners can book chefs and menus directly. To be listed, you need at least one menu that's been verified by our operations team.

If I activate a channel, am I guaranteed more bookings? No. Channels are about giving you more places to be discovered and booked, they don't guarantee demand. How much you get from any channel still depends on your area, your profile, your responsiveness and your reviews.

Why doesn't every channel have a button? A channel only shows a call-to-action when there's a real action you can take. When there's nothing to do (for example a "coming soon" channel), it just shows information so you know what's there.

What happens to my channels if I downgrade from Pro? Your Chef Site will no longer be visible and your Airbnb integration will disconnect at the end of your billing cycle. Bookings you've already confirmed stay valid and can be managed from your dashboard (or Airbnb, if that's where they came from). If you re-subscribe to Pro, your site is reactivated and you can reconnect Airbnb.