Summary

What is a private chef?

Private chef: what can you ask them to do?

A private chef is a professional cook who travels to clients’ homes to prepare meals directly in their kitchen. Unlike chefs who work in restaurants or hotels, the private chef offers a personalized and often more intimate culinary experience. This level of customization allows for a wide range of services:

Tailor-made menus based on the number of guests, their curiosity for new flavors, or specific dietary needs (vegetarian, vegan, no seafood, no nuts, etc.).
Innovative dishes, or on the contrary, very simple meals but always well executed.
A breakfast for two, a dinner for twenty, or a buffet for fifty guests.
Services that may include bringing equipment, serving, and leaving the kitchen spotless upon departure.

A private chef brings the experience of a restaurant directly into the client’s home, offering more personal attention and greater flexibility in both the choice of menu and the overall organization, during your luxury vacations.

Our tailor-made services

What types of events are suited for a private chef?

A private chef can take over your kitchen as soon as their culinary mission has been booked and defined. However, ideally, they are called in for a special event, to host a large group or to welcome important guests. A birthday, a wedding anniversary, or a large family reunion may be meaningful to the person organizing it. Often, the reasons for hiring a private chef are professional or social: planning an executive retreat, impressing an important client, or organizing a small-scale wedding with a limited number of guests.

What types of events are not suited for a private chef?

An event with more than 40 guests is usually managed by an event planning company or a caterer. Even though a talented cook is always key, the kitchen space must be large enough and the equipment like the oven, capable of handling large pieces or multiple trays at once. It’s also important to be able to keep plates warm before serving. While a private chef can work with a supplier to rent glasses, plates, and serving dishes, you’ll also need extra staff when hosting a large group and those team members must be both qualified and properly paid.

How much does a private chef cost?

The price naturally depends on several variables: the number of guests, the expected gastronomic level, the quality or rarity of the ingredients, etc. A quality menu may start at €35 per person, while a signature menu can reach up to €100 per person, excluding wine.

Good to know: the more guests there are, the more the quantities can be optimized, which helps reduce the price per person. Organizing a meal for 10 guests, for example, allows for a lower unit cost, since cooking time remains more or less the same.

What are the advantages of hiring a private chef?

Saving time and reducing stress when hosting guests

Hiring a private chef allows you to rediscover the joy of hosting and to focus on your guests rather than on the recipe. In the days leading up to your offsite event, you will have discussed your preferences with the chef, and in return, they may have shown you their portfolio of dish photos and a list of recipe ideas that have been well received.

Here’s a list of worries you can forget:

Grocery shopping, including selecting wines and beverages
Chopping vegetables, carving meats
Following recipes
Managing cooking times
Presenting dishes beautifully on each plate
Serving, including clearing the table
Doing the dishes

A real family vacation

A private chef can come for lunch or dinner, but they can also travel with you and your family if the space is sufficient to accommodate them. The main inconveniences of family vacations suddenly disappear: long lines at the supermarket, planning meals, everyone’s different schedules, etc. Want afternoons filled with naps under the pine trees? You can ask the private chef to prepare crepes for the children or better yet, to organize a crepe workshop with them.

High-quality cuisine right at home

To impress your guests, you wanted to use finger lime, lovage, or pollock, which your fishmonger doesn’t carry. The private chef has their own list of contacts and shops according to your wishes: fresh, local products or the best butchers in the region, depending on what you agreed on together. You swear by Saint-Malo butter? They know who resells it near you!

Menu flexibility and customization

Can you ask a private chef to cook simple hamburgers or pizzas? Of course! These will be hamburgers made with top-quality minced meat, homemade buns, AOP cheese, and each guest will choose their recipe based on their own tastes and preferences. The concept of a private chef doesn’t necessarily imply only fine dining, just dishes prepared with creativity, talent, and beautiful presentation.

The different types of services offered by a private chef with Homanie

A Homanie property is a luxury house or villa for rent, and if you cannot bring your favorite private chef, Homanie will instead send private chefs carefully selected to elevate your stay. No matter which luxury villa you rent whether it’s a luxury villa with a pool or one surrounded by vineyards, our chefs come directly to the property.

Enjoy Homanie services starting from breakfast

Just like the personalized welcome, housekeeping, and garden maintenance, a whole universe of services is available when renting a luxury villa for an event or a holiday with Homanie.

If you wish, groceries can be done before your arrival and the fridge stocked. Each morning, the same magical team can deliver fresh products and prepare breakfast according to your tastes and routines.

Cooking for a private dinner in a Homanie property

Leaving Paris, Bordeaux, or Lyon forced you to leave behind your favorite private chef? Homanie’s private chefs will make you forget them in no time. They prepare the meals of your dreams: traditional French dishes from the region, vegetarian or vegan cuisine that pleases everyone, gourmet meals for an atmosphere that is both chic and relaxed. Not being at home doesn’t prevent you from inviting extra guests without creating any stress.

In Homanie properties, kitchens are always spacious and well-equipped, making the private chef’s work easier. Do you feel like being in nature? Why not have dinner by the pool?

Catering service for exclusive private events

Is your Homanie property the gathering place for a wedding, a birthday, or a corporate retreat, and there are many of you? Our team will find the caterer or event specialist who can offer inspired meals and entertainment. They come directly to your wedding or holiday villa.

Craving dinner in one of the best restaurants on the French Riviera? Contact us!

Cooking workshops and culinary demonstrations

Whether for your personal enjoyment or to entertain seminar participants, a culinary activity is always a highly appreciated event. Our private chefs can organize homemade pasta workshops, teach the secrets of a perfect risotto or slow cooking, or introduce you to the typical herbs of the region. To be enjoyed right after on-site!

Three chefs to discover

You can call on a private chef, no matter which Homanie villa you have rented. Here are three of them, highly praised by past guests.

At Homanie Cassis, Jérémy offers Mediterranean cuisine with an emphasis on slow cooking and seasonal products. Have you always wanted to learn more about the Mediterranean diet? He will show you how to adapt it to your taste.

Ariane, based in Aix-en-Provence, will meet you wherever you are in the South of France to help you fall back in love with vegetables, legumes, and cooking with olive oil. Her cooking classes are renowned.

Simon, often nicknamed Chef Simon due to a namesake culinary website, puts all his creativity and energy into his innovative recipes. He will wow your guests during your private and professional events in the Southeast.

Know more about Homanie chefs

Why is a private chef ideal for your gatherings in a Homanie property?

A gourmet menu tailored to your guests' tastes and needs

Yes, the kitchens and dining rooms are beautiful and spacious, and the high-end equipment is abundant. But is that a reason to cook lunch and dinner every day? Or to avoid inviting guests for fear of not knowing their tastes?

By hiring a private chef, you’ll feel comfortable asking questions about intolerances or diets before the meals, since you're communicating directly with a professional opening the door to many possibilities.

Personalized service and direct contact with the chef

When the chef steps out of the kitchen to greet the guests, it’s always a special moment. This is even more true in Homanie estates where, unlike in hotels, everything is more personal, just like in a private apartment. The meal has been planned and discussed well in advance. The chef knows who’s coming to dinner, he serves at the table, and he won’t be surprised by compliments and questions at the end of the meal. This is the true difference when comparing apartment vs hotels: warmth, privacy, and a direct connection with your chef.

Testimonials from clients who hired a private chef with Homanie

Unique experiences shared by our guests

“Our general manager told me at the start of the seminar: I’ve always dreamed of trying Robuchon’s mashed potatoes. The private chef included this iconic dish in the dinner… She was thrilled!”
– Jonathan, seminar client at Homanie Méribel

“We were celebrating our son’s 10th birthday, so the chef had planned a cake, candy, etc. The grandparents also shared their wishes: madeleines and financiers—pistachio ones, especially... For us, he made a vitamin-packed, delicious cocktail!”
– Marina, client at Homanie Deauville

“Real luxury is coming back late from the beach to find dinner ready—and a chef who’s still smiling. Thank you again for your patience, chef!”
– Guislaine, on vacation at Homanie Carry-le-Rouet

Private Chef: A Refined Touch for Your Private Events