Why Doing Free Work as a Personal Chef is a Recipe for Disaster

The Dangers of Free Work for Personal Chefs

On this week’s Chefs Without Restaurants Podcast

On this week’s podcast, I discuss the dangers of free work for personal chefs. As a personal chef, my business is centered around providing my clients with a restaurant-style experience in the comfort of their own home. This includes personalized menus, table service, and even bringing my own cooking equipment and dishware. However, one mistake I made in the early days of my business was thinking that attending events and giving out free food was a good way to market myself and attract paying customers. In this post, I’ll share some of my experiences with this approach and why I believe it ultimately doesn’t work.

The Problems with Free Work

One of the main issues with doing free work is that it can be difficult to effectively showcase your skills and services when you’re limited to a small, sample-sized portion of food at an event. My business is based on providing an in-home dining experience with personalized menus and table service, which is not something that can be easily translated to a six-foot table in a mall on a Sunday afternoon. Additionally, the caliber of food I’m able to give away for free is not going to be on par with what I’m able to serve at a full-scale dinner event.

Another issue with free work is that it can be time-consuming and costly. For example, I once paid to have a table at an event and gave out hundreds of portions of free food, only to have people come by, grab a bite, and move on to the next table without taking a business card or showing any real interest in hiring me. Similarly, I was once convinced to do a dinner on a boat, which involved a lot of time and effort setting up and preparing food on a grill. While I had hoped to get some exposure to food media and potentially land some gigs as a result, the event ended up being a disaster and I didn’t end up getting any new business out of it.

The Better Alternative

Simply put…Don’t do it. After experiencing a number of failures with this approach, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not necessary (or even effective) to do free work in order to succeed in business. I’ve found that my skills and services are valuable enough that I don’t need to give them away for free in order to attract paying customers. Over the past five years, my side hustle has become my primary source of income, and I’ve been able to build a successful business without having to attend expos or work for free.

Final Take-away

Doing free work as a personal chef (or in any creative or service-based business) is not a successful marketing strategy. While it may seem like a good way to get in front of potential customers, it’s ultimately time-consuming, costly, and might not effectively showcase your skills and services. Instead, focus on the value you can provide to your clients and charge accordingly. This will not only help you build a successful business, but it will also help you attract the right kind of clients who are willing to pay for your services.

Relevant Links and Where to Learn About Chefs Without Restaurants

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How to Grow Your Personal Chef Business with Airbnb

On This Week’s Podcast

This week’s Chefs Without Restaurants podcast is a solo episode (find it here). I teach you how to grow your personal chef business with Airbnb, VRBO and other vacation properties. This has been where the majority of my business has been coming from for the past five years. 

I’ve talked about it as part of other podcast episodes but thought it warranted a standalone episode. If you want to make more money cooking as a personal chef or caterer, tune in to find out my top tips for acquiring more customers staying at rental properties. 

For more advice on growing your personal chef business, here’s an episode with chef Steven Lash where we talk about the personal chef business. Do you have tips you’d like to share on how to grow your personal chef business? Let me know. Connect with me on one of the platforms below. 

Relevant Links and Where to Learn About Chefs Without Restaurants

You can listen to the show on PodpagePodlink,  BuzzsproutITunesSpotifyTuneInStitcherAmazon MusicPandora I Heart Radio, and everywhere podcasts are found.

CHEFS WITHOUT RESTAURANTS

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Founder Chris Spear’s personal chef business Perfect Little Bites

This Week’s Sponsor

Sponsor- The United States Personal Chef Association

Over the past 30 years, the world of the personal chef has grown in importance to fulfill those dining needs. While the pandemic certainly upended the restaurant experience, it allowed personal chefs to close that dining gap.  Central to all of that is the United States Personal Chef Association.

Representing nearly 1,000 chefs around the US and Canada.  USPCA provides a strategic backbone for those chefs that includes liability insurance, training, communications, certification, and more. It’s a reassurance to consumers that the chef coming into their home is prepared to offer them an experience with their meal. USPCA provides training to become a Personal Chef through our Preparatory Membership.  Looking to showcase your products or services to our chefs and their clients, partnership opportunities are available.

Call Angela today at 800-995-2138 ext 705 or email her at aprather@uspca.com for membership and partner info.

Restaurant Marketing That Works – A Podcast with Matt Plapp

About Matt Plapp

This week, my podcast guest is Matt Plapp, CEO of America’s Best Restaurants. He’s a marketer, author, speaker, consultant, and business coach.  He’s owned his own marketing firm since 2008, and since then he’s helped hundreds of companies market with a purpose. In 2016 he changed his focus to restaurants, and today helps restaurants all over the world with their ROI Engine marketing platform. Matt also has a podcast called MP TV, and has released a number of books including the recent book titled Restaurant Marketing That Works

On This Week’s Podcast

This episode is from an Instagram live conversation that I recently had with Matt. To be honest, my intent was not to release it as a full podcast, but I was so blown away by our conversation that I just had to put it out there. Most of our conversation revolves around how to obtain customer data, and best use it in your marketing strategy. We talk about email lists and how often to send out an email. We discuss using your time and money effectively, and he gives tips on using the Upwork website when you’re ready to hire someone to help you. 

This Week’s Sponsor

Looking to hire employees for your restaurant? This week’s sponsor is Savory Jobs, a job site only for restaurants. For just $50, get unlimited job postings for an entire year. Use discount code SAVORY10 to save 10%

Relevant Links and Where to Learn About Matt Plapp

You can listen to the show on PodpagePodlink,  BuzzsproutITunesSpotifyTuneInStitcherAmazon MusicPandora I Heart Radio, and everywhere podcasts are found.

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Matt Plapp

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Matt Plapp’s Instagram
Matt Plapp’s Website
Buy Matt’s Book Restaurant Marketing That Works
The MP TV Podcast
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