SINGAPORE – The allure of being a private chef for hire is drawing some away from well-equipped, top-billed restaurant kitchens into the dinky home kitchens of their clients.
They have the freedom to cook what, when and for whom they want, as well as enjoy kinder hours than in a commercial kitchen. The low overheads of this arrangement and the high casualty rate of food and beverage (F&B) businesses also attract many who do not want the financial pressure of starting their own eateries.
Pierce Yee, 47, who had to shelve plans to open a restaurant when Covid-19 struck, reinvented himself as a private chef. The former eatery owner has no plans to return to full-time restaurant work.
The Straits Times catches up with private chefs who savour the challenge of turning out restaurant-quality meals in unfamiliar, ill-equipped home kitchens.
From owning a restaurant to cooking in small kitchens
With two decades of experience as a chef and co-owner of a restaurant, Pierce Yee, who became a private chef for hire in 2020, has no intention of donning chef whites again in a commercial kitchen.
Control over his menu and time are the key reasons for the 47-year-old.
“As a private chef, I can serve menus of my own style and choice, while customising them to diners’ preferences and dietary restrictions. I answer directly to my customers, not to my superiors or shareholders,” he says.
Having control over his time and enjoying work-life balance are also top priorities for the father of two – a son, 15, and a daughter, eight.
Yee, who has a diploma in culinary arts from Shatec, started his career as a commis cook at a Mediterranean restaurant in 2001. His last-held position as an employee was executive sous chef at Ristorante Da Valentino, where he worked for a decade before leaving in 2016. He felt burnt out.
He took a year-long break, delving into buying and selling pre-owned luxury watches and watchmaker tools on online market Carousell. The experience helped him develop negotiation skills, discover how people spend their money, and learn the basics of running a business and how to provide better customer service.
In October 2018, he returned to the F&B industry as a co-owner and executive chef of a casual Italian restaurant, Sale Marino at Eastwood Centre.
But he left the restaurant 11 months later after disagreements with his two business partners on how it should be run.
He reflects: “It is easier to find a spouse than the right business partner.”
He was preparing to start another restaurant with new partners in early 2020 when the pandemic forced them to shelve their plans. But it presented another business opportunity, which turned out to be a springboard to becoming a private chef.
He started a home-based business selling home-cured meats during the circuit breaker in April 2020. He made his own guanciale (cured pork jowl) and pancetta (salt-cured pork belly meat) in his four-room HDB flat kitchen, selling these for about $45 a kg, later expanding his range of products to aged steaks, ready-to-eat pasta sauces and stews.
As restrictions on visitors to homes eased, he received inquiries from customers if he could cook for them in person. He started out charging a minimum of $400 a session ($80 a head for a party of five) or $200 for two diners.
He recalls: “Running my home-based business and taking on private chef gigs allowed me to put in the least amount of capital and was far less risky than starting a restaurant.
“The concept of having a chef cook restaurant-quality food for them at home was appealing to diners who didn’t want the hassle of dining out because of the restrictions on dining out then.”
He specialises in modern Italian cuisine, which features his home-cured meats, such as guanciale in carbonara. Prices start at $80 a person and go up to $300 a head for more premium fare such as caviar, uni and Japanese wagyu beef.
He estimates that 15 per cent of his customers are HDB dwellers, 55 per cent live in condominiums and the rest in landed property. As long as they meet his $400 minimum spend, Yee makes the trip and designs menus around the number of diners.
He enjoys interacting with his clients, something he did not get to do for most of his career as a restaurant chef. Some invite him to join them for drinks after he is done with the dinner service.
Despite having more than 20 years of culinary experience, Yee says the toughest part of being a private chef is working in small, unfamiliar kitchens with limited equipment. He usually tells his clients what he needs – a working stove, ideally an oven too, and pots and pans if available.
He says: “I have learnt to prepare myself mentally and have contingency plans. I pack my own equipment such as pans, knives, utensils and a chopping board. You will be surprised at how some home kitchens, no matter how beautifully designed they are, may not have basic equipment that chefs take for granted, because the clients do not cook at home.”
Improvising on the run is also part of the job.
“There was once when I was roasting pork loins and the oven failed. I switched to using the client’s small toaster oven to finish cooking the meat,” he says.
One of his most stressful jobs was preparing a private dinner for three persons on board a yacht. The client had informed Yee that the heat source was limited to an electric grill on the upper deck of the yacht – where the meal was to be served. The client also requested a pasta dish.
Yee had planned to heat the pasta sauce in a pan over the electric grill. But when he boarded the yacht, he discovered that none of the pans he took along fit the convex grill plate.
He recalls: “The sea was choppy at that point, and I was already struggling to maintain my balance with the rocking motion of the yacht. I was panicking over the cold sauce, but I had to stay calm outwardly as I was in clear sight of the guests.”
Luckily, he had aluminium foil on hand, which he quickly shaped into a makeshift container to place on the grill, and used it to heat up the pasta sauce.
“I had to keep smiling and assure the client that everything was fine, as he was wondering why I was taking such a long time with the pasta,” he recounts.
At present, he cooks two to three private meals on location a week, for groups of six to 10 diners. For larger-scale events with up to 25 diners, he ropes in his son or former colleagues to assist him with serving and cleaning.
Aside from being a private chef, he also takes on ad-hoc jobs such as working as a demo chef for food suppliers to showcase their products and standing in for restaurant chefs who need to go on a break.
He estimates his annual income is now 20 per cent more than what he used to make working full-time in a restaurant.
“I am not going to get rich being a private chef, but I have a lot of control over my time. Four bookings a month allow me to pay for my family expenses and the costs of running the business,” he says.
He adds: “Initially, when I started going to the swanky homes of my clients, I felt envious of their wealth. But I soon realised that many of them had worked very hard and sacrificed a lot to get to where they are. I am not prepared to sacrifice that much and I am risk-averse.”
Thrifty by nature, he does not own a car and mostly travels by public transport, resorting to private-hire cars only when he has to lug along several bulky bags for his engagements.
“It is not likely that I will return to work in restaurants full-time. Right now, I enjoy cooking for a living without it being a daily grind,” he says, before adding wistfully: “My dream is to be able to cook without thinking about costs.”
Sous chef offers Muslim-friendly private dining on days off
He has a full-time job as a sous chef, but does private dining as a side hustle, serving up Muslim-friendly meals in clients’ homes on his days off.
Mohamed Nabeel Firdaus Aziz says: “My colleagues ask me why I want to cook on my days off, but I enjoy creating and cooking dishes for my clients. I get to plan the menus that I want and sharpen my skills.”
The 32-year-old set up his private dining business called Chef Naughty Rabbit in June 2018, specialising in Muslim-friendly Western cuisine.
His motivation?
“I wanted to break the stereotypical notion that private dining is for the rich and famous and make it more accessible. I also wanted to give Muslim diners a taste of the food I have learnt to cook at Western restaurants,” says the father of one, who works five days a week at beachfront restaurant Canopy Changi Village.
Becoming a chef was not his first career choice. He had initially joined the Singapore Civil Defence Force full-time, as a firefighter and section commander, after serving his national service as a fire and rescue specialist. But eight months in, he decided he wanted to pursue a career as a chef instead.
During national service, he had spent much of his spare time binge-watching reality cooking competition show Hell’s Kitchen (2005 to present), hosted by American celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.
He recalls: “Seeing the chefs yelling, screaming and working under pressure on screen gave me an adrenaline rush. It sparked my interest in kitchen work.”
He enrolled at At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy and obtained a Workforce Skills Qualifications Diploma In Culinary Arts in 2015.
He then successfully applied for a job at Bread Street Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay and worked there for two years, starting from the bottom – peeling potatoes and garlic, poaching eggs and deboning chicken wings. He also learnt how to grind beef for burger patties.
After leaving Bread Street Kitchen in 2017, he worked briefly at a Mexican restaurant where he honed his knife skills, slicing up to 10kg of tomatoes and onions every two days. There, he fell in love with chipotle and the sweet, spicy and sour flavours of Mexican food.
“I was struck by how the three flavours are also key in Malay cuisine and I felt it was something to keep in mind for the Muslim market,” he says.
His friends were the ones who urged him to become a private chef after a week-long trip they took to Bali in May 2018.
He recollects: “Our group of eight rented a villa and I cooked several meals during our holiday. After tasting my food, my friends told me I should consider being a private chef as a career move.”
The name Chef Naughty Rabbit came about as he liked Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and emulated his style of donning sunglasses.
“My friends joked that I was more of a naughty rabbit than Bad Bunny, and the nickname stuck,” he adds with a chuckle.
After Bali, he tested recipes, inviting friends and family to try his food in return for feedback. He registered and launched his business within a month, sank $500 into buying kitchen equipment like a vacuum sealer and sous vide machine, then started accepting bookings on his Instagram page.
In the beginning, he charged $75 a diner for a party of two, but failed to make a profit as he did not know how to calculate serving portions. He also did not factor in transport and other costs. But he took these early tries as opportunities to get customer feedback.
He consistently targeted the Muslim market, as he saw a gap in the private dining market for Muslim-friendly Western cuisine. He sources his ingredients such as beef, spices and sauces from Muslim-owned businesses. As he cannot use red wine vinegar, he uses red grape vinegar for sauces like chimichurri and salsa brava.
As business picked up, he increased prices to make his sideline more viable. Now, he charges $130 to $150 a person for a three-course meal, with a minimum of two diners, along with a transport fee, which ranges from $25 to $50, depending on the location. Most of his customers live in HDB flats or condominiums, and 30 per cent of them are non-Muslims.
He usually gives his clients a list of what he needs ahead of the private dining session. It is a basic list: an electric socket, an empty dining table, some space in the fridge to place the dessert and an empty kitchen sink.
Nabeel packs his gear and ingredients into a large luggage, a cooler bag and a backpack. Items he takes along include dishwashing liquid, dish cloths, cutlery, ceramic crockery, table mats, a small bin and a rubbish bag.
To avoid creating a mess in clients’ kitchens, he keeps his cooking minimalist and simple. The starter is a quinoa salad with chicken, duck or squid. For the main course, he offers a choice of salmon or steak, with mashed potatoes made from scratch. He sous vides the fish and meat at home, adding the finishing touches on location.
To keep his main courses interesting, he varies the sauces and seasoning, such as using charcoal or rosemary salt for steaks. He also keeps dessert simple, whipping up items such as creme brulee, which he torches at the table.
What he enjoys most about his private chef gigs is engaging with customers.
He says: “As a chef in a restaurant, you usually do not get to meet customers. As a private chef, I enjoy meeting people from all walks of life. Some customers dress up even though they are dining at home, because it is a special occasion for them, such as an anniversary or a birthday.”
While he does not supply cakes, he has on occasion provided a candle to adorn his creme brulee and is happy to croon a birthday song.
One of his most memorable engagements was a dinner he prepared for a family of seven in an HDB flat.
When he arrived at the flat, the grandfather was lying in a hospital bed positioned near the dining table.
Nabeel recalls: “My client whispered to me that his father had only a few days left to live, and one of his last wishes was to sit down for a meal with his family. Due to his weak condition, they could not take him out to a restaurant.
“I was shocked, but I held back my emotions to proceed with serving the dinner. I cut his steak into bite-size pieces and his family fed him. He looked happy and managed to finish most of the meal.”
The meal turned out to be the last one he ate in full, flanked by his family. He died a week later.
The client sent Nabeel a WhatsApp message to thank him for making that meal so special.
Nabeel says: “I was saddened, but the experience made me realise that my cooking can make a difference to someone.
“Working as a private chef, I feel it is a privilege to visit people’s homes and see how they live.”
Nabeel, who got married in 2021 and has a 14-month-old son, is happy with his current arrangement of full-time restaurant work, with a steady pay cheque, and private gigs on the side. He hopes to go full-time as a private chef in six to eight years, when he has more savings and cooking skills.
He says with a smile: “It means less sleep for me now, but I get to have the best of both worlds, picking up new culinary skills and techniques at work, and enjoying cooking what I like for my clients in my own time.”
Lovebirds team up to be private chefs
It was love at first taste. He was so smitten with her cooking that professional chef Kent Wong encouraged make-up artist Stella Leung to become a private chef, despite her having zero culinary training.
The pair, who got engaged in May, teamed up in November 2022 to provide private chef services.
Wong, a former hawker from Penang and a sous chef here, specialises in modern cuisine with Japanese and Italian influences, such as his signature dish of sea urchin pudding. Meanwhile, Hong Kong-born Leung whips up Cantonese home-style food, such as slow-simmered soups and braised dishes.
The couple met in April 2022 when Leung dined with friends at a Japanese-Italian restaurant where Wong was working as a sous chef and manager.
A mutual friend, who had organised the meal, invited Wong to join her group of friends for an impromptu supper cooked by Leung after he knocked off from work. The same friend invited him again to dinner the next day, to try Leung’s signature braised crocodile fins.
Wong, 41, recalls: “When I tasted her dishes, I felt she had a natural talent for cooking. She put a lot of heart into it. All she needed was to polish her plating and food presentation skills.”
Leung, 42, came to Singapore in 2006 to work as a make-up artist. She became a permanent resident here in 2008 and started a business providing make-up services and training other make-up artists.
She had picked up Cantonese cooking from her mother and started cooking for herself at age 25, when she took up a year-long diploma course in image styling for performance at the London College of Fashion in Britain.
Her work as a make-up artist here kept her busy until the Covid-19 pandemic ground her business to a halt. To pass time, she started cooking at home and posting photos on Instagram. Her friends started to order food from her, at nominal sums that just covered ingredient costs.
Meeting Wong was a turning point, as he encouraged her to turn her cooking into a career.
She recalls: “He shared with me tips on how to be organised, set up a workflow in the kitchen and better present my food. He also taught me how to plan a menu and price items so I do not make a loss.”
Previously, she would cook by feel and tasting. Wong advised her to write out her recipes, with proper ingredient quantities for more consistency and so she could better plan her inventory.
The two, who discovered that they attended the same church, bonded quickly over their passion for food and their faith, and started dating within a month of meeting.
Wong started in the F&B industry in Penang as a bakery apprentice, before running his own home-based catering business at age 24. He also ran a hawker stall before moving to Singapore in 2010 in search of more opportunities. He obtained Singapore citizenship in 2017.
He worked as an operations manager at a catering company and later ran a cafe, which he co-owned with his Malaysian-turned-Singaporean ex-wife from 2013 to 2019.
Following the closure of his cafe, he started working at the Japanese-Italian restaurant. In 2021, he began offering private chef services on his days off.
When he met Leung, he saw the potential of joining hands with her. In November 2022, he encouraged her to register her private chef and home-dining business, Avodah by Stellamoon, as a sole proprietorship. He works with her in the capacity of an employee, favouring this arrangement over being business partners.
He says wryly: “Things can get messy when you work together and the relationship falls apart. It is better to be clear about financial matters.”
Leung says she was apprehensive about working together at first.
“When we cook together for ourselves and friends at home, Kent is always very sweet and patient with me. But on our first job together, I saw a side of him that I had not observed before.
“He goes into serious mode when it comes to cooking for clients. He can be curt and stern when in the kitchen, and smiles and chats only when engaging with customers,” she recounts, adding that she often resorts to eye rolls to avoid arguing with him in front of clients.
Wong admits it took some effort for them to adapt to working together.
“I sometimes forget I cannot expect her to perform at the pace of a trained chef, and I get edgy when she cannot work faster,” he says.
He adds that he does not apologise for his working style, but to keep the peace, he never fails to thank her for tolerating him after every job.
“It helps that we are both not the domineering type and do not like conflict,” he says.
A year into working together, the pair have learnt to capitalise on each other’s strengths. Leung does the table settings and floral arrangements, while Wong takes care of tasks that require knifework.
They charge a minimum of $600 for a five-course lunch for two to six persons, and $800 and up for a six-course meal for two. There is a transport charge of $120. Rental of crockery, cutlery and drinkware starts at $15 a person.
There is also a clean-up fee, ranging from $100 to $200, for washing plates and clearing the table.
Most of their clients live in condominiums – from studio apartments to penthouses – and landed property. There are occasional bookings on yachts or at corporate venues.
Typically, each month, the couple take on two to three bookings for private chef services on location, and about seven bookings at Leung’s home, a rented apartment in Cairnhill which seats 24.
It is not a business for lightweights, says Leung, who still runs her make-up business by day and is not new to lugging around heavy gear. She can carry up to 25kg of make-up, equipment and accessories, all on her own.
For their private chef gigs, their bags of kitchen equipment weigh around 15kg. Wong lessens their load by arranging with food suppliers to deliver some of the ingredients directly to clients’ homes.
The rule of the trade, says Wong, is to “always expect the unexpected”.
He once cooked on board a yacht which did not have a running tap.
“A few hours before the dinner, the yacht owner informed me that he had forgotten to replenish the supply of water on board and suggested I use sea water for cooking and washing,” he recalls.
He immediately rushed out to buy 10 litres of bottled water, which he carried on board and used judiciously.
The couple also tap their other creative pursuits to enhance the dining experience of their clients.
Wong, who enjoys playing the guitar and singing, entertains clients by belting out a few numbers, on request.
“If the client has a guitar he can lend me, I will perform a few songs with it. If not, I sing along to back-up tracks on my smartphone,” he says.
Leung draws and paints customised menus, which she gives to customers as souvenirs, especially if they are celebrating a special occasion.
Business has been brisk enough for Wong to quit his full-time position at the restaurant in February to focus on being a private chef.
He says: “Ingredient costs are very high, but we save on overheads. It is cost-efficient to cook in other people’s kitchens. We do not have to deal with fixed overhead costs and manpower issues.”
He does not intend to return to a commercial kitchen, because he relishes crafting menus for his customers without constantly justifying his choice of premium ingredients. He also does not miss the politics and toxic rivalry that often come with working in a restaurant.
Being a private chef is more rewarding and less stressful. He used to work 60 to 80 hours a week as a full-time restaurant chef. Now, he works 30 to 40 hours a week, depending on the number of bookings.
Leung is also happy with her current arrangement of being a make-up artist by day and private chef by night.
As she puts it: “I don’t need to be the No. 1 private chef. I just need to be a private chef who delivers my best for each client I take on.”
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