Personal chef service cooks up culinary delights

GH business dishes up healthy

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

Have you thought about coming home to a freshly prepared, home-cooked meal specially cooked to your family’s taste preferences and nutritional needs?

That’s exactly what personal chefs do.

Like little elves, they come into the kitchen, whip up a slew of delicious meals and have them neatly packaged and ready to warm up when their clients are ready for dinner.

“My office is your kitchen,” said Marci Emery, owner of Marcel’s Personal Chef Service in Gig Harbor. “I prepare meals to my clients’ specifications. They could have special dietary needs; they could have allergies or other health issues. They may be on a diet and the meals have to be under a certain amount of calories. I get down to what they like.”

Emery said personal chef businesses are on the rise due to the fast pace of modern life and the lack of available time people have to spend cooking. Her typical clients include a family of four or a two-income couple who are very busy.

“I have clients that just don’t like to cook,” she said. “It’s just not their forte.”

Emery said private chefs are usually employees who work for one family and prepare their meals each night, but personal chefs are self-employed, show up during the day at a person’s home and prepare meals in advance for a certain block of time, usually a week or two, for families.

“A lot of times, I don’t see my clients during the week,” she said. “Some tell me the only way they know I’ve been there is the kitchen is cleaner and the refrigerator is full.”

Emery brings her own equipment and shops for groceries.

“I bring my kitchen to theirs,” she said. “All they need to supply is the appliances. This takes the worry out of ‘What’s for dinner?’ They don’t have to resort to fast food­; they’ll have healthy meals available right away.

“We want to get families back to the dinner table.”

Emery prepares the food and stores it in a refrigerator or freezer. She leaves the client a list of the items she has prepared and heating instructions for each dish.

“It’s not like heating up a jar of spaghetti,” she said. “We use the freshest meats, fruits and vegetables we can find. I sit down and have an interview with each client, so everything is customized. Some people have kids that are big breakfast-eaters. Others like desserts. We are very flexible to do just what the clients want.”

The personal chef business is also a custom fit for Emery. She has been in the culinary business all her life in “every aspect of the food industry,” from diners to fine restaurants, to country clubs.

Emery has a degree in food nutrition and technology and a degree from the Culinary Business Academy in Oakland, Calif. She was the Director of Food Services at the Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church in Gig Harbor for two years before launching Marcel’s Personal Chef Service in January.

Emery decided she wanted to be a chef when she was 12.

“My first cookbook was a Peanuts cookbook,” she said. “I still use recipes from it.”

Emery said despite her business being new, it is doing well. Along with her regular clients, Emery can cook up specialities for weddings or help out on occasions when people may not be able to cook due to illness or injury.

She also offers gift certificates to give to friends or loved ones.

“I am happiest when I’m in the kitchen,” she said. “And to be able to prepare food for people and have them enjoy my cooking is truly a bonus. I have the culinary background, so this career is a great fit for me. I’m so happy I found this industry.”

Personal chef service

Marcel's Personal Chef service can be reached at 253-279-3309 or on the Web at www.MarcelsPCS.com.

Reach reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.