The Secret They Kept.
My first client enjoyed my service so much they wouldn't tell anyone about me...out of shame.
Shirlé in a clients home for a story about her Personal Chef service- The Durham Herald 2002.
When I first met Brad, he was a regular customer of mine, shopping at T’Boli Imports, and was usually buying cards or trinkets for his wife. He was a good looking man, in his mid-thirties with dark brown hair and piercing brown eyes. We immediately struck up a casual friendship discussing what music was on the shops stereo or what current events were going on in the World.
One day, he told me that he and his wife were about 7 months pregnant and that she was freaking out. They were having a hard time trying to figure out how she would go back to work after a 6 week maternity leave. Also, how they would both be able to handle the household chores, make food and get time to rest with having a new baby. When Brad started telling me this, I immediately thought, “How can I pose the idea of me cooking for them?”
You see, I had been using my friends as “faux-clients” for a few months in order to hone my skills as a Personal Chef and to be able to see what cooking in people’s homes would actually be like. I practiced my 5 page client questionnaire on them to find out what they liked or didn’t like. I asked them what cuisines were their favorites, if they had any food allergies or dietary restrictions, what vegetables they hated (did you know that beets are the number one most hated vegetable?) and what portion sizes they expected. They paid for the groceries and I cooked for free. It was the perfect trade. I would then ask them to be as brutally honest with me on whether or not they enjoyed the meals. I was overjoyed that they did indeed enjoy having meals ready for them and their honesty made me a better Personal Chef.
The next day, when Brad stopped into the shop, I asked him if he might be interested in discussing my “side hustle”, a Personal Chef service I had started “a few months ago”. He immediately exclaimed “Yes!” We talked for 10 minutes or so, giving him my “elevator” speech. He said, “I’ll discuss it with his wife this evening.” I gave him one of my newly printed business cards and off he went. I was ecstatic and nervous when he called me that same night. They would be my first official clients! I would actually get paid! The next thing I had to do was to schedule myself off from the imports store on a weekday. That way I could cook for them every Monday, which was easy, because I made the schedule.
I set up a time to interview Brad and his wife, Anna, at their home. I showed up looking as professional as possible in my newly purchased white chef coat and binder in hand. Anna answered the door and welcomed me. We sat at their small kitchen table and discussed all things “food” for about 30 minutes. I created their first menu for them right there on the spot. I then asked if they would show me around their kitchen. I needed to go through my check list with them to make sure they had all the cookery items I would need to execute the cook for them. Pots, pans, utensils, tinfoil, oils, etc… and to scope out the lay of the land. Lastly, I needed to get their house key and alarm code.
The were excited, but I think I was more excited! They would become my first weekly clients. Every Monday I would be at their house for 4 hours making Brad and Anna their meals for one week. I charged them by the hour plus the cost of groceries. Because of this, I learned to be extremely efficient with timing. I had based their cost on a 4 hour cooking window, barring anything out of the ordinary happening, so I didn’t want to go over the estimated time.
The following Monday, I began my first cookdate for them while they were at work. I went to the Harris Teeter, a North Carolina based grocery store in the morning, around 7:30 am. I purchased everything I would need to make their menu. After shopping for them I arrived at their house at 9 am. The kitchen was a bit of a mess. Dirty morning dishes in the sink, bread crumbs on the counter, along with piles of old mail and such. I hadn’t discussed with them that I would need the counters to be clean and cleared of all clutter and the sink to be empty. So, I made a mental note to add that to my list of things to discuss with them next time. Their kitchen was very small, in fact, so small they didn’t have a lot of counter space at all. I ended up using their kitchen table as a holding station for the groceries for the cook. As I was finishing each meal, I then used the table as a cooling station. I got everything cooked, packaged and labeled in the 4 allotted hours I had promised. I remember how internally I screamed, “I did it!!”
I left them the menu sheet, as well as, a nice card welcoming them to their newly found ‘free time” and flowers in a vase. I also set the kitchen table for them, so that they could simply choose one of the meals, reheat it and sit down and enjoy dinner.
That night, after they got home, I got an email from Anna saying, “We are so happy with the first night’s meal, and the flowers were so sweet, as well as that card, and we feel so spoiled!” I ,too, was so happy for them.
The following Friday, I sent them the next menu and they replied that everything had been so delicious that week and that this service was a Godsend. Also, they mentioned, again, how spoiled they felt. Anna said that they should be able to do this one thing for themselves - cooking dinner - but were happy that I offered this service.
They approved the new menu I had sent over on Friday and on Monday, I cooked for them again…and again…and again, for two years. I began making baby food for Lisa, their toddler, as she started eating solid food. Once, when Anna was home, she told me that they just couldn’t let anyone know, not even their family, that they had a Personal Chef helping them with meals. Anna said, that when her parents would come to visit she would tell them that SHE made all the food. I asked how that went over and she said that they “had no idea Anna was such a great cook!” I was a bit shocked that they wouldn’t even let their own parents know, but something inside them associated guilt and shame concerning this arrangement…yet they continued on with the service.
Another time, they had a dinner party inviting a few couples. As you might imagine, they had me make everything that day, then leave 30 minutes before the guests arrived. I timed it so that she would be pulling the main course out of the oven 30 minutes after their arrival. This went on for years.
I asked them if they wouldn’t mind taking in some of my brochures to their law offices, as both were lawyers, and they hedged an answer. I left a stack with them in hopes they would spread the word, but no deal. They just couldn’t do it. I had to take matters into my own hands and come up with a way to get the word out.
I devised a plan of action where I would write a press letter about my business and send it out to all the local papers and news stations. My background in DIY advertising for my band’s gigs and all the press letters I had written were helping me realize I could do the same kind of guerilla marketing with this business. The press letter went something like this:
‘Just Imagine…A weeks worth of dinners, made to your specifications, cooked in your kitchen and ready to eat when you need them. FFC Personal Chef Service does just that! Chef Shirlé can accommodate any dietary need from Weight Watchers to South Beach to those with various food allergies, picky eaters or just good old meat and potatoes diets! From a large family to a small tribe or singles on the go, FCC Personal Chef Service can meet any of your culinary needs for LESS than what you might think! Chef Shirlé has been a Personal Chef for the Triangle area helping busy families EAT HEALTHY homemade meals AND have the TIME to enjoy life. Give FCC Personal Chef Service a try and contact Chef Shirlé today!’
From that one letter I received a call from a journalist from the Durham Herald. She was very intrigued and hadnt’t heard about a service like this before and thought it would be a great idea for new families or the elderly. We talked for about an hour as she interview me, then they sent a photographer out to, little did they know, my sole client’s house to take pics of me cooking, and VIOLA! Within two weeks of that article coming out I had 14 new clients! And, on top of that, I had to figure out how to cook for more than one client a day… AND I needed to figure out what to do about my job at the Imports store.1
Boy! I didn’t know it at the time, but I was about to take off with no landing strip in sight. All of this happened, at the same time, that the “dot.com” bubble was about to burst. My now husband, David, had gotten laid off from his internet job a few months later and decided he wanted to go to school for something new called Web Design. We devised a plan where I would get a part-time job while still cooking for my clients, so that I could pay our bills while he went to school. The next 2 years none of my friends saw me at any parties or events, other than my bands gigs, as I was working three jobs to make ends meet for us.2
As luck would have it, the imports store was closing down, so I just had to wrangle my schedule as best I could until it shut the doors, which wasn’t much longer after that article came out. The Universe indeed works in mysterious ways.
Besides my personal chef clients, I got a part-time job at a chain store called Organized Living, which I affectionately called Agonized Living, where I was the manager of the office furniture section. That job only lasted 6 months (my shortest job ever) because the manager had an issue with me having , what he called “That little catering thing you do. Oh, and you need to curb that band thing”, to which I told him “I QUIT!” and walked. The next part time job was at a delightful place called ECKO furniture, where I was the assistant manager selling IKEA style furniture. I loved my co workers and won most of my furniture in sales contest over the 2 years I was there. I also worked nights at a vegetarian restaurant called The Greenhouse Cafe where I was the evening executive chef. David started working front of house to be able to spend more time with me. Those were good times, although I worked my ass off to get us to David’s graduation. In the end, it was worth it. The day after he graduated he had a job already lined up at a great firm, and I started my life as a full time Personal Chef.