From Canadian Business Online, April 28, 2003.  Written by Alicia Androich

Kitchen confidential
Recipe for a home-cooked meal: hire a personal chef


When Gord Baker and Meredith Agnew start their hectic day, the last thing on their minds is what's for dinner. "I don't have time in the morning to think about anything other than getting up and going," says Agnew, a stockbroker at Research Capital in Toronto. When they finally get home after 10-hour days, neither has the energy to fuss in the kitchen. So they've enlisted personal chef Terry Henderson to cook for them every six weeks. "Now I don't stress about food," says Baker, a broker and trader at Octagon Capital. "I just eat it."

For time-starved executives, the personal chef is a worry-free way to avoid the takeout trap. These culinary pros will do your grocery shopping, cook your food and leave several servings in your fridge or freezer to enjoy at your convenience. They even clean up their--well, your--messes.

Henderson, who cut his culinary teeth at the Mayfair Hotel in London in the 1970s, has been running his personal chef company, ChefByNite, since 1998. Over the past few years, he's witnessed a boom in the market. Five years ago, he says, there were about 10 personal chefs across the country. Now, the Canadian Personal Chef Alliance (CPCA), which he founded in 2001, has ballooned to 150 members--most of them willing to make house calls. Business has never been better for Henderson and his cooking comrades. But it's also never been more complicated, given some of the diets the upper classes are following these days.

Before you dig in to a home-cooked meal, you'll have to meet with your personal gourmet to talk about your tastes, and any dietary requirements or allergies you may have. (Try the CPCA's Web site, [http://www.topchefs4hire.com], for chefs in your area, or ask colleagues for referrals--word-of-mouth advertising is the norm for these freezer-friendly cooks.) Next, your prospective chef will visit your home to inspect your stove before you determine how frequently he'll chop and sauté his way through your kitchen.

Sure, it's nesting for lazy executives, but who needs to live up to impossible standards of culinary genius when you can hire somebody not only for everyday meals, but for in-house entertaining? "People spend a great deal of money on their homes, but they don't want to stay in all day and cook," says Mark McEwan, owner of Toronto restaurants North 44¼ and Bymark, who has catered for his fair share of high rollers over the past 10 years. Surprisingly, today's lukewarm economy hasn't frozen the demand for these services. Peter Carruthers of Presidential Gourmet Fine Catering in Markham, Ont., says that many of his 900 customers are willing to dish out, even in lean years. "When markets go down, you need to get more in touch with your clients, not less," says Carruthers, whose company has annual sales approaching $4 million.

Presidential Gourmet has served meals to gastronomes in their wine cellars, where guests dine at a table nestled among row upon row of vintages. An air of extravagance is a key ingredient to a successful soiree. "It's what you see and how you feel that makes an evening, as opposed to just what you put in your mouth," says Pooneh Baghai, an associate principal at consulting firm McKinsey & Co. in Toronto, who has attended several Presidential Gourmet events over the past five years. In order to create the right atmosphere, your culinary wizard will size up your kitchen and dining room, and suggest the appropriate china, linen and flowers. Sometimes an entire event, from initial communication to putting food on the table, can be co-ordinated in 48 hours--not bad if you get an unexpected visit from a client you want to impress.

Of course, whether it's a quick freezer meal or a catered event, there's always the question of what to serve. The average omnivore presents few problems for the personal chef, and Henderson's regular clients tend to request old- fashioned comfort foods for their freezer meals. These include curries, chicken pot pies and casseroles, which are hearty and easy to heat up. Another favorite is grilled herb peppercorn-crusted chicken with red currant jelly, which can be warmed and served in 20 minutes. Michael Bonacini, who co-owns upscale Toronto restaurants such as Auberge du Pommier and Canoe Restaurant & Bar, and co-hosts Cook Like A Chef on Food Network Canada, says that cheese courses are a big hit these days, especially with catered meals. "It's as if people have discovered cheeses and ports," he says.

Ethnic foods are also becoming staple menu items. Nassim Rowhani, owner of Urban Chef, a freezer meal service in Vancouver, offers numerous ethnic dishes, such as Cuban-style chicken sautéed with jalapeno and green peppers and simmered with black beans, spices and tomatoes. Asian meals, loaded with ginger, garlic and fresh vegetables, are also growing in popularity, even in the Prairies. "Alberta has always been a meat-and-potatoes kind of province," says Darryl Bennett, the owner of Calgary-based Chef for Hire. "But a lot of people are now ordering more stir-fried items."

Fish and seafood are perennial favorites on any menu. Last October, Carruthers prepared Digby scallops on wontons for the Queen during her visit to Toronto. Although halibut and shrimp remain popular for in-home gatherings, Carruthers has recently noticed that more clients are asking for lamb. He prepares the meat with a crispy coating of pistachios or macadamias, then roasts it in herbs and olive oil and serves it with coriander and mint chutney. (Don't worry: your personal trainer can help you work it off.)

Of course, the life of a personal chef was simpler before the latest barrage of diet crazes came along. Plans like Atkins and the Zone are all the rage with celebrities, from Catherine Zeta-Jones to Jennifer Aniston and hubby Brad Pitt. While you may not be famous enough to afford a whole entourage, at least in a personal chef you'll have one professional catering to your palate. Someone like Rowhani often has to adhere to the food- combining principles of the Zone regime. Her solution: tangy baked fish with veggies, or a spicy seafood casserole. Calgary's Bennett also offers modified versions of Zone-friendly meals that will include a little more starch. For instance, he'll make whole wheat, rather than bleached pastas and rice. Among his famous clients, Henderson prepared all of Denzel Washington's meals when the actor was in Toronto filming John Q a few years ago. Washington followed the Eat Right For Your Type plan--which holds that your blood type dictates what's the best food for you. (Scrapbook item for Training Day fans: Washington has blood type A.)

Chefs, if not doctors, still recommend giving in to the temptation of a delicious dessert--like, say, one of Henderson's banana bread puddings with caramel sauce. "If you're eating really healthily otherwise," reasons Carruthers, "when you call in a chef, maybe it's time to indulge."

Healthy eating may slim clients' waistlines, but how much weight does it take out of their wallets? Prices for personal chefs run the gamut, depending on ingredients and the frequency of visits. Henderson charges $225, plus groceries, for his standard service, which consists of 20 meals--four portions of five different entrées, plus side dishes. That works out to about $15 per meal. Catered meals start from $40 per person, says North 44¼'s McEwan, and go up to $100 for more exotic offerings. The cost of wait staff, bar service, plateware and other extras will also boost the price. If you're looking to quaff a rare bottle of wine with dinner, you may end up spending as much as $350 a guest, says Carruthers.

That said, a truly gratifying dining experience is priceless, especially if you spend the day chained to your desk, like Baker and Agnew. (They both usually wolf down a quick breakfast or lunch while working.) The dinners Henderson leaves in their freezer are the only meals they get to savor at their own pace. "Working couples for sure should be using a personal chef," says Baker. "It's a no-brainer." So save yourself the time and hassle of making a meal from scratch and enjoy the fruits of someone else's labor. "There are very few things better than sitting down and having a wonderful meal," says Bonacini. "In Europe, they do it with gusto and a great deal of excitement, and today in North America we tend to go through everything like a buzz saw. It's a shame." With the right personal chef--and enough coin, of course--it doesn't have to be that way.

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