Marshall Haas with his family.
Marshall Haas
Marshall Haas is the CEO of Shepherd, an agency that helps companies find overseas talent.
He hired a personal chef from a local Facebook group for around $2,200 a month.
Haas said it has been one of the best decisions he has made recently.
Wrangling two kids under three while trying to cook is tough at this stage in life.
My day job is working as the CEO of Shepherd – we help business owners delegate and outsource parts of their business to scale and save money. I figured I should try the same in my home life.
This year, I promised myself that I would pay for help around the house. Eight weeks ago, I finally did. I hired a personal chef for my family — and it’s been the best thing I’ve delegated recently.
We’ve saved so much time without having to think about what to cook or where to eat. We’ve also been enjoying healthy meals all week. Overall, hiring a personal chef has improved our quality of life.
The best part is that hiring a personal chef is not as expensive as you’d think. Our chef comes on Tuesdays and does a full day of cooking in our kitchen. Here’s how much it all costs on average:
Labor: Around $260/weekGroceries: Around $300/week
In all, it only costs us about $2,200 per month to have a personal chef. Prices fluctuate weekly depending on meal complexity and grocery cost needs.
Our spending on eating out has gone down because of this, so the total cost of hiring a chef is netting out to be a bit cheaper than I originally expected.
Our chef cooks in our kitchen for the entire day. She arrives at 10 a.m. and is done by 5 p.m. She typically makes:
Two breakfast optionsTwo lunch optionsFour dinner optionsThe braised short ribs prepared by Marshall Haas’s personal chef.
Marshall Haas
Overnight oats for breakfast.
Marshall Haas
Chicken piccata.
Marshall Haas
Lamp chops.
Marshall Haas
The dinners are full meals that we can eat on a couple times throughout the week. This feeds a family of three: myself, my wife, and our three-year-old son (my daughter is not eating solids yet). We eat all of it throughout the week.
How it works
We found our chef from a local Facebook group. I used Google, Yelp, and local Facebook groups. I narrowed the search down to three candidates and found ours through a neighborhood Facebook group.
Each week, our chef creates a menu and texts it to me and my wife. Sometimes we request adjustments based on what we’re feeling.
Our chef then buys the groceries on our behalf and bills us later. After cooking, all dishes are in the fridge with labels, and she leaves the kitchen spotless. We no longer have to think about what’s for dinner — we know that there’s always something healthy and delicious for us in the fridge.
Our chef does this for other families and also does larger parties and catering.
The Haas family’s kitchen.
Marshall Haas
There are obvious downsides
But there are obvious downsides — it’s costly, and there’s no denying that. Price was a big consideration for us. I met with chefs whose prices ranged from $20 an hour to $100 an hour. In the end, we had the best feelings about Chef Rachel and felt she had a fair price.
We’re also locked into those meals all week. This means we would eat foods that perish faster, like fish, earlier in the week, and save items that keep better later in the week. This might not be ideal for those who want to eat something different for every single meal.
Another less obvious downside is that we have someone taking over our kitchen for an entire day. To allow the chef to work efficiently, I basically stay out of the kitchen while they’re there. While we get along well with our chef, it’s worth noting that having someone in your house all day is something to consider. You’ll want to trust them and get along with them quite well, especially if you work from home like me.
In a perfect world, we’d prefer our chef to come daily or every other day, but that was too cost-prohibitive for us.
If you can hire a chef, do it
As new parents who also run businesses of our own, things can get pretty hectic in our household. That’s why having a personal chef has been the best investment for us.
Aside from having healthy meals all week, we’ve also been able to buy back precious time. If you can hire a chef, do it. For me and my family, it’s the best investment we will make this year.
Marshall Haas is the cofounder and CEO of Shepherd, a headhunter agency that helps companies find overseas talent.