A boutique placement agency for UHNW families and luxury estates, founded by a private chef to billionaires for 19 years and headquartered in Palma de Mallorca.
Montclair Chef is a private chef placement agency specialising in Michelin-trained chefs for UHNW families and luxury estates across the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Monaco. Founded in 2022 by Chris Demaillet, a chef trained under 3-Michelin-star chef Michel Roux OBE at The Waterside Inn and private chef to billionaires for 19 years, the agency provides up to a 6-month replacement guarantee on Executive placements.
Montclair Chef was founded by Chris Demaillet, a chef trained in 3-Michelin-star kitchens under Michel Roux OBE at The Waterside Inn, who then spent 19 years as a private chef to billionaires across estates, superyachts, and private jets worldwide.
That world demands more than culinary skill. It demands precision, discipline, discretion, and absolute confidentiality. Those are the standards every Montclair Chef placement is measured against.
In 2026, Chris authored The Private Chef Guide, the industry's reference on building a career in private dining.
Read Chris's full story, from the Loire Valley to billionaire households →
The best private chefs are almost never on job boards. They are already working inside UHNW households, and they move through personal recommendation, not applications.
Our founder built and still runs the largest online communities of private chefs and yacht chefs, which gives Montclair Chef direct access to working, passive candidates: chefs who are not looking, but who will listen when the right household comes along. Other agencies may post in these communities. The chefs know who built them.
Many of the chefs in our network are people our founder trained alongside or worked with during 25 years in professional kitchens and private service. That personal trust is something a job board cannot generate.
Every chef goes through full employment-history review and direct reference verification with previous UHNW households when possible. All candidates can sign an NDA before any introduction.
Beyond credentials, we assess what CVs cannot show: judgment, discretion, and emotional intelligence. A private chef lives inside your home and your routines. The ability to read a room, adapt without being asked, and stay invisible when needed matters as much as what happens on the plate.
Chris personally ensures each chef meets his standards before entering your home.
Montclair Chef delivers a curated shortlist of personally vetted private chefs within 14 days of your consultation. Fast enough to be useful, careful enough to be credible.
We do not forward CVs. Every candidate you see has been interviewed, matched against your household's specific requirements, and confirmed available and genuinely interested in your role. Paid trial days in your home follow before any commitment.
Our Story
Watch this short video from our founder about why Montclair Chef exists and what makes us different, in Chris's own words.
I needed a way to connect with chefs like me, professionals trusted to serve the world's most powerful families. What began as a private network became a placement tool: first for the chef teams I managed, then for the high-profile families and representatives who started asking for help directly.
The demand kept growing, so I transformed it into the service Montclair Chef is today, run by a small, founder-led team operating globally from Palma de Mallorca.
Read more about Chris's 19 years in private service and Chris's story.
That's how Montclair Chef was born.
Montclair Chef only places full-time private chefs for UHNW households. Knowing what we do not do is the fastest way to understand what we are.
Montclair Chef works with principals and their spouses, estate managers, family offices, personal assistants, and superyacht owners' representatives. Some hire for a single residence. Many run multi-residence households that need one chef moving between properties and seasons.
We place across the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Monaco, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. See our locations, explore our chef placement services, or review private chef salary benchmarks by market.
Montclair Chef is a boutique private chef placement agency for ultra-high-net-worth families, family offices, estates, and superyacht owners. It was founded in March 2022 by Chris Demaillet, a Michelin-trained chef who spent 19 years as a private chef to billionaires, and is headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, with placements worldwide.
Chris Demaillet grew up in France and started cooking in the Loire Valley at 14, before moving to the United Kingdom to train under 3-Michelin-star chef Michel Roux OBE at The Waterside Inn. He then spent 19 years as a private chef to billionaires on estates, superyachts, and private jets worldwide, and is the author of The Private Chef Guide. Read his full story.
Yes. Montclair Chef is a founder-led agency established in 2022, with a 5.0 Google rating and clients across the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. Our founder's work has been featured by Business Insider, Tom's Guide, Real Simple, Allrecipes, Chowhound, Dockwalk, and Superyacht Content. See our full press and media coverage.
Montclair Chef is chef-founded and places one role only: the full-time private chef. Most agencies staff every household position; we do one thing at the highest level. Our founder built and still runs the largest online private chef and yacht chef communities, which gives us access to working chefs other agencies never see. There is no job board. Every introduction is personal and vetted.
Every chef goes through full employment-history review and direct reference verification with previous UHNW households when possible. All candidates can sign an NDA before any introduction. Beyond credentials, we assess judgment, discretion, and emotional intelligence, because a private chef works inside your home, not just your kitchen.
No. We place private chefs in UHNW households, not chefs in restaurants. Many of our candidates trained in Michelin-starred restaurants, but private service is a different profession: one family, daily consistency, discretion, and life inside a home rather than a service kitchen. That difference is exactly what we vet for.
No. We do not place butlers, housekeepers, nannies, estate managers, or yacht crew, and we do not staff events, short-term engagements, or meal-prep services. Full-time private chef placement is our only service. See our chef placement services.
Start with a confidential consultation. Tell us about your household, residences, and requirements, and we deliver a curated shortlist of personally vetted chefs within 14 days, followed by paid trial days in your home before any commitment. Schedule a consultation.
We are not a generalist recruitment agency. We are a boutique chef agency—built for those who demand the very best.
Our sole focus is sourcing and placing world-class chefs across private residences, superyachts, estates, family offices, and luxury events. We understand the industry from the inside because we’ve lived it.
Every chef personally vetted · Up to 6-month replacement guarantee · Complete discretion
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