Private Chef FAQ: Everything You Need to Know Before Hiring

We work exclusively with ultra-high-net-worth families, family offices, estate managers, directors of residences, chiefs of staff, executive personal assistants, and trusted advisers acting on behalf of principals. Our clients typically maintain one or more luxury residences and need a private chef who can operate at the highest level of household service.

This website is intended for principals, private estate managers, and family offices seeking private chef placement services. If that describes your household, you are in the right place.

Yes. Full-time, permanent placements with single households are the only type of engagement we run. We do not place event chefs, catering staff, part-time cooks, personal chefs who work across multiple clients, or general household staff of any other kind. No catering. No daily-hire. No housekeepers or butlers.

That focus is not a limitation. It is why our placements work. A specialist who places one role for one type of household understands that role completely. Most agencies that have failed you placed private chefs as a sideline to their main business. We do not. Private chef placement is the whole business.

Our core markets are the United States (New York, the Hamptons, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Palm Beach, Aspen, and Texas), the United Kingdom (London including Mayfair, Belgravia, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, and Kensington, plus the Cotswolds, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, and Hampshire), and Europe (Monaco, the French Riviera, Geneva, the Swiss Alps, and the broader Mediterranean).

We also coordinate international placements for families maintaining residences across multiple countries. See all the markets where we place chefs.

A private chef works full-time for one household, available daily as part of your staff. A personal chef serves multiple clients and visits on a scheduled basis to batch-cook meals. UHNW families typically require a private chef for availability, consistency, and discretion. If you are considering which arrangement your household actually needs, read our full comparison: private chef vs personal chef.

We verify culinary background, confirm references from previous UHNW households directly, and conduct background verification covering identity, employment history, and credentials. Every chef is assessed personally by our founder Chris Demaillet, who spent 19 years as a private chef to billionaires at this level. He is not evaluating candidates from a job description. He is evaluating them against his own direct experience of what private households actually require. Candidates can also sign an NDA before any introduction to your household.

Most are Michelin-trained or hold equivalent fine-dining backgrounds. Our founder's background in Michelin-starred kitchens gives us strong connections to elite culinary talent. All candidates have verifiable private household experience. We do not place chefs directly from restaurants into their first private role. The transition from a professional kitchen to a private household requires a fundamentally different skill set, and we only introduce chefs who have already made that transition successfully.

Yes. We match against your actual requirements from the outset. Our chefs are experienced with medical diets, food allergies, religious requirements including kosher and halal, and lifestyle protocols from anti-inflammatory and keto to plant-based nutrition, longevity-focused nutrition, and athletic performance diets. For households with complex travel schedules or multiple residences, we source specifically for chefs experienced in maintaining the same standard across different kitchens and countries.

Yes, though we protect client confidentiality and do not name principals publicly. As one example: a three-generation UHNW family with multiple residences had been through three agencies before reaching us. Previous agencies kept sending chefs focused on complex fine dining. The family needed simple, healthy meals for three generations. We matched them with a Michelin-trained chef with farm-to-table experience and a warm, family-oriented temperament. That chef now manages culinary operations across all three of the family's residences.

Verified client reviews from directors of residences, chiefs of staff, and executive PAs are published on our website and on Google.

Staff integration is assessed during vetting, not assumed. During consultation, we discuss your household dynamics, staff protocols, and the working environment the chef will join. Our chefs have proven experience working alongside estate managers, housekeepers, security teams, and nannies, maintaining the discretion and service standards required in UHNW environments. A chef who cannot operate within a structured household team is not a candidate we place, regardless of their culinary credentials.

Your household is never named to candidates without your explicit consent. Candidates receive only what they need to assess genuine interest in the role: a description of the position and the type of household, without identifying details. All candidates can sign a confidentiality agreement before any introduction. We do not publish client names, household details, or any information about your residences, schedules, or staff at any stage.

Discretion is a core part of our vetting criteria, not an afterthought. Our chefs understand how to work quietly and professionally within a private home. All high-profile placements through Montclair Chef include comprehensive confidentiality agreements. Whether you have a home office, take calls throughout the day, or require minimal disruption, discretion and professionalism are standard. Candidates can sign NDAs before any introduction to your household.

The household employs the chef directly. Montclair Chef is a placement agency. Once the placement is confirmed, the employment relationship is between your household and the chef. In the United States this is typically W-2 employment. In the United Kingdom, PAYE. In Europe, the equivalent local employment structure. We provide guidance on employment structure during the placement process and recommend working with your own legal team on the final contract, particularly for multi-country arrangements.

Yes. We are accustomed to working alongside family office legal teams, household lawyers, and security advisers who have additional vetting requirements. If your household has specific protocols around new staff introductions, background verification processes, or NDA structures, we work within those frameworks. Introduce us to the relevant contacts and we coordinate directly.

Yes. Your private chef works exclusively for you, so they prepare whatever your household needs: daily family meals, business lunches, client dinners, or corporate entertaining at home. Many of our clients also employ their chef through a family office or company, which may allow the cost to be treated as a business expense. Your chef adapts to your lifestyle and your schedule.

Yes. We place chefs for kosher and halal households and have candidates with verified experience in both. Kosher placement requires more than culinary knowledge: it requires familiarity with kitchen organisation, sourcing protocols, and the specific requirements of the household's level of observance. We discuss those requirements in detail during the brief and source only against candidates who have worked in comparable households before.

Yes. This is one of our most active placement categories. Many of our clients have principals following specific longevity protocols, working with nutritionists or physicians, or maintaining high-level athletic training programmes that require precise nutritional management. We place chefs who can operate within those frameworks and coordinate with the household's medical or wellness team. See our health and nutrition chef placement page.

Some of our placements involve chefs who split time between a private residence and a superyacht, or who cook on board during the principal's seasonal use of the vessel. This is a distinct requirement: provisioning at sea, working within a yacht crew structure, and managing galley logistics are different skills from estate cooking. We source specifically for candidates with both private household and marine cooking experience. See our yacht chef placement page.

Yes. Our chefs prepare kid-friendly meals alongside adult dining, accommodating different tastes, schedules, and nutritional needs. They coordinate seamlessly with nannies and household staff to ensure mealtimes run smoothly for the whole family. For households with children who have serious food allergies, we treat allergy management as a primary filter in the sourcing process, not an afterthought.

We factor language into the sourcing brief. French, Spanish, Italian, and English are the most common language requirements we receive. For less common language requirements, sourcing may take longer and the candidate pool will be smaller. We tell you that honestly at the outset rather than presenting candidates who do not meet the brief.

Yes. We are happy to discuss the market, salary benchmarks, and what to expect from a search without any commitment. Many of our clients have their first conversation months before they are ready to hire. When they are ready, they understand exactly what they are looking for and the search moves faster. Contact us for a confidential consultation at any stage.

Through a specialist agency with direct access to elite culinary talent. Montclair Chef was founded by Chris Demaillet, a Michelin-trained chef with 19 years as a private chef to billionaires. We maintain relationships with top culinary professionals, many of whom you will not find on job boards, and connect households with Michelin-trained candidates suited to their specific requirements.

A private estate chef manages your household's entire culinary operation: menu planning, sourcing premium ingredients, preparing daily meals for the family and staff, accommodating dietary needs and preferences, coordinating with other household staff, maintaining kitchen organisation, and managing suppliers and the household food budget. For families with multiple residences, they travel between properties and maintain consistency wherever the family is. The role is considerably broader than cooking dinner.