Service Component

Details

Initial client assessment

Once you have decided to try Herb’n Gourmet personal chef service – or if you need reassurance prior to taking this step – an introductory meeting with the chef at your residence is scheduled. This allows opportunity for mutual interview, and the chef to

• profile/review your lifestyle, dietary requirements, taste preferences and sensitivities, as well as budget and preferred vendors for grocery shopping;
• assess your kitchen equipment, pantry stocks, storage materials, and cleaning supplies; and
• gain an insight to the general meal strategy, to be fully developed later for each service with your input, that will meet your needs the best

By taking the initiative to truly understand your meal needs and desires, Herb ‘n Gourmet personal chef service creates meals that are both best-tasting and best for you overall. The more thorough the pre-service consultation and the more information that is exchanged and gathered, the more likely this goal is smoothly achieved in the very first service. You may elect to pre-fill the client questionnaire and e-mail it to the chef in advance of the in-person meeting to increase both its effectiveness and efficiency.

Unlimited meal selection and continued personalized recipe development and menu planning for each service session

With information gathered from the client interview, your chef will gain a clear understanding of what a personalized menu strategy for you may or should look like. However, you remain as involved in the planning process of each service as you like, by determining whether to select entrees and a la carte items from featured menus, provide favorite recipes for the chef to use, otherwise identify food items for guided development by the chef, or give the chef free reins to independently design a custom menu subject to your approval. All entrees – whether featured, adopted, adapted, or developed – will be nutritionally balanced to include components of protein, vegetable, and starch (as specific diet allows), either entirely integrated into one dish or paired as main and side dishes. Portions will be generous unless the client desires strict portion control.

Because recipes are easily modified to be vegetarian, low-fat, and/or low-salt, diets under these regimens are accommodated without additional service fee. However, highly specialized diets – such as low-cholesterol, low-calorie, vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free, kosher, raw, diabetic, Weight Watcher, The Zone, South Beach, and Atkins – that come with more complex guidelines and greater ingredient restrictions, are assessed an additional development fee of $40 per service date.

Same-day grocery shopping to ensure the freshest ingredients

Grocery cost is separate from the service fee. As general practice across diet types and budget levels, only all-natural, chemical- and preservative-free ingredients are utilized, with exceptions made for certain products (cured meat etc.) at client’s discretion. Ingredients are also procured as local and organic from famer markets and natural food stores as client preference/budget and season allow. Every effort is made to gather the best ingredients for your budget value to maximize flavor and nutrition.

Travel to/from client residence

Food preparation using client’s kitchen and available equipment and supplies, supplemented as necessary by those from the chef’s mobile kitchen kit.

Upon the chef’s arrival on the day of service, your kitchen counters, sinks, dishwasher, and dish rack should be clear and clean, and there should be sufficient refrigerator and freezer storage space for the foods to be produced.

Active work time in the kitchens varies from a few hours to a full day – depending on the number, complexity, and servings of entrees and a la carte items requested. The client needs not be on site for the entire duration, and can even instruct the chef to enter and exit independently upon establishment of a working relationship.

Meal service depending on client presence and preference within the service session.

Food packaging, labeling, storage, and specific written reheating instructions.

Upon the completion of food preparation, enough serving portions for the next 3 days are placed in your refrigerator, and the remainder placed in the freezer (for later consumption at your leisure in the next 1-2 weeks, and even up to 3 months). Food is packaged according to your use portions – individual, couple, or family-style. Suitable storage containers and bags that you have readily available will be utilized to the full extent practical, although permanent ovenproof serving dishes and Pyrex glass containers with covers/lids are highly recommended for their portability between kitchen elements (fridge/freezer to microwave to oven to table to dishwasher), nonporous surface that does not stain, leach, or retain order, and durability, with added bonus of visibility in the case of Pyrex. For a nominal fee, Herb’n Gourmet will procure and supplement your storage materials as necessary and according to your preference with permanent containers, semi-disposable containers (Rubbermaid, Tupperware), or disposables (aluminum pans).

Thorough kitchen clean-up