Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Private Chef

Booking a chef for your rental is a little like booking the rental itself. The photos look good, the price seems fair, and the details only surface once you arrive. A short phone call fixes that. These are the questions to ask before hiring a private chef for a Summit County trip, along with the answers that should reassure you and the ones that should make you keep looking.

This checklist is for whoever is organizing the trip: the parent, the friend with the spreadsheet, the person booking a team retreat. By the end you will have a list to work through on one call, and a clear idea of what a good answer sounds like.

Who will actually cook for us?

Start with the person, not the menu. Some services are a single chef, others send whoever is free that night.

How long have you cooked here?

Local experience matters in the mountains. A chef who knows the towns can plan arrival times around snow and traffic, and knows how long dinner takes at this elevation. Our guide on why rental dinners go wrong at 9,600 feet explains why that counts.

The Mobile Chef was founded in 1998 by chef Tom Castrigno, who is its lead chef. You can read more on the story behind The Mobile Chef.

Which towns and group sizes do you cover?

Check that your rental is inside the chef’s area before anything else. The Mobile Chef cooks across Breckenridge, Frisco, Copper Mountain and Keystone, and the full list is on our Summit County service area page. It specializes in smaller groups, which suits most ski houses.

What does the private chef price include?

This is where surprises hide. A per-person figure means little until you know what sits inside it.

Ask these in order:

1. What is the starting price, and what moves it? At The Mobile Chef, menu pricing begins at $79 per person, based on the menu, group size and style of service.
2. Are groceries included? Here they are: pricing includes food costs.
3. Are serving, tax and clean-up included? Pricing covers meal preparation, serving, sales tax and clean-up.
4. What extras may apply? For groups of 6 or more, a server’s fee may apply and a gratuity may be added.
5. Do children pay full price? Children under 12 are half price.

Get every answer in writing. The full breakdown is on the menus and pricing page, and our guide is a private chef worth it on a ski trip weighs the cost against eating out.

Can we see menus, and can you adapt them?

A good chef has sample menus ready and expects you to change them. Ask how many courses come as standard. Every Mobile Chef menu includes a starter, soup or salad, entrée and dessert.

Then ask to see the food. Photos on our gallery of dinners and events and the customer video testimonials on our homepage show real dinners and real guests talking about them.

Will the menu work for children?

If kids are coming, ask how the chef handles them. Simple sides and a familiar main often help, and dining in lets children leave the table when they are done while the adults linger. Ask, too, how children are priced, so the quote matches your headcount.

How do you handle allergies and special diets?

Vague reassurance is not enough here. You want a chef who asks you follow-up questions.

FARE, the food allergy charity, suggests a chef card stating food must be cooked in a clean, safe area to avoid cross-contact, and talking to the chef directly. With a private chef you can do exactly that, well before the date. Name each allergen, how serious it is, and who carries medication.

Our guide to gluten-free, vegan and allergy-friendly private chef dining in Breckenridge covers this in detail.

What do you need from our rental?

Rental kitchens vary a lot, so ask the chef to tell you what matters.

• Arrival time: when the chef needs the kitchen, and for how long.
• Equipment: whether the chef brings pans and knives, or uses what is there.
• Table and seats: whether everyone can sit together, or a buffet works better.
• House rules: check your rental agreement allows an outside chef.
• Clean-up: whether the kitchen is left as it was found.

Our guide to what to expect when a private chef cooks in your rental walks through the evening from arrival to dessert.

How do you confirm, and what if plans change?

Mountain trips change. Flights are delayed, a storm closes a pass, someone gets sick on day two. Ask how the booking is confirmed, what the chef needs from you and by when, and what happens if your numbers or dates change.

You are not looking for a particular policy so much as a clear one. A chef who explains it simply and puts it in your confirmation is a chef who has done this many times. If the answer is vague, ask again before you commit.

It also helps to ask how late the final headcount can change. A group of ten that becomes eight, or twelve, affects both the shopping and the quote.

Good answers vs red flags

The table compares the answers worth hearing with the ones that should give you pause.

Questions the chef will ask you

Have these ready and the call takes ten minutes: your dates, the rental address and town, the number of adults and children, any allergies or diets, and whether you want one dinner or several. If you want more than dinners, ask about multi-day service, which adds breakfast and lunch for stays around Breckenridge and Frisco.

Frequently asked questions