Kitchen confidential: call in the pros; Personal chefs aren't just for the Westons anymore — more and more busy Torontonians are ready to pony up

by ALEXANDRA SHIMO for a SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

For most of us, a typical week is one of painfully early mornings and overflowing inboxes. This year, Aisha Umar found a way to make those back-to-work stresses much easier to swallow. Her secret: the multitude of magnificent meals sitting in her freezer.

“Tonight, we'll have a fish casserole. When we wake up tomorrow, we'll eat a spinach and cheddar quiche for brunch. And then for dinner, we'll have a beef stew with a baguette. I love it — it's all home cooking, but I'm not the chef.”

Rather, like a growing number of Torontonians, she invited a professional into her kitchen. On Christmas Eve, Ms. Umar's personal chef came to her house, cooked Christmas dinner — turkey, sage stuffing and candied yams — and froze meals for the next two weeks.

Whenever Ms. Umar or her six-year old daughter Yasmin are hungry, they simply choose a dish and heat it up.

Personal chefs were once considered the domain of the fabulously wealthy. Today, as the stock market hits new highs and house prices continue to rise, a growing number of Torontonians are choosing to spend on this time-saving luxury. Like Ms. Umar, a sales director at Microsoft and a single mom, most are working professionals who value their time, and are prepared to a pay a premium for the hours they gain.

Ms. Umar, who lives in a four-bedroom house near Don Mills and Lawrence, says she used to think that personal chefs were strictly for the affluent — a group she didn't consider herself a part of. When she first called Terry Henderson, who runs Chef by Nite, “I thought Terry would laugh and hang up on me when I told him my budget,” she recalls. “Now, I depend on his service, and my life would be much more stressful without it.”

For a family of four, Mr. Henderson charges $300, plus the cost of groceries, to prepare enough dinners to last two weeks. The dishes, like portobello mushroom lasagna with garlic bread or beef Stroganoff, are designed to freeze well and microwave easily. Clients can also choose or modify their own menus.

Many personal chefs have moved on from catering parties and other special events — still a prominent part of the business — into creating meal plans.

Ms. Umar felt that her time was worth the money; she first hired Mr. Henderson six months ago, when she decided she wasn't spending enough quality time with her daughter.

Mr. Henderson says her attitude reflects a significant shift in his client base. “When I first started in this business in 1998, I would cook for very affluent people — dentists, doctors and lawyers,” he says. Today, his clients are “people from all walks of life,” including a teacher, a massage therapist and a computer programmer. “What they all have in common is they are busy, hard-working people who care about eating right, and don't mind spending a little bit more to do it.”

The number of Torontonians prepared to hire a personal chef has rapidly grown in the past year, Mr. Henderson says. With 100 people on his books, the chef cannot take on new clients at present, and has a two-month waiting list for first-time consultations.
 
His company's growth is typical of the industry at large, says Sonia Thapar, president of the Canadian Personal Chef Alliance, the largest organization of its kind in the city. Its membership is up 50 per cent this year, to about 100 members in the Greater Toronto Area from single figures five years ago.

“The industry has really taken off this year,” Ms. Thapar said, citing successful promotions to middle-class consumers through the Canadian Automobile Association and catered dinner party packages sold at Shoppers Drug Mart. “We are really seeing the benefits of that marketing. The service is becoming much more mainstream.”

Customers such as Jennifer Farkouh, who uses chef Janet Craig of The Satisfied Soul, see it as a matter of convenience rather than a luxury. “If you say personal chef, people think it is really elitist,” said Ms. Farkouh, who looks after her three children full-time and is busy renovating her 2,200-square-foot house near Yonge and Eglinton. “They think it means you must have your own chef who cooks just for you. But it's not like that at all.”

Indeed, some clients never see their meals being cooked; they'll leave the keys for their chef, who arrives to spend four or five hours in the kitchen while they're at work. Others will have chefs come in the evening, Ms. Craig says; some are territorial about their kitchens, and will hover over her or try to help cook.

Joanne Sedlacek, another client of Mr. Henderson, heard of his services by word of mouth. Ms. Sedlacek does not have children, but found working long hours managing a customer-service department left her little time to shop and prepare food. Prior to hiring Mr. Henderson, she tended to eat takeout or pizza.

“I enjoy good food, and that's why I would not be satisfied with a frozen TV dinner every night,” said Ms. Sedlacek, speaking from the two-bedroom house in East York where she lives with her partner. “That's why I spend the extra money.”

She relishes the service, but does not discuss it among her friends. “I'm an average person,” said Ms. Sedlacek, who works for a U.S. bank in Toronto. “But if you are a humble person, then saying that you have a personal chef can come across as quite pompous. So I don't really think of it as having a personal chef. I think of it as just another way of buying healthy, delicious food.”

Both Mr. Henderson and Ms. Craig are keen to appeal to more middle-income earners. For Ms. Craig, targeting the masses is a matter of marketing. When clients are hesitant to spend the extra money, she encourages them to use their time wisely, and compares herself to a cleaner, albeit a highly skilled and fairly expensive one.

Mr. Henderson goes one step further. When his clients are uncomfortable about his service, he removes the magnetic signs advertising his personal chef business from his van before reaching their homes. “I think some worry the neighbours might think they are too lazy to cook their own food if they use my service,” he said. “I tell them it's not about laziness. It's a matter of valuing your time.”