Full-Time Private Family Chef

Job Title: Full-Time Private Family Chef

Reporting to: The Principals and/or House Manager

Start: ASAP

Location: Chapel Hill, NC

*Must be local and live within a reasonable daily commute; no relocation offered*

Core Schedule: Mondays through Friday; will not be required to stay for after-dinner clean-up, as this can be completed the following morning; must be flexible to work occasional weekends and assist with catering for family gatherings and entertaining

Salary: $130,000 - $175,000/per year, dependent on experience

Benefits: Medical stipend, PTO, sick days, main federal holidays (although must be flexible to work if needed); plus, a discretionary yearly adjustment and bonus

The Family: Husband, wife, 3-year-old, 1-year-old; both sets of grandparents live nearby

The Staff: House manager, and various third-party vendors, including a cleaning service

Travel: Available for domestic and international travel as needed (although this is not often). When the family travels without requiring the Chef's accompaniment—for example, during their annual extended trips to China—the Chef will continue working, preparing meals for the grandparents and, on occasion, a close family friend who lives nearby.

The Role

A family in Chapel Hill is looking for a long-term chef who can become a trusted part of their household and take ownership of food, nutrition, and meal logistics for their family. Both parents are co-founders of the same company and are looking to take the daily mental load of food completely off their plates.

Their ideal outcome is a chef who gets to know their family so well that they can confidently plan the week’s menus with very little input from them. They want someone who can anticipate their preferences, nutritional needs, schedule, and routines and proactively manage this area of our lives. The chef should thoughtfully design meals around the family’s needs and goals while still making food that’s genuinely delicious.

The chef is someone who combines strong culinary skills with a thoughtful understanding of nutrition, wellness, family life, and flexibility. A useful way to think about the role may be less “formal private chef” and more “family food lead.” The goal isn’t restaurant-style service. The goal is to help their family eat better, feel better, reduce decision fatigue, and make food a more joyful and nourishing part of daily life.

The family loves variety and get bored eating the same things over and over. They’re adventurous eaters and enjoy discovering new dishes, ingredients, and flavors. They especially enjoy Asian, usually Chinese, but will also enjoy Mediterranean, Turkish, Middle Eastern, Indian, and other global cuisines. They’d love a chef who enjoys introducing variety and creativity into everyday meals rather than relying on a small rotation of recipes.

The kids are much pickier and currently prefer simple, familiar foods. That said, they’d love to find someone who enjoys working with young children and can help gradually expand their palates over time, exposing them to new foods and flavors in an age-appropriate way. The chef will also take ownership of school lunches and snacks once both children are in school.

They would appreciate having food support on weekends, though they don’t necessarily expect the chef to work weekends. The idea is for the chef to think creatively about this, whether that means having prepared components, freezer meals, easy weekend meals, lunchbox backups, or a rotating “food safety net” so they still have good options on the chefs’ days off.

The chef should be flexible & accommodate real-life family schedules. One of the biggest subtleties of this role is that their plans change frequently, often the same day. The chef should be comfortable with a flexible schedule and able to adapt to last-minute changes. For example, the grandparents may spontaneously decide to dine with the family, requiring the chef to adjust meal quantities, or the family may decide to go out for dinner, and maybe that food becomes lunch the next day, a weekend meal, or something stocked in the freezer. While some schedule changes are planned, some may occur with only a few hours' notice.

Key Responsibilities*

Please find the primary responsibilities outlined below:

*Please note the below list is not exhaustive.

Shopping & Meal Preparation

• Sourcing and purchasing high-quality local sourced organic ingredients for the week’s meals and snacks and ordering those items which cannot be sourced locally
• Managing kitchen equipment and supplies
• Ensuring home is always stocked with basic groceries and snacks
• Communicating with the principal to create menu ideas and coordinate the week’s schedule
• Regularly researching best in class suppliers and negotiating best prices for organic and seasonal produce

Family-Style Cooking

• Preparing fresh meals for the family daily
• Breakfast for 2 adults and 2 children; Lunch for 3 adults and 1 child; Dinner for 2 adults and 2 children
• Dinner is typically around 5:30pm
• Preparing snack sand baked goods as needed
• Happy to engage the children in cooking and baking
• No formal service or plating required, they prefer family-style and keeping things casual

Health & Dietary Considerations

• Husband has elevated triglycerides
• Wife is lactose sensitive
• Wife is sensitive to spicy foods
• Wife has GERD / acid reflux

Cleaning

• Tidying the kitchen and dining area after meal preparation and ensuring all food prep (i.e. equipment, ingredients, etc.) is stored in the appropriate location and nothing is left out
• Minimizing waste and recycling where possible
• Ensuring the refrigerator and cupboards are kept clean and very organized and that unused food items are discarded weekly, liaising with the housekeepers as appropriate
• Caring for and maintaining all cooking equipment to a high standard
• Suggesting new equipment that would contribute to efficiency and quality of preparation of meals
• Dinner is typically around 5:30pm; there is no need to stay for after-dinner clean-up, as this can be completed the following morning

Expenses

• Keeping within budgets set by employer
• Recording all expenses
• Submitting receipts promptly
• Being efficient with costs without compromising on quality

Requirements:

• A clean valid driver’s license, must have own car to get to/from work and food shopping
• Must live within reasonable commute distance from Chapel Hill, NC
• Legally able to work within the United States
• Happy to travel domestic and international if needed
• Must be culinary trained
• Must have a strong understanding of nutrition and be able to create healthy, well-balanced meals without compromising on flavor
• Must be kid-friendly
• Excellent references required
• Clean background check (criminal, driving record)
• Confidentiality/non-disclosure agreement