Become A Personal Chef

Have you ever stopped to think about how ridiculously lucky we are to love food right now? For most of human history, dinner was determined by geography, season, preservation, wealth—and sometimes simple survival. Today? We complain when the supermarket is out of cilantro. In Episode 42 of The Become A Personal Chef Podcast, Louie Montan takes a trip through culinary history - from cooking over primitive fires and eating beside the Nile, through smoky medieval taverns, spice routes, sailing s...

Being a talented cook may get you hired but becoming an operator is what helps you build a personal chef business that lasts. In Episode 41, we talk about the moment every personal chef eventually faces: realizing that cooking is only one part of the job. Behind every successful cook day are menus, shopping, scheduling, client communication, payments, containers, travel, boundaries, follow-ups, and dozens of decisions nobody warned you about. You’ll learn how simple systems can reduce burnout...

If you’re listening to this episode, you didn’t just find the show — you stayed. This milestone episode closes out the first 40 conversations of The Become A Personal Chef Podcast by zooming out and reflecting on what this journey has really been about. Not tactics. Not hacks. But identity. Across these episodes, we talked about calm as a professional skill, boundaries as respect, systems as relief, and the quiet intimacy of working in someone else’s home. On the surface, it sounded like busi...

There’s a phase almost every personal chef goes through. I call it the nice phase. You’re flexible. You’re accommodating. You don’t want to scare anyone away. So you say things like: “I’ll just figure it out.” “Don’t worry about it.” “We’ll play it by ear.” And slowly… quietly… that niceness starts costing you. Payments drift. Schedule changes become casual. Groceries get fuzzy. And you start hearing: “Oh, I didn’t realize that wasn’t incl...

No one tells you this when you become a personal chef: the job isn’t just about food. It’s about stepping into other people’s lives—their routines, pets, habits, surprises, and most meaningful moments—and doing your work with grace. In this episode of The Become A Personal Chef Podcast, Louie Montan shares real stories from inside client homes that reveal what personal cheffing actually feels like: the intimacy, the humor, the trust, and the quiet responsibility of being a professional ...