Community Chat

[august_1]

Hi, All - No, I'm not super-duper wealthy, but to celebrate my DH's 60th birthay, we're celebrating with our kids, kids-in-law, and grandkids by having a private chef come to the home (our son's, not ours) to prepare a meal for all of us. My DH is the cook in the family, so we thought this would be a big treat for him to have someone else come in and do the cooking for a change; and we think this will be much easier than trying to get everyone, including the toddler, out to a restaurant for a nice meal.

The cost for this is really extremely reasonable for what it is! My question is....does anyone have any idea what an appropriate tip would be for this kind of dinner? It's just the one chef--no sous chefs or other helpers. He's charging a per-person price that covers the food, the "cheffing" work, and the kitchen clean-up.

I've tried googling this and see that some people suggest that it's not necessary to tip a private chef...that their fee is set to cover their expenses plus their time. I do want to give him a tip, though. At a restaurant, we generally give the typical 20%...maybe rounding down a little or closer to 15% if the service hasn't been "all that." Do you think 20% tip for an in-home chef's meal would be a good amount....or would you say something more like a flat $75 or $100 (or whatever).

We've never done this before and I'd love your thoughts or suggestions, especially if you HAVE done this! TIA!