The street-tested guide to building a private chef business that actually pays — by a chef who built one from scratch.
By Chef Justin Jennings · Inaugural World Cook Champion · MICHELIN Guide Selected 2024, 2025 & 2026
From the desk of Chef Justin Jennings
Lisbon, Portugal. Sunny and 22°C.
If you want to leave the restaurant grind behind, set your own hours, cook your own menus, and earn more per dinner than most chefs make in a week…
Then this might be the most important book you ever read.
Here's why.
My name is Justin Jennings, and not so long ago I was working 14-hour days in someone else's kitchen. Fixed roster. Fixed menu. Fixed pay. The only thing that wasn't fixed was my back, which was absolutely cooked.
I'd moved from Australia to Portugal with my wife Sofia, chasing a different life. I had skills, I had experience — but I had zero clients.
So I bought a domain name on a whim. privatechef.pt.
That one decision changed everything.
Within months, I was cooking on super-yachts. Inside old castles. For business dinners at the Australian Embassy. At private villas in Cascais where the wine budget alone was more than my old weekly wage.
One solid dinner for 12 people brought in what my former monthly restaurant salary used to — and I was home by midnight instead of closing the kitchen at 2 a.m.
Fast forward to today:
And look — I'm not telling you this to brag. I'm telling you because every single thing I learned building this career is in the book you're about to read.
I wrote it because when I started, there was no guide. No roadmap. No one telling you how to price a dinner for 40 people, or what to do when the client's oven doesn't work, or how to land your first yacht gig.
I had to figure it all out the hard way.
You don't.
114 pages. 15 chapters. Zero fluff. Just the stuff that actually works.
→ Why one dinner for 12 people can out-earn my former monthly restaurant salary — and how to set your pricing so you're never working for free — Chapter 1
→ The honest self-assessment most chefs skip — 7 questions that tell you if you're ready to go independent right now, or what to fix first — Chapter 2
→ How to position yourself as a "premium" private chef from day one — even if nobody's ever heard of you — Chapter 3
→ The exact legal setup, insurance, and contract templates I use for every booking (so you're protected before you light the first burner) — Chapter 4
→ The €400 equipment kit that fits in one rolling bag — everything you actually need, nothing you don't — Chapter 5
→ How to design menus that make clients rebook on the spot — the psychology behind menu pricing, dietary management, and the "wow factor" — Chapter 6
→ Where to find your first 5 clients (and your next 50) — the channels that actually work, ranked by conversion rate — Chapter 7
→ The minute-by-minute breakdown of running a flawless event — from arrival to cleanup, including the 3 things that go wrong every time and how to handle them — Chapter 8
→ How to move from one-off dinners to repeat clients, villa packages, and €4,500/week gigs — the scaling playbook — Chapter 9
→ The burnout trap (and how to avoid it) — managing your calendar, saying no, and building a business that doesn't eat you alive — Chapter 10
→ Real case studies from real private chefs — what worked, what didn't, and what they'd do differently — Chapter 11
→ How to build an online presence that generates enquiries while you sleep — SEO, Google Business, social media, and the one platform most chefs ignore — Chapter 12
→ Word-for-word scripts for handling "that's too expensive" — and the pricing objection that's actually a buying signal in disguise — Chapter 13
→ Running a restaurant AND a private chef business simultaneously — the combo model I use, including scheduling, staffing and cash flow — Chapter 14
→ Going international — how to expand beyond your local market and cook in countries you've never worked in before — Chapter 15
Plus: sample contracts, pricing calculators, menu worksheets, client checklists & supplier lists in the appendices.
→ Are you a home cook who everyone says should "do this for money" — but you have no idea where to start?
→ Are you a restaurant cook sick of 14-hour days, fixed rosters, and someone else's menu?
→ Are you a trained chef who wants the freedom to set your own hours, your own prices, and cook what you actually want to cook?
→ Are you a caterer or food business owner who wants to add private chef services as a higher-margin revenue stream?
→ Are you already doing private chef work but struggling to fill your calendar, price properly, or scale beyond word-of-mouth?
→ Are you a culinary student who wants a realistic picture of what the private chef path actually looks like — the money, the lifestyle, and the trade-offs?
→ Are you living abroad (or planning to) and want to build a location-independent cooking career?
→ Do you want to earn €900-€1,020 from a single dinner for 12 people — instead of grinding for hourly wages?
If you said yes to any of the above, this book was written for you.
That's what you're thinking, right?
"I don't have a MICHELIN restaurant."
"I haven't won a TV show."
"I'm not in Portugal."
Good. Because I didn't have any of that when I started either.
When I booked my first private chef gig, I was nobody. No awards. No restaurant. No following. Just a bloke who could cook and had the nerve to put up a website.
The restaurant came later. The TV show came later. The MICHELIN recommendation came later.
The private chef business came first.
Everything in this book works whether you're in Lisbon, London, Lagos or Los Angeles. The principles are the same. The human psychology is the same. Rich people wanting great food in their own home — that's universal.
Chapter 15 specifically covers going international. I've cooked in countries where I didn't speak the language, didn't know the suppliers, and didn't have a single contact.
If I can do it, you can do it.
And if you try the strategies in this book and they don't work? Email me. I'll personally refund you and you keep the book.
"One solid dinner for 12 people can bring in what my former monthly restaurant salary used to — and I'm home by midnight instead of closing the kitchen at 2 a.m."
— Chapter 1
"I bought the domain www.privatechef.pt on a whim. That one decision changed everything. Suddenly I was cooking on super-yachts, inside old castles, and for business dinners at the Australian Embassy."
— Chapter 3
"Under €400 of equipment fits in one rolling bag. You're cooking in their kitchen, not yours. That's the whole point."
— Chapter 5
"The client who says 'that's too expensive' is often the one closest to booking. They're not objecting — they're negotiating. There's a difference."
— Chapter 13
Because the book alone wasn't enough, apparently.
Bonus #1
Plug in your food cost, guest count and target margin — it spits out your per-person price. The same spreadsheet I use for every quote.
Bonus #2
The actual contract template I use for private chef bookings. Covers cancellation, dietary liability, payment terms. Just fill in the blanks.
Bonus #3
The complete rolling-bag kit list. Every item, brand recommendation, and approximate cost. Under €400 total.
Bonus #4
A minute-by-minute timeline for your first booking. From the client call to the final cleanup. So nothing falls through the cracks.
Find out why private cheffing beats traditional kitchen work — and whether it's right for you.
No spam. No "webinar" upsell. Just the chapter, straight to your inbox.
114 pages. 15 chapters. All 4 bonuses included.
100% Money-Back Guarantee. Try the strategies in this book. If they don't work for you, email me. I'll refund you and you keep the book. No questions asked.
Chef Justin Jennings is the inaugural World Cook Champion (Season 1, Amazon Prime) and the chef/owner of Downunder by Justin Jennings in Lisbon — MICHELIN Guide Selected for 2024, 2025, and 2026.
With 25+ years in professional kitchens across Australia, Hong Kong, and Europe, Justin has run his private chef business full-time for over a decade — cooking in homes, villas, yachts, castles, and embassies across Portugal.
He is the Australian Embassy's preferred caterer in Lisbon, the author of the UNCHOPPED cookbook (229 pages, Amazon), and covers Lisbon, Cascais, Sintra, Estoril, Ericeira, and Setúbal.
He lives in Portugal with his wife Sofia and their two sons.
He is not a consultant. He is not a "guru." He's a working chef who wrote down what actually works.
No formal qualifications required. If you can consistently cook a clean, tasty meal for 8-10 people and handle dietary requirements, you have the cooking foundation. The book covers everything else — branding, pricing, finding clients, running events.
Starting rates: €75-€105 per person for a 3-course dinner. A dinner for 12 guests = €900-€1,020 in one evening. Multi-day villa packages: €4,500+ per week. Most private chefs out-earn their restaurant salary within 6 months.
Under €400. 4 knives, sharpening steel, digital thermometer, portable induction hob, basic tools. Fits in one rolling bag. You cook in the client's kitchen — no commercial equipment needed. Full list in Chapter 5 and Bonus #3.
No. The principles work anywhere. Real examples from Portugal, but the systems for branding, pricing, and finding clients apply globally. Chapter 15 specifically covers going international — I've cooked in countries where I didn't speak the language.
It's written by someone who actually does it. 10+ years running a private chef business, not theory from a consultant. Every chapter has real numbers, real stories, and systems you can copy. Plus working templates in the bonuses.
Email me. I'll refund you and you keep the book. No questions, no hoops, no hassle. I stand behind everything in it.
The clients are out there. The money is real. The freedom is yours to take.
Want faster results? Work with Justin directly →
P.S. In case you scrolled straight to the bottom (I respect that), here's the deal: I'm giving away Chapter 1 of my 114-page book on building a private chef business. It's free. No catch. I also sell the full book — €14.99 ebook, €24.99 paperback. It comes with 4 bonus templates (pricing calculator, contract, equipment list, event checklist). 100% money-back guarantee.
P.P.S. This book is the roadmap I wish I had when I started. I spent 10 years figuring this out through trial, error, and more burnt bridges than burnt soufflés. You get to skip all that.
P.P.P.S. Still here? Alright, I'll make it even easier. Grab the free chapter. Read it tonight. If it's not worth your time, delete it and forget I exist. If it is — and I reckon it will be — you know where to find the rest.