Private chef

Zsolt Litauszki (33) had been one of the great promises in the profession, but he has chosen to close his restaurant in spite of a very good start. This is why we have asked two well known chefs to share their opinion regarding the position of private chef with us. In the opinion of Tamás Bai, chef of Hotel Caramell in Bükkfürdő, working for a private kitchen can be a great opportunity for development if the chef is motivated because he has far more freedom to experiment and far fewer things to worry about than chefs in charge of cooking for a restaurant or hotel. Chefs heading private kitchens also enjoy a great degree of independence and do not have to worry about the prices of ingredients. However, some compromises need to be made. ”According to Gábor Merczi, executive chef of Kensington Close Hotel in London, becoming a private chef is not really what star chefs dream about. – Chefs have enlarged egos and want to prove their excellence to as many people as possible. This is why star chefs will not work for a single person or family only. However, there are no star chefs in Hungary, only good chefs who all have their price – he says. Becoming a private chef is a fine opportunity for chefs who want to make a lot of money without working too much, but it is by no means a professional challenge. It’s all about money. If somebody has the money to employ a private chef, he is also likely to spend on whatever equipment the chef wants to have or whatever ingredients he wants to use.