Twelve things worth knowing before you book
Answered off 93 priced menus and 188 ratings
Answered from what the four cooks here publish and what their guests wrote afterwards. Where the record cannot tell you something, the answer says so rather than filling the gap.
How much does a personal chef cost in Calgary?
Between C$100 and C$277 per guest, going by the 78 menus these four cooks publish. The middle of that pile sits at C$176 a head.
The C$100 end is one thing only — Marina Mellino’s batch card, twelve portions cooked to store. Dinner starts nearer C$154, and about seven in ten menus sit between there and C$185. The C$277 end is four courses plated to order.
How much does a private chef cost for one meal?
Multiply the per-guest rate by the number of people eating. Six guests on a mid-priced menu at C$176 works out to C$1,056 for the cooking and the food.
That figure covers the menu itself. Anything on top — a second pair of hands for a big table, a drive out past the ring road, rented glassware — is agreed separately with the cook.
What do private chefs charge in Calgary, and how much of it do they keep?
The rates on this page are what a guest pays per head, not what the cook takes home. Groceries come out of it first, and in Calgary that is the single biggest slice — a menu built on Alberta beef tenderloin or scallops eats its own margin.
After the shop there is prep time before the booking, the drive, an assistant on larger parties, insurance, and whatever the booking channel charges. A chef pricing their own work backwards from these numbers should assume a fair share of the sticker is gone before they turn the stove on.
How much does a private chef make in Canada?
We cannot tell you that from four cooks in one city, and anyone quoting a tidy national salary figure is guessing. What we can show is the going rate where these four work: C$100 to C$277 per guest in Calgary.
Earnings then come down to how many bookings a month a cook fills and how tightly they buy. Nathaniel Davis holds an executive chef post alongside the private work, which is a useful hint about how this behaves as an income.
So is this catering under another name?
Yes. A caterer usually cooks off-site and arrives with trays. These four cook in your kitchen, plate in your kitchen, and serve in courses.
It shows up in the numbers: catering quotes by the platter or the tray, this one counts guests against a menu you agreed first.
Whose kitchen does this happen in?
At your house. A home oven, a working cooktop, counter space and a sink is the usual ask — no restaurant kit required.
Rented houses count. Several of the bookings on the record happened in short-term rentals in the city, and two happened in the mountains.
Is hibachi or teppanyaki on this sheet?
Not from these four. Hibachi is a griddle show — the cook needs a flat-top and an audience arranged around it, which is a different job from a plated dinner.
The nearest thing here is a chef working at your island while the courses come out. Nathaniel Davis builds his fusion menus around sushi and seared fish, if that is the flavour you were after.
What does a personal chef cost per month?
It depends entirely on frequency, and only one of the four lists a menu built for repeat cooking: Marina Mellino’s batch menu at C$100 a head for twelve to twenty portions.
The twelve-portion minimum puts one session at about C$1,200, so a weekly batch split three ways is roughly C$400 a month each. Weekly plated dinners for four at the middle rate would be closer to C$3,050 a month. Neither is a package anybody sells; both are the listed prices, multiplied out.
Can I hire a private chef for one night only?
That is the normal booking. Almost every review in the record is a one-off: a birthday, an anniversary, a company dinner, a weekend away.
Nothing about the pricing assumes you come back, and nobody here sells a subscription.
What about allergies and dietary restrictions?
Well covered. Marina Mellino lists a gluten-free menu outright; Nathaniel Davis marks a meat-free option in every course of his fusion cards, from stuffed peppers through to portobello over truffled risotto; Igor Dudkin builds single-plate courses, which is the easiest format of the four to rewrite around an allergy.
Guests in the review record mention allergies and single-diner restrictions being absorbed by the cook, not itemised. Say it when you first make contact, not on the night.
Do they shop, serve and clean up?
Shopping and cooking, yes — that is what the per-guest price is built around. Service style depends on the menu: plated courses, family style and standing tapas all show up in the record.
Cleaning up comes up in review after review across all four, and hosts describe it in minutes rather than adjectives — counters wiped, dishwasher running, gone about forty minutes after the last plate. It is the single most repeated compliment on this sheet.
Is there a booking window at all?
There is no fixed rule and we will not invent one. Menus are planned between host and cook, so the real constraint is how much back-and-forth yours needs, not a booking window.
One review in the record is a complaint about exactly that: a host who wanted to shape the menu earlier than the chef was free to. Ask about planning time when you first make contact.
The four chefs behind all of this are on the front page, and the working is on the arithmetic.