Tips for Better Profiles

Add more detail

Tell us about yourself and your food. Recount food memories that tell the story of your unique culinary identity. Don’t just tell us what you love to cook, tell us why!

Boring Titles are Boring.

Naming your profile “Pretty Good Private Chef” isn’t going to turn any heads. You don’t need to tell us that you’re a chef. It is a “Chef Profile,” after all. Use your title to convey something about your flavors, your heritage, your demeanor, and whatever it is about you that sets you apart from everyone else in the kitchen. Still having trouble? Don’t sweat it, you can always change your title when something catchier comes to you.

Here are some of our favorites:

• I Speak for the Vegetables
• Badass Blender Woman
• Hundred Spice Malaysian Chef

Only use GREAT pictures!

We all have smartphone photos of delicious food we’ve made or eaten. While these shots are great for reference or fond food memories, they don’t make a great impression on potential customers.

When a user looks at your profile, they’ll be judging your food by what they see. Why not have your food look its best? We recommend that you upload only high-resolution digital images that are landscape oriented, and cropped (if necessary) to fit in a 1240 x 900 window. Make sure to caption your pictures and provide photo credit where applicable!

Include action shots!

Beautiful food pictures only tell half the story. Less than half, even. When a Kitchensurfing user books a chef, they are inviting that person into their home and their kitchen. It only makes sense that they should want to get to know you a bit first. Pictures of you will do the trick, and pictures of you in the kitchen are even better! Great action shots will help potential customers feel comfortable with your food, your process and your presence in the kitchen.

Add sample menus!

Every chef is different. Add sample menus with price points included to help educate your customers, giving them a point of reference for how much a given experience is likely to cost.

Your menus should be meals you would actually want to cook, labeled with accurate prices (e.g. “from $75 for 5-15 guests”). Describe the individual courses in detail, or offer options. Details help customers understand what they will be paying for, while encouraging them to think creatively about the meal. Ideally, you will be working with your client to create a perfect menu through feedback and collaboration. Sample menus are a natural starting point for this process.

Use your “Cooking Style” to define the type of requests you would like to receive.

If chills run down your spine at the thought of a 200 head fundraiser, you don't want to receive requests for that kind of event. How would you avoid such a thing? Again, the details will save you.

If you are more interested in intimate, 8 person dinners, just say so! Use the “cooking style” field to describe your favorite kind of meal in terms of cuisine and atmosphere. If your food is rich and pairs well with romance, make sure we know. If you cook bold flavors fit for beer drinkin’ fun, let your people know!

Hundred Spice Malaysian Chef - Auria A.

fresh takes on real food. - Clare L.

Set a reasonable Hourly Rate.

We’re not here to tell you what to do. You are free to set your price at whatever level you feel is fair for your services. If you do find yourself receiving a low volume of requests, try reducing your hourly rate by $5-10. Remember, we expect our chefs to bill for all hours spent on preparation or shopping/provisioning, so those few bucks could very well come back to you when you bill for the full number of hours you put into designing and executing a meal.

Shop around!

Kitchensurfing has hundreds of chef profiles, including yours. There’s no harm in taking a peek at a few others to see what looks good to you, what works, and what doesn’t. Watch and learn from the best profiles at the top of our “recommended list.”