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What is a Personal Chef?
"A Personal Chef is someone in charge of the kitchen who prepares palate specific meals for their
clients to enjoy later. A Personal Chef helps families gather around the table for meals, allows
singles to eat healthier, and couples to enjoy a quality time with food they love. Busy, time-starved
families hire a Personal Chef in order to eat better and enjoy food prepared just for them using the
freshest meats and produce, herbs, and just the right amount of spice. First, a Personal Chef will
complete an interview to customize meals, determine dinner time favorites, discuss allergies and
dislikes, and then shop for the freshest ingredients. After shopping, the Personal Chef cooks
delicious meals in the home of their client complete with heating directions.
Personal Chefs customarily work for several clients, unlike a Private Chef that works for only one
client. Personal Chefs are known for custom in-home catering, commercial kitchens offering clients
delivery services, party assistance, special additions like holiday cooking, baking, prepped meals,
and HMR (Home Meal Replacement)."
excerpt from of http://personalchefsnetwork.com
"A Personal Chef is someone in charge of the kitchen who prepares palate specific meals for their
clients to enjoy later. A Personal Chef helps families gather around the table for meals, allows
singles to eat healthier, and couples to enjoy a quality time with food they love. Busy, time-starved
families hire a Personal Chef in order to eat better and enjoy food prepared just for them using the
freshest meats and produce, herbs, and just the right amount of spice. First, a Personal Chef will
complete an interview to customize meals, determine dinner time favorites, discuss allergies and
dislikes, and then shop for the freshest ingredients. After shopping, the Personal Chef cooks
delicious meals in the home of their client complete with heating directions.
Personal Chefs customarily work for several clients, unlike a Private Chef that works for only one
client. Personal Chefs are known for custom in-home catering, commercial kitchens offering clients
delivery services, party assistance, special additions like holiday cooking, baking, prepped meals,
and HMR (Home Meal Replacement)."
excerpt from of http://personalchefsnetwork.com
| About Chef Jennifer Palmer Owner and Executive Chef of Anna's Kitchen Personal Chef Service About 15 years ago, I sat down with my best friend and designed a business plan where we could cater to families and do small dinner parties where the feeling would be one of family. Small and intimate is what we were going for. We wanted to provide it all - from shopping to cooking to cleanup. Anna's Kitchen Personal Chef Service is the result of that business plan. As busy as we all are, people don’t have the time to prepare regular family meals or entertain as much as they’d like to. That's where Anna's Kitchen Personal Chef Service can help. The name for the business belongs to my daughter who inspires me to carry out my dream. The kitchen is the center of our family and of our home. I want to share that Philosophy with everyone I have the pleasure of cooking for. . I knew from an early age that cooking was to be my calling. Influenced by family, cooking was something that was done together and meals were a time to share one another’s company and reflect on the day. My education began even before I had completed secondary school working at a renovated historical Victorian home called The Elm Hurst Inn in Ontario, Canada. The chefs at the fine dining restaurant and banquet facility gladly took me under their wings to guide and instruct me. In 1991, barely eighteen years old, I left there to run a smaller kitchen at The Clog and Thistle. It was a crash course in time and staff management as well as food costing and the pressures of a full service restaurant. |
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Anna's Kitchen
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While enjoying great success running The Clog and Thistle Restaurant, I knew that my education
was incomplete. I traveled to the Canadian Rocky Mountains where I was fortunate enough to be
hand selected to join an apprenticeship program with top European Chefs at the Banff Springs
Hotel in Banff, Alberta, a five star hotel. I was able to attend college for the Culinary Arts in Calgary,
Alberta as part of the apprenticeship program. The training was emphasized by hands on practical
experience led by German, Swiss, Italian and Japanese Chefs.
My classical training served me well as I expanded my knowledge base at the Walt Disney World
Swan Hotel in Orlando Florida in the pastry department. Working under a Master Pastry Chef I was
able to gain first hand knowledge of wedding cake design, building memorable cakes for would-be
brides and grooms.
I took some time away from the culinary world to begin a family and gain knowledge of the business
world. Cooking however always remained my passion. While still working a 9-5 office job I began to
moonlight as a caterer for friends and family as favors. I even arranged to provide cooking lessons
at a local church so I could keep doing what I love to do.
Family has brought me to the Louisa area where I am enjoying life in a rural setting. It is not without
the love and support of family that I would be able to make this journey that is Anna's Kitchen. Every
experience in life is a stepping stone that leads us toward our ultimate goal. Anna’s kitchen could
not be what it is without those experiences and enables me to bring it all to the chopping block,
sauté pan and pastry tray.
I look forward to getting to know your family as we design your family's meals together. Anna's
Kitchen is the newest member at the family dinner table.
was incomplete. I traveled to the Canadian Rocky Mountains where I was fortunate enough to be
hand selected to join an apprenticeship program with top European Chefs at the Banff Springs
Hotel in Banff, Alberta, a five star hotel. I was able to attend college for the Culinary Arts in Calgary,
Alberta as part of the apprenticeship program. The training was emphasized by hands on practical
experience led by German, Swiss, Italian and Japanese Chefs.
My classical training served me well as I expanded my knowledge base at the Walt Disney World
Swan Hotel in Orlando Florida in the pastry department. Working under a Master Pastry Chef I was
able to gain first hand knowledge of wedding cake design, building memorable cakes for would-be
brides and grooms.
I took some time away from the culinary world to begin a family and gain knowledge of the business
world. Cooking however always remained my passion. While still working a 9-5 office job I began to
moonlight as a caterer for friends and family as favors. I even arranged to provide cooking lessons
at a local church so I could keep doing what I love to do.
Family has brought me to the Louisa area where I am enjoying life in a rural setting. It is not without
the love and support of family that I would be able to make this journey that is Anna's Kitchen. Every
experience in life is a stepping stone that leads us toward our ultimate goal. Anna’s kitchen could
not be what it is without those experiences and enables me to bring it all to the chopping block,
sauté pan and pastry tray.
I look forward to getting to know your family as we design your family's meals together. Anna's
Kitchen is the newest member at the family dinner table.
| Serving: Albemarle Fluvanna Louisa Orange Spotsylvania Central VA |
Photo Courtesy of The Central Virginian Newspaper