Anonymous
Post 01/19/2025 12:03     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
Anonymous wrote:Does he have any actual experience cooking professionally? Does he know how to thoroughly and properly clean up after himself? There’s a huge difference between someone who just likes to cook for themselves and a pro.


He definitely knows how to clean properly, and has food handler certification because he cooks for a couple programs that serve the homeless. Our family has a younger kid with an allergy so we keep our kitchen 100% allergen free, so he gets the importance of checking ingredients, and is good at substituting.

He has sold some things -- like a set of cupcakes for a birthday party, but that's been a very small part of his experience.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2025 10:04     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
Anonymous wrote:My teen is a really good cook for his age.

We're doing the college hunt, and he is having real reservations about living on campus without a kitchen.

Do you think that people would pay for a college kid to come make a meal for them? Or to stock their fridge with a few things? He'd probably do it for free if someone paid for the ingredients, and let him take a serving home for himself, but I am wondering if it could be a part time job. Like a personal chef but with no credentials.


Has he been formally trained in cross contamination and safe food handling/prep? If not no.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2025 09:48     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
Does he have any actual experience cooking professionally? Does he know how to thoroughly and properly clean up after himself? There’s a huge difference between someone who just likes to cook for themselves and a pro.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2025 09:47     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is this his idea?

If yes, let him plan this out and market it.

If not, why are you inserting yourself like this? It’s his college experience. It’s his skill set. It’s on him to choose how to make money.

Let him pursue opportunities and have a college experience without you hovering.


It is his idea.

Part of planning or marketing someone is learning about the demographic you want to serve, which is probably middle aged moms feeding their families. So, shockingly, he asked the middle aged mom he knows best, and I got curious if it would work and reached out to some other middle aged moms.


So he doesn’t know how to use a computer, or a phone? That’s interesting. He doesn’t know how to pick up the phone and call a few of his parents’ friends, or his friends’ parents? He doesn’t know how to post on DCUM himself? That’s really pathetic. Doesn’t make it seem like he’ll be able to run a business. Oh well.
Anonymous
Post 01/19/2025 09:43     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
Anonymous wrote:My teen is a really good cook for his age.

We're doing the college hunt, and he is having real reservations about living on campus without a kitchen.

Do you think that people would pay for a college kid to come make a meal for them? Or to stock their fridge with a few things? He'd probably do it for free if someone paid for the ingredients, and let him take a serving home for himself, but I am wondering if it could be a part time job. Like a personal chef but with no credentials.


It would be like housekeeper / cook not “personal chef” with no credentials. He would be marketing himself as providing service running errands / grocery shopping, prep/ cook meals. Look at jobs adds at care.com where there is cooking. That’s his market with middle aged moms.

If someone hires him, it will ultimately depend on fit (what they need and what’s he’s willing / able to do, schedules, etc). The “let him take a serving” adds complication to this arrangement.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 23:39     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is this his idea?

If yes, let him plan this out and market it.

If not, why are you inserting yourself like this? It’s his college experience. It’s his skill set. It’s on him to choose how to make money.

Let him pursue opportunities and have a college experience without you hovering.


It is his idea.

Part of planning or marketing someone is learning about the demographic you want to serve, which is probably middle aged moms feeding their families. So, shockingly, he asked the middle aged mom he knows best, and I got curious if it would work and reached out to some other middle aged moms.


That came off as different in the original first post. ?

Anonymous wrote:My teen is a really good cook for his age.

We're doing the college hunt, and he is having real reservations about living on campus without a kitchen.

Do you think that people would pay for a college kid to come make a meal for them? Or to stock their fridge with a few things? He'd probably do it for free if someone paid for the ingredients, and let him take a serving home for himself, but I am wondering if it could be a part time job. Like a personal chef but with no credentials.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 23:31     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’d market to old people. They have the money, flexibility, resources, need the interaction, etc. Yes I think they’d pay for a grocery shopping and meal prep service.


Yes, I know of someone who is sort of doing this. Not for cooking, but for company for their father. But, the person is a college student and gets use of their kitchen and pays very little I'm rent.


I wouldn't hire an 18 yr old college freshman to cook for my elderly relatives. I wouldn't trust him to show up completely sober, to cook to their dietary needs, to not steal from them, to not bring friends with him, etc.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 23:24     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
Anonymous wrote:I’d market to old people. They have the money, flexibility, resources, need the interaction, etc. Yes I think they’d pay for a grocery shopping and meal prep service.


Yes, I know of someone who is sort of doing this. Not for cooking, but for company for their father. But, the person is a college student and gets use of their kitchen and pays very little I'm rent.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 22:24     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
This is a ridiculous ask. Lots of kids like to cook. No one likes dining hall food. But you suck it up until you can move to an off campus apartment or into a suite with a kitchen or whatever. Also he’ll miss out on a lot of socialization freshman year if he opts out of the dining hall (not to mention that both of my kids’ colleges required full meal plan freshman year).
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 22:18     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
I like the idea of working at a catering company.

The rest of this reads “kid who thinks he’s precocious but just wants to mooch off others’ kitchens.”
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 22:11     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
I had a job in a shelter and got to make dinner
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 22:09     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
I would have LOVED to have a college kid come over to my house and make dinner, especially when my kids were young and we were juggling daycare pickups and getting dinner on the table.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 21:07     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
Anonymous wrote:Is this his idea?

If yes, let him plan this out and market it.

If not, why are you inserting yourself like this? It’s his college experience. It’s his skill set. It’s on him to choose how to make money.

Let him pursue opportunities and have a college experience without you hovering.


It is his idea.

Part of planning or marketing someone is learning about the demographic you want to serve, which is probably middle aged moms feeding their families. So, shockingly, he asked the middle aged mom he knows best, and I got curious if it would work and reached out to some other middle aged moms.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 17:17     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
A kid at my daughter's school did this a few years ago. Might be an idea for your son..

https://www.vice.com/en/article/meet-the-21-year-old-running-an-omakase-restaurant-in-his-dorm-room/
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2025 16:41     Subject: Junior personal chef -- would people pay for this?
My dh was like this when we were in college and ended up working for a catering company. He loved it.