PLACEMENTS
Live-In & Long-Term Private Chefs in Cape Town
A chef in your household, placed properly. Bespoke terms, quoted after a consultation.
Fixed itemised quote before you pay a deposit · Reply within 1 hour, 08:00–20:00 SAST.
A live-in private chef is a long-term placement in your household: a professional chef who cooks daily for your family, estate or residence, on terms built around your life. Placement terms are bespoke and quoted after a consultation — we publish no indicative figures while our placement model settles.
What a live-in placement is
A live-in private chef is a long-term placement in your household: a professional chef who cooks daily for your family, estate or residence, on terms built around your life. Placement terms are bespoke and quoted after a consultation — we publish no indicative figures while our placement model settles.
This is a different discipline from event cooking. Consistency matters more than theatre. The right chef learns the household's rhythm — school weeks, training diets, fasting periods, guests at short notice — and holds it without being managed.
Households that come to us tend to share a profile: principals who travel, families with full calendars, estates that entertain regularly. What they want is not a performer but a professional who treats the kitchen as their post, week after week.
Three placement tiers
Every household runs differently, so placements fall into three broad shapes. Scope, hours and live-in terms are defined in the consultation and written into the placement agreement.
Some households start with one shape and move to another — a family placement that grows into a live-in arrangement over a season. The agreement is reviewed at set points, so the placement can change as the household does.
- Live-In: the chef resides on the property and covers all daily meals
- Estate: a chef plus support staff across larger properties or multiple residences
- Family: a part-week rhythm for households that want most dinners handled
How placement works
It starts with a brief: household size, dietary landscape, weekly rhythm, travel patterns. We shortlist from our vetted bench, and you meet the candidates properly — at a trial dinner cooked in your own kitchen, not across a desk.
Once you choose, we handle the machinery: payroll, contracts, leave cover and compliance sit with us, not with you. If the fit is wrong in the first weeks, we replace the chef. The goal is a placement you stop thinking about, because it simply works.
Expect the process to take weeks, not days. A brief this month, trials across the next, a start date that respects notice periods. Households planning a December start should begin the conversation in spring.
What we handle, what you decide
The division of labour, agreed up front:
Included
- Handled by us: vetting, references and trial dinners
- Handled by us: payroll, contracts and compliance
- Handled by us: replacement cover for leave and sick days
Quoted separately
- Decided with you: hours, live-in terms and travel expectations
- Decided with you: menu culture, budgets and grocery accounts
- Decided with you: start date and review points
On pricing, honestly
Long-term placements vary too much for a rate card: a part-week family placement and a full estate placement are different products. Every proposal is quoted after a consultation, in writing, itemised. No published bands, no invented figures — just a real number once we understand the household.
What we can tell you now: the quote separates the placement fee, the ongoing monthly line, and any trial or travel costs, so you can compare it properly against hiring privately — where payroll, vetting and replacement risk sit with you.
For shorter stays
If you need a chef for a holiday rather than a household, the villa chef service covers daily and weekly stays with published rates. Every chef on our bench — placement or event — passes the same vetting standard, documented on our how-we-vet page.
And if you are weighing a placement against simply booking villa-style days on a recurring basis, tell us. For some households the recurring-booking model is genuinely the better fit, and we will say so.
In writing, not in vibes — read the full booking protection terms.
Questions, answered.
Anything else? One WhatsApp message is enough — reply within 1 hour, 08:00–20:00 sast.
Related services
Tell us the date, the guests and the place.
We handle everything else — menu, shopping, cooking, service, cleanup. Guaranteed.
Replacement-or-refund · Fixed itemised quote · Published cancellation tiers