My husband and I have hired a cook who comes 4 days a week (and when we’re hosting dinners). He’s amazing, does a really good job, we all love his cooking. It’s also really helpful because I get off from my clinic late some days and when I’m back he’s already made the kids a snack like fries or sliders while dinner is being made.
The only issue is this. He really needs the ingredients to be 100% exactly what he needs. Every garnish, every herb. Sometimes I’ll be like its fine that won’t matter we won’t mind without it, and then he kind of gives me a disappointed look and says we need it though and my husband or I or our oldest son will go to the grocery store and get it. WIBTA if we tell him that he has to make do?
Edit for info:
No, he doesn’t bring his own ingredients. We don’t have a preset menu like set in stone but often we will talk about what to make tomorrow. Or sometimes I’ll text him or call him about what he should make.
And just to clarify its not like I would ask him to make a beef dish without having beef. Like we’re stocked up on 98% (usually 100%, its not like we have this problem every day, but often enough that its a bit of a bother) of whatever I ask him to make.I guess my perspective (which I want a judgement on) is that even if I’m the one asking him to cook something, and we have 98% of the ingredients for it, and are saying forget about the 2% but he’s insisting on it, am I in the wrong to tell him just make do with the 98%
There’s not nearly enough information here to understand what is going on. Does he bring his own ingredients? Does he have pre-set menu that you’re then supposed to shop for? Did you hire him with an agreement that he would walk into your kitchen and then cook whatever he could think of using the ingredients you’ve already shopped for?
INFO
I’ve never hired a cook before. I make all my own food.
Does he send you a meal plan / ingredient list in advance? Are you supposed to have all these things ready for him? Because if you’re not doing so, it sounds like you’re not holding up your end of the deal and making an unpleasant work environment.
It depends on what you’re asking him to forego, and also it’s weird to me that the supplies provisioning isn’t part of the meal planning that goes into having a private chef. Why isn’t he doing the shopping or placing the order?
If you’ve specified a menu and then don’t supply the ingredients to make it, then yes YWBTA. But if you aren’t going to add errands to your list to pick up parsley as a garnish, then no YWNBTA. Unfortunately I think it depends on the specifics, including why the ingredient provisioning isn’t a part of the service he’s providing (paid for by you of course).
a good and creative chef should know how to substitute the missing ingredients or work his way around it.
Grocery shopping isn’t part of his duties? I would think a private chef would include that…
Tell him to make a weekly shopping list with everything he will need for the week. Simple solution. Cooking is his job. He wants to excel at it. If someone told you to do your job without all the things you needed and you said, but I need these things to complete my job, and they said deal with it, how would you feel? Many chefs are perfectionists and want everything just so. I’m sure that’s why you and your family love his food so much.
NAH, but it might end up being a mismatched expectations.
He is hired as a professional cook, so he is trying to give professional (restaurant like) quality. You want more of a home cook that you pay to cook for you.
Neither of you is exactly wrong, you are more right because you are the paying customer, but he might not be satisfied with home cooking style and could lead him ultimately to leave the position. he would not be wrong for that.
YTA
What in the actual fuck? You want us to judge whether you are properly managing people who work for you? Obviously you’re not doing it well…
Info- how is the meal planning done? Who is responsible for putting the grocery list together? Are things being missed on a list he’s provided?
Need more into to make an informed decision.
Rich peoples problems.
YTA in my opinion. Like, if you can afford a personal chef you can afford to give him a DoorDash/grocery shopping account where he can get groceries that you don’t have delivered. It just makes sense, especially if he accidentally forgets something, although he should be able to get the supplies in one order without forgetting anything.
This. I’ve never known a cook who wasn’t personally involved in the provisioning process and knows exactly what they have available in the kitchen (or what’s in season) to decide what dishes they can or can’t make with what’s on hand. Either they’re going to the market themselves to pick out exactly what they want and need, or placing the order from the suppliers with signing authority. They might be limited to a set budget every month, but it’s their responsibility to ensure the pantry remains stocked and are planning the meals based on that figure.
There’s no reason a client should be going to a store at the last minute on a regular basis unless you’re deliberately not paying them enough to do the provisioning and maiking substitutions yourself without telling them until they’re already prepping, or you’ve used up supplies on the 3 days they’re off without telling them or replacing it yourself. Either way, it sounds like YTA.
NAH. This sounds more like a process issue so maybe just have a conversation with your chef about setting up a better process to ensure that he is adequately supplied for making meals.
(1) Have him make a list of what his stock ingredients are that are missing from your kitchen (eg cumin, flour, brown sugar, etc). These are things that you should always have in stock in your kitchen.
(2) Have him send you a weekly menu with the ingredient list that you need to purchase. Alternatively, he can schedule a pickup from a store so that you pick it up but he can select the exact ingredients he needs. I find it hard to shop for ingredients that my husband requests (he does most of the cooking) and having the exact item selected makes it so much faster and easier.
After this is ironed out, seems like it will be smooth sailing!
Rich people probs. Can’t relate.