Grueling hours, stifling pressure and a lack of autonomy are leading more chefs to pack up their utensils and head to the lavish . According to the American Personal and Private Chef Association, there are 10,000 personal chefs working in the U.S.
—a number set to double over the next five years. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, 4,500 restaurants have closed in New York, Eater reported, forcing many chefs to turn to the Upper East Side and a world of beach houses in the Hamptons. On , some are transfixing viewers with videos of their grand dinner parties and meticulous meal preparations.
spoke with three chefs who left New York kitchens and embraced the freedom of private cheffing. Rebecca Moran, 26, ( ) is one of the many chefs who left the searing scene of New York during the pandemic and decided not to return to the line. "Being a woman played into it," she said, adding that it was "hard to have a voice in the kitchen; everyone has a very loud kitchen.
I like to listen to what everyone else has to say." Moran trained at the Culinary Institute of America, including a three-month stint in Cape Town, South Africa. After graduating in 2019, she had planned to work in kitchens for five years, but during successive pandemic lockdowns, she decided to become a freelance chef.
Though she briefly returned to a restaurant kitchen for four months, Moran realized her purpose lay in the freedom of working for herself. While working as a chef de cuisine in a pizzeria, she decid.