The private chef boom
9 December 2025 · 2 minute read
The private chef market is expanding. Current estimates place it at around 15.8 billion dollars, with forecasts reaching 24 billion by 2032. The direction of travel is clear enough in the searches we receive.
Why demand is moving
Ultra-high-net-worth households are shifting away from restaurants towards private dining built around wellness and discretion. Eating at home, to a standard the household sets, has become the preference rather than the compromise.
The figures behind that shift are substantial. Some families spend between 25,000 and 35,000 dollars a month on food alone, and households above roughly 10 to 20 million dollars in net worth typically retain a full-time chef.
The standard has changed
Michelin experience alone no longer answers the brief. Households now look for chefs who travel with them, understand nutrition, run more than one residence and hold the same standard across a home, a villa and a yacht.
That combination of technical range, judgement and temperament is what a private search now has to identify, and it is rarely found by reading a CV.