Can you describe your formal culinary education and how it shaped your cooking style?

What global cuisines are you most comfortable preparing, and which ones are you currently exploring?

How do you ensure food safety and hygiene when working in a private residence?

Walk me through a high-pressure situation in a client’s home and how you handled it.

What is your process for planning a week’s worth of meals for a family with mixed dietary preferences?

How many years of professional kitchen experience do you have, and in what types of environments?

How do you go about designing a custom menu for a new client?

Can you describe a time when you received critical feedback from a client? What did you do with it?

How do you handle last-minute changes to dietary restrictions or meal preferences?

Have you ever catered a private dinner party or high-profile event in a residence? What was your approach?

Do you work well with outside service staff (butlers, event planners, servers), and how do you coordinate with them?

What’s one show-stopping dish you’d prepare for a principal entertaining celebrity guests?

How do you maintain professional boundaries while developing a close working relationship with a family?

What’s your approach when working for a household with children or elderly family members?

Can you give an example of how you've built long-term trust with a past client?

What would you do if your ingredient delivery didn’t arrive and you had a planned meal that day?

How do you respond if a client wants a dish they saw on Instagram or TikTok that you’ve never made before?

Do you track inventory and manage your own sourcing, or do you work with household staff for procurement?

What systems do you use to manage costs, food waste, and prep time efficiently?

What do you do to stay current with culinary trends and continue growing as a chef?

How long do you believe it is safe to leave prepared food out at room temperature before discarding or refrigerating it?

Can you walk me through your standard process after serving a meal—particularly if the principal is delayed or doesn’t eat right away?

Let’s say you prepare lunch and the principal doesn’t come down for it. How long would you leave it out? Would you re-serve it later or start fresh?

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