Private Chef, Mayfair Principal Household

The household covered a primary Mayfair residence, a Mediterranean summer residence and occasional travel to a Middle Eastern property. The Principal and family were in residence in Mayfair for most of the year, with extended periods abroad in summer and winter. The previous chef had been sole-charge for four years and left for a head chef role.

The brief was for a sole-charge Private Chef with the range to cover daily family cooking, informal entertaining, formal dinners for small guest numbers and travel on demand. The chef reported to the House Manager, with day-to-day direction from the Principal's spouse on menus.

Sole-charge travelling chefs at this level sit at the intersection of three narrow populations: chefs with genuine restaurant-grade skill, chefs with private service temperament, and chefs who will accept travel patterns that disrupt personal life. Most candidates hold two of the three.

Three further constraints narrowed the field. The Principal held specific dietary protocols covering family members, requiring the chef to run two distinct menu frameworks in parallel without crossover. The Middle Eastern residence required a candidate comfortable working with different service norms and a different kitchen team on site. And the outgoing chef had built a supplier network in Mayfair that the client wanted preserved, which ruled out candidates who would want to rebuild sourcing from scratch.

Candidates who combined Michelin-grounded technique, private service temperament, willingness to travel on the household's schedule and the discipline to hold parallel dietary protocols, were a narrow field.

Antonia led the search. The mandate was run under a codename known only to Antonia, the Principal's spouse and the House Manager. The search was not advertised and no agency shortlist was circulated.

Oplu mapped the active sole-charge chef population across comparable London households, alongside head and sous chefs in restaurant settings with credible private service exposure. Shortlisted candidates cooked a full trial menu at a neutral location, covering a family lunch, a formal dinner and a dietary-specific brief given on the day. Referencing went deep with former Principals, House Managers and head chefs, including two references sourced independently rather than from the candidate's list.

The candidate was placed within the agreed scope and has now travelled with the household across both secondary residences. The candidate remains in post. The client has since engaged Oplu on a further domestic staff search, and the House Manager now co-ordinates ongoing household staff reviews alongside Antonia.

Private chef search at this level is a test of depth of vetting. CVs look similar, trial meals are passable from most candidates on paper, and references offered by the candidate tend to be generous. Trialling against a live dietary protocol, sourcing references independently and testing for the specific travel pattern is how we avoid the common pattern of a technically strong chef who cannot hold the household's reality for more than a year.