Why Your Favorite Dishes Aren’t Always What Clients Want
You can make an incredible coq au vin. Your beef Wellington is impeccable. But here’s what I learned the hard way: the dish that makes you excited in the kitchen isn’t the same as the dish that makes your client’s evening memorable.
When I started doing private dinners, I built menus around what I loved to cook. Beautiful techniques, complex flavors, dishes that would impress other chefs. But over time I learned something important: the menu that excites you in the kitchen is not always the menu that makes a client’s evening memorable.
That realization changed how I plan menus. I was starting with recipes. I should have been starting with the client.
This post walks you through the framework I use now to plan menus that clients actually love, that you can execute cleanly in someone else’s kitchen, and that fit the season and the moment. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll have a system for moving from “what should I cook?” to “what does this client need?”
The Menu Planning Framework: Start With the Client, Not the Recipe
The single biggest shift in how I plan menus came from asking different questions upfront.
Instead of thinking “what dishes am I excited to make,” I now start with: Who is this client? What’s the occasion? What’s the vibe they want to create? What do they eat normally? Are there any allergies or restrictions? How many people? What’s their kitchen like?
These answers shape everything that comes after. A casual family dinner needs different food than an intimate anniversary celebration. A client with a tiny galley kitchen needs different dishes than someone with a six-burner range and prep counter space.
Here’s the framework I use:
1. Understand the client and the occasion. Start with a conversation, not a menu template. What are they celebrating? How formal do they want it? Who’s coming? If you’re working through a form or email, ask these questions directly. You’re not being intrusive. You’re gathering intel so you can nail the menu.
2. Match the season. I’ll dig deeper into seasonal menus below, but the starting point is simple: work with what’s available and what feels right for the time of year. A heavy, warm menu in summer feels wrong. A light salad-focused menu in November won’t satisfy. The season narrows your options and points you toward the right direction.
3. Choose your tier. Classic, Signature, or Chef’s Table? The tier shapes the menu structure. Classic is 3 courses, no starter. Signature is 3 courses plus their choice of charcuterie or spinach artichoke dip. Chef’s Table is 4 courses plus their choice of starter. The tier isn’t just about price. It’s about pacing, complexity, and what the client experience feels like.
4. Build the course flow. Now you’re thinking about how dishes connect. What’s the opening note? How do you build through the middle courses? What’s the finish? You’re creating a sequence that feels intentional, not random.
5. Match dishes to the client and kitchen. Can you make this dish on their stovetop with their equipment? Is the flavor profile right for them? Does it fit with the other courses? This is where “what I can make” meets “what they’ll love.”
The framework isn’t about being rigid. It’s about being intentional. You’re making deliberate choices instead of defaulting to your greatest hits.
Seasonal Menus and Why They Matter
I run four distinct seasonal menus: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Each season has its own set of dishes. Not because I’m following food writer rules about “seasonal eating.” I do it because seasonal eating works.
Spring menus are lighter. Asparagus shows up. Fresh herbs come back. Lamb and lighter fish become options. Spring is about freshness and renewal. The menu should feel that way.
Summer is about simplicity and brightness. Cold soups, grilled proteins, raw salads. The weather’s warm, the kitchen gets hot when you’re cooking, and people want food that feels clean and easy. Heavy sauces don’t belong here.
Fall pivots to warmth. Root vegetables come into play. Squash appears on every menu I do in September through November. Game meats, richer sauces, spices that warm you up. The season is about transition and depth.
Winter is comfort. Braised meats, cream sauces, the foods that make people feel taken care of. It’s the season when people gather inside, and the food should match that intimacy.
Beyond the obvious flavor matches, seasonal menus make your life easier. You’re buying ingredients when they’re abundant and cheap. You’re cooking with products that are at their peak. And clients feel the difference. They notice when you’ve thought about the season, even if they can’t articulate why.
I build my seasonal menus at the start of each season and refine them as I take bookings. If a dish isn’t working, I pull it and try something else. If something gets consistent raves, it stays. By the time I’m three months into a season, I have a menu I trust.
Balancing Variety With What You Can Execute
This is the tension that every personal chef feels: you want to offer enough variety so clients feel like they’re getting something special and tailored. But you can’t reinvent the wheel for every booking.
The solution is to have a strong seasonal menu of 6 to 8 solid dishes per course, and let clients choose from those options. You’re not making a unique dish for every event. You’re offering real choices within a menu you know how to execute perfectly.
Why this works: You’ve tested and refined each dish. You know exactly how long it takes. You know where the prep bottlenecks are. You can execute it cleanly in almost any kitchen because you’ve thought through the logistics. And the client gets to feel like they’re customizing their evening because they are. They’re choosing which version of your menu they want.
The trap is offering too many options and then scrambling on the day because you’re trying to remember which client wanted the pan-seared scallops and which one wanted the roasted halibut. Stick to your menu. Make it strong enough that clients feel spoiled by the choices.
Handling Dietary Restrictions and Allergies (Especially Gluten-Free)
Every booking form or initial conversation should ask about allergies and dietary restrictions. Not as a checkbox, but as an open question: “Are there any foods you avoid? Any allergies I should know about?”
Gluten-free is a genuine area of expertise for me. I know the difference between a gluten-free dish that’s technically gluten-free but tastes like a punishment, and one that tastes like real food. If a client mentions gluten-free needs, I lean into this. I’m not just accommodating a restriction. I’m bringing real knowledge about how to make gluten-free food taste good.
For other allergies or restrictions, I listen to what the client needs and I suggest menu adjustments. Maybe they’re vegetarian, so we swap the main protein course for something plant-based. Maybe they have a shellfish allergy, so we work around it. Maybe they’re kosher, and we talk about what’s doable.
The key is this: I ask the questions upfront, I suggest modifications as part of the conversation (not as an afterthought), and I adjust the menu with intention. I’m not stripping ingredients out. I’m redesigning the course to work for them.
After I confirm any allergies or restrictions with the client, I document them somewhere I can’t miss them. Allergies are serious. You get this wrong and you ruin the event. You get this wrong and you could genuinely hurt someone. No shortcuts.
Tiered Menus: How Classic, Signature, and Chef’s Table Differ
The three tiers aren’t just about price. They’re about a different experience.
Classic ($159 per person): 3 courses, no starter. You’re starting with the first course that matters. This tier is clean, straightforward, and focused. The client is getting a beautiful meal without the formality of a charcuterie board or dip. It works great for everyday celebrations, casual dinner parties, and clients who want good food without the extra layers.
Signature ($199 per person): 3 courses plus their choice of charcuterie board or spinach artichoke dip. Now you’ve added that moment of hospitality at the beginning. Guests arrive, they see the spread, they settle in. The client chooses which one lands better for their crowd. It’s the perfect middle ground between intimate and indulgent.
Chef’s Table ($259 per person): 4 courses plus their choice of charcuterie or dip. This is the full experience. An extra course, a more extensive opening, a sense that the evening is going to unfold over time. This tier is for clients who are really celebrating something, or who love the ritual of a multi-course meal.
When you’re building your seasonal menus, think about each tier as a different structure. The Classic menu needs to stand on its own three courses. The Signature and Chef’s Table have that opening moment to work with. A Classic diner might want a heartier first course. A Chef’s Table diner might expect more refinement in each individual dish.
This structure keeps you sane. You’re not customizing endlessly. You’re building three distinct menus that reflect three different client experiences.
The Test-and-Refine Cycle: How to Improve Your Menu Over Time
No menu is perfect the first time. I launch a seasonal menu, I take bookings, and I pay attention to what’s working and what isn’t.
After each event, I ask myself: Did the client love this? Was it easy to execute? Are there any dishes I’m dreading when they get ordered? Did anything come across as boring or unmemorable?
If a dish is getting consistent rave reviews, it stays. If it’s technically good but forgettable, it goes. If it’s hard to execute in someone else’s kitchen, it gets replaced. If a client had an allergy and I had to scramble to modify it, I redesign the dish so the modification is elegant and built-in.
I also pay attention to patterns. Maybe the spring asparagus dish works better if I pair it with a different protein. Maybe the fall menu feels too heavy and needs a brighter middle course. Maybe the winter dessert is too rich for the overall flow.
Every three months, when a season is ending, I review my notes and make adjustments. Sometimes it’s small tweaks. Sometimes it’s swapping out a full dish. This isn’t perfection-seeking. It’s responsiveness. Your menu should evolve based on what your clients are telling you and what you’re learning in the kitchen.
Go Deeper With the Full Delivery System
Menu planning is one piece of building a real private chef business. You also need to know how to price, how to find clients who book consistently, how to run the operations side so you’re not burning out, and how to scale without losing the quality that makes your work special.
If you want to go deeper on this, I’ve built two paths forward:
Join the waitlist for the service delivery course on Chef Business Training. This course goes into the systems I use to plan menus that sell, execute flawlessly, and build a business that clients return to. You’ll work through real seasonal menus, learn how to adjust for restrictions and allergies, and get the operations framework I use to keep everything organized.
Or book 1:1 coaching if you want personalized help. We’ll dig into your current menu, figure out what’s working and what needs to change, and build a system for menu planning that fits your style and your kitchen. Every chef’s business is different. Sometimes you need someone who understands that to sit down and design the system with you.
Either way, the goal is the same: a menu that your clients love, that you can execute with confidence, and that becomes the foundation of a real, sustainable business.