# Consulting Chef fees?



## maravedi (Jul 3, 2015)

I wanted to ask y'all what you might charge for a part-time recipe development and social media consulting gig?

I've been sought out by a local rancher to develop one recipe per week, take professional photos and post to his website and Twitter feed. He will provide the protein, the rest is up to me. I estimate this is going to be around 8-10 hours of work each week, and most likely set up as an ongoing monthly contract.

What would you charge? I've seen wildly varying fees for this sort of thing over the years. My inclination is to propose something in the $150/week range. Too low? Too high? Whatcha' think amigos?


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## jimyra (Jun 23, 2015)

After you pay your taxes you are at dish room wage.  You should decide how much you want per hour take home.  Double that then x10 is your weekly fee.  Good luck.


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

Depends. In this particular situation, which aspect are you looking more at, the short term rewards (money) or the long term rewards (free advertising getting your face out there)?


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## maravedi (Jul 3, 2015)

I'm mostly looking to keep my foot in the door while I'm on hiatus; I've worked with this vendor for years and think it'll be a fun way to keep up my butchery skills, occasionally get out to show other chefs and kitchens his product, and maybe start making a rep around town for consulting as well as cooking. It'll be nice to have a little extra $ each month but it's not my primary motivation.

Jimyra thanks for the suggested equation, I'll keep that in mind down the road. That would put it right at $1200/month, double what I'd initially thought.  But that's right in line with what most social media advertising firms around here charge for basically the same service (photography, content creation, running the FB/Insta/Twitter). If you're gonna do professional work, I guess it makes sense to charge a professional price


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## frankie007 (Jan 17, 2015)

I have just finished developing a menu for a large music venue in London, after which I worked for them for 3 months. I charged them £3 000.00 for the development which lasted 3 months ( but was not full on work), sourcing produce, recipe development, tastings etc. Latter on I overheard the owner and accountant talk about the operation and one of them said that they paid me* nothing* for the development stage. But you live and learn, it was my first job of this kind. What I learned is that development/consulting t is what is worth money, after you set out the methods, recipe book etc they can find someone much cheaper to do it. Consulting is the expensive part usually, I will certainly ask for more next time I do it. I know you are across the pond but I think the principal still applies. Good luck


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## alaminute (Aug 22, 2013)

I ask for $20 an hour, or $2000 biweekly if putting in more then 35 hours in that period. It may seem like a lot but the amount of specialized knowledge and effort you put in -I feel- justifies it. This includes not only recipe design but also equipment inventory and purchasing, sourcing purveyors, initial food orders, setting up the kitchen, walk ins, spice shells, etc. basically everything short of hiring a staff.


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