Elevator pitch examples for chefs
An elevator pitch fails when it describes the business instead of giving the listener a reason to ask a second question. These end somewhere the other person can pick up.
Ten of them follow, written for chefs rather than filled in from a template. Your customer is someone booking dinner for people they want to impress, in their own home, and what they are weighing up before they get in touch is paying a lot for dinner in their own home and having it feel like a catering job.
The one-liner
I am a chef in [your town] — I cook private dining and pop-ups for someone booking dinner for people they want to impress, in their own home.
Use this when you have one sentence and no idea who you are talking to.
Problem first
The thing people worry about with chefs is paying a lot for dinner in their own home and having it feel like a catering job. That is the part I deal with. I am a chef, and you get a sample menu before anything is agreed.
Use this where the problem is instantly recognisable and the service is not.
Names who it is for
I work for someone booking dinner for people they want to impress, in their own home. Mostly private dining and pop-ups. If that is not you, you probably know someone.
Use this at an event where most people are not your customer, to find the ones who are.
Credential first
I am a trained chef. Professionally trained, with the kitchens worked in named and food-safety certification current. I mostly do private dining and pop-ups.
Use this in a room where qualification is the thing that buys attention.
The contrast
Most chefs [what the default does]. I am the one that describes the food, not a philosophy about food. That is more or less the whole difference.
Use this when your market has a clear default and you are not it.
With a number in it
I am a chef — [number] years, [number] dinners, and I name the kitchens I trained and worked in.
Use this when you have a real number. Do not invent one.
The origin
I started because paying a lot for dinner in their own home and having it feel like a catering job was normal in this trade and it did not need to be. So that is the business: a chef where you get a sample menu before anything is agreed.
Use this when the reason you started is short and true.
Ten seconds
Chef. Private dining, mostly. [your town].
Use this when someone asks what you do and is already half-turned away.
Ends with the ask
I am a chef doing private dining and pop-ups. If you ever hear someone say [the thing your customers say], that is me.
Use this when the point of the conversation is a referral, not a sale.
The warm version
[their question] — I am a chef. The part people usually ask about is describing the food instead of a philosophy about food.
Use this where the pitch would land badly and a conversation would not.
Writing for chefs: what actually matters
What should a chef’s website say that a generic one does not?
Three things, in this order. That you are trained and certified. That you understand the thing people are actually worried about, which for chefs is paying a lot for dinner in their own home and having it feel like a catering job. And what happens next: tell me the date, the number and any allergies, and I will send a sample menu. Everything else on the page is decoration by comparison.
What does someone booking dinner for people they want to impress, in their own home check first?
The credential, then the proof. For chefs it sounds like this. I name the kitchens I trained and worked in. I describe the actual food, not a philosophy. I hold current food-safety certification. Put at least one of those above the fold rather than on a separate page nobody opens.
What is the most common mistake on a chef’s website?
Writing about the business instead of the customer. "We have been established since 1998" answers a question nobody asked. "Tell me the date, the number and any allergies, and I will send a sample menu" answers the one they are actually holding. If you only fix one thing, fix that.
How long should the copy be?
Shorter than you think, except where trust is being built. An About page of 120 well-chosen words beats 500 vague ones. The exception is anything explaining paying a lot for dinner in their own home and having it feel like a catering job — there, specifics earn their length.
Everything else for chefs
Elevator pitch for other trades
- Plumber
- Electrician
- HVAC Technician
- Roofer
- Carpenter
- Painter
- Landscaper
- Handyman
- Therapist
- Chiropractor
- Massage Therapist
- Personal Trainer