CHEF SERVICE

What CHEF SERVICE does

CHEF SERVICE (legal entity SARL Chef Service Traiteur) is a Paris-based French private company founded in 1996 by Laurent Veyet. It operates as a curated marketplace connecting freelance professional chefs with individual and business clients for in-home dining, private events, and cooking classes, and is described as the pioneer of the in-home chef concept in France. Its geographic footprint covers 15 regions in France plus Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Luxembourg.

The company's core product is the intermediation layer between vetted freelance chefs and end clients, supported by an internal quality charter for chef selection and a 2014 website relaunch that introduced an online quote request system. It has extended its offering beyond pure service intermediation through the 2016 launch of Inoveat, a connected culinary device product line, accompanied by a physical Inoveat Boutique opened in September 2016 and a partnership with Micronutris announced 21 July 2017. The technology stack is modest: a quote-request web front end plus multi-channel offline bookings, with no disclosed platform architecture, mobile app, or data infrastructure of note.

CHEF SERVICE monetizes primarily through commissions or markups on chef bookings, supplemented by cooking class fees and retail revenue from the Inoveat product line. The chef base operates as independent contractors rather than salaried employees, which the company describes as a 276-person professional network but which materially overstates fixed internal headcount. Customer segments span consumers (B2C) and corporate/private event clients (B2B), with no publicly named enterprise anchors; the press dossier positioning in 2026 confirms continued operation and brand activity rather than any material scaling event.

Name

CHEF SERVICE

Legal name

SARL Chef Service Traiteur

Website

https://chef-service.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

CHEF SERVICE is a Paris-based SARL, founded in 1996, that operates a curated marketplace connecting freelance professional chefs with individual and corporate clients for in-home dining, private events, and cooking classes across France, Belgium, Switzerland, the UK, and Luxembourg.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Private Chef & Catering Services

NAICS

Caterers (722320), Food Service Contractors (722310), Food Service Contractors (72231), Special Food Services (7223)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Private Chef & In-Home Dining Services (HSACAGAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Culinary Skills Workshops (Baking, Regional Cooking, Food Prep Skills) (THAJAKAE), Specialty & Dietary Catering (Vegan, Kosher, Halal, Allergy-Friendly) (HSACAGAH), Event Culinary Staffing & Back-of-House Services (Chefs, Servers, Bartenders) (THAHAKAN)

Keywords

• Private chef services
• In-home dining
• Event catering
• Corporate meal services
• Culinary workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Chef à domicile (In-House Chef): Professional chefs cook gourmet meals at clients' homes. Services include menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking, table service, and kitchen cleaning. Price includes products, culinary preparations, service and cleaning.
2. Traiteur (Catering): Full-service catering for events including food, decoration, service, and equipment rental. Covers occasions such as Christmas, New Year, weddings, cocktail receptions, and corporate events.
3. Entreprises (Corporate): Business meal and event catering services for companies, including working lunches, professional meetings, and gastronomic cocktail receptions.
4. Maître d'hôtel (Head Waiter): Professional head waiters for table setting, guest reception, wine service, and table service during events. Offered as standalone or add-on service.
5. Cooking Classes: Culinary workshops and courses at the Paris atelier including themed cooking classes, oenology courses, dietary coaching, and children's workshops. Various price points from €35 to €85 per person.
6. Inoveat - Insect-Based Cuisine: Specialized culinary offerings featuring edible insects, including cooking workshops and a boutique product line. Partnered with Micronutris for insect-based ingredients.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CHEF SERVICE operates an online platform and curated network that connects customers with freelance professional chefs for in-home gourmet dining, full-service event catering, corporate meal services, and professional head waiter staffing across France and neighboring countries. The platform also operates a Paris-based atelier for cooking classes and the Inoveat sub-brand for insect-based culinary workshops and retail products. Customers select chefs by region, choose tiered menu packages (Discovery, Gourmet, Gastronomic), request a quote online, and confirm bookings with a 30% advance payment.

Product overview

CHEF SERVICE operates as a multi-service culinary platform connecting customers with freelance professional chefs for at-home dining experiences. The core offerings include four main service categories: Chef à domicile (in-home personal chefs), Traiteur (catering), Entreprises (corporate catering), and Maître d'hôtel (professional waitstaff). The platform organizes chefs by region across France and neighboring countries, with individual chef profiles offering tiered menu packages (Discovery, Gourmet, and Gastronomic). Ancillary services include cooking classes, wine tasting workshops, and dietary coaching programs. INOVEAT represents a specialty sub-brand focused on edible insect gastronomy, including workshops and retail products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Inoveat: A sub-brand dedicated to insect-based gastronomy, offering culinary workshops and edible insect products for purchase. Launched in 2016.

Products and services

• Chef à domicile (In-Home Chef) Personal chefs cook gourmet meals at customers' homes, providing full culinary service including menu planning, grocery shopping, cooking, table service, and kitchen cleanup. Customers select chefs by region and choose from Discovery, Gourmet, or Gastronomic menu tiers.
• Traiteur (Catering) Full-service catering for events covering food, decoration, service staff, and equipment rental for occasions such as Christmas, New Year, weddings, cocktail receptions, and corporate events.
• Entreprises (Corporate Dining) Business meal and event catering for companies, including working lunches, professional meetings, seminars, and gastronomic cocktail receptions, with menus adaptable to company image and budget.
• Maître d'hôtel (Head Waiter) Professional head waiters for table setting, guest reception, wine service, and discrete service management during events, available as standalone or bundled with chef/catering services.
• Cooking Classes (Cours de cuisine) Culinary workshops and pastry classes at the Paris atelier (5 rue Marie Stuart), covering Italian cuisine, French classics, oenology, dietary coaching, molecular gastronomy, and children's workshops, with per-person pricing from €20 to €85.
• Inoveat (Insect-Based Cuisine) Specialty sub-brand offering insect-based gourmet menus, cooking workshops featuring edible insects (crickets, mealworms), and a retail product line, in partnership with Micronutris and Insectéo.
• Cours d'oenologie (Wine Tasting Workshops) Wine appreciation and tasting workshops covering wine selection, food pairing, and tasting techniques, taught in collaboration with sommelier Emmanuel Delmas and partner De la Vigne à la Truffe.
• Coaching Culinaires Diététiques (Dietetic Culinary Coaching) Cooking classes combined with fitness coaching, teaching balanced nutrition and optimal protein recipes for active lifestyles.

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• MicronutriscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 July 2017Micronutris is a Toulouse-based insect farming company and the only edible insect farm in France. Chef Service partnered with Micronutris for the Inoveat initiative to source high-quality edible insects (crickets, mealworms) for gastronomic cuisine applications. Chef Service visited the farm in July 2017 and features Micronutris products in its insect-based cooking workshops and boutique product line.
• InsectéominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 April 2016Insectéo is a supplier of edible insect products used by Chef Service's Inoveat workshops. Products include cricket flour and whole insects used in recipes such as cookies and chocolate brownies.
• Studio BminorOthersStudio B is credited for photography on the Chef Service website and marketing materials.
• Insectes ComestiblesminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorInsectes Comestibles is credited as a collaborator in the Inoveat insect cuisine initiative, providing edible insect products.
• De la Vigne à la TruffeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDe la Vigne à la Truffe is a partner for the wine appreciation (oenology) courses held at the Chef Service atelier in Paris. The partnership provides sommelier expertise and wine products for the courses.
• InsectéominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInsectéo supplies products for the Inoveat insect cuisine workshops including Shortbread tartlet with crickets and Comté, and other insect-based recipes.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• BigMamma Group: Major French restaurant group operating trendy trattorias and Italian-inspired venues across Paris and Europe. Not a private-chef platform, but a broader incumbent that absorbs premium dining demand and competes for the same affluent customer occasions.

Direct peers

• Take a Chef: Barcelona-born global platform for booking private chefs in homes, with coverage across many countries including France. Comparable on the marketplace model, tiered menu offerings and online quote/booking experience, and a key international peer.
• Vizeat: Spain-based platform connecting diners with local hosts and private chefs for in-home meals. Comparable marketplace structure, chef profiles and per-cover pricing model, and an international private-dining peer.
• So Chef: French private chef service offering in-home dining experiences with selected chefs. Directly comparable French-market offering, freelance-chef model and home dining positioning, putting it in head-to-head competition with Chef Service.
• Cookening: European online marketplace for hiring a private chef to cook at the customer's home. Closely comparable freelance-chef model, personalised menu selection and home dining value proposition, competing directly with Chef Service in several European cities.
• BookaChef: UK-founded private chef marketplace offering curated chefs for dinner parties and events. Comparable freelance-chef network, tiered menus and online booking, with strong UK overlap given Chef Service's stated UK coverage.
• La Belle Assiette: French online marketplace connecting customers with private chefs for in-home dining experiences. Direct competitor to Chef Service, operating with a similar freelance-chef network model and online booking flow in France and selected European markets.

Emerging players

• Feastly: US-based platform for booking in-home dinners and culinary experiences with local chefs and hosts. Comparable marketplace model and chef-monetisation angle, though primarily US-focused and serving as a useful transatlantic benchmark for the model Chef Service operates.
• The Chef Society: Smaller private-chef and culinary experience platform with curated chef networks in select cities. Partial overlap with Chef Service on the freelance-chef and curated experience model, but smaller scale and narrower geographic footprint.

Others

• Zenchef: European SaaS platform providing restaurant CRM, online booking and marketing tools to restaurants and caterers. Adjacent rather than directly competing, but serves the same French culinary ecosystem and could become an enabler or competitor to Chef Service's corporate and catering offerings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ChefService1
• Facebookfacebook.com/chefservice
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chef-service

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CHEF SERVICE