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Recipe For Success
By Katherine E. Hill
 A personal chef creating culinary
delicacies in your home, a professional staff to serve dinner
and mix cocktails, a barista to create after-dinner drinks and a
kitchen crew to clean up. Every homeowner has dreamed about
throwing a party or having an intimate family dinner with
professionals to handle every aspect of the dinner. Now, that
dream can be realized.
Hey Chef! is a full-service
culinary concierge, offering private chef and domestic kitchen
staffing services throughout the Tahoe-Truckee area.
“You can hold a party at your home
or an après-ski event. We work with clientele with
discriminating palettes that have dined around the world and
know what they want,” says Holly Verbeck, who with her husband
Grog, owns Hey Chef!
Grog is an accomplished chef of
more than 30 years and was the private chef for Phil Donahue and
Marlo Thomas for 15 years. The couple moved to Truckee in 1996,
where Grog continued as a personal chef before they started Hey
Chef! in 2000.
Hey Chef! is a unique service that
provides all of a client’s needs from stocking the kitchen
before they arrive to preparing meals for family dinners,
parties, corporate retreats and afternoon cocktails to full wait
and cleaning staff.
“We’re a solution for clients
wanting personal, distinctive entertainment,” Holly says.
Hey Chef! works with a group of
distinguished local chefs to meet any client’s needs. From
barbecue to Thai to French to everything in between, Hey Chef!
can tailor any menu and provide a full service staff as needed
for any occasion.
“We have a full crew on call.
Baristas, hostesses, dishwashers, wait staff, bartenders,” she
says. “We have a small pool of very qualified personal chefs.
Thai, Italian, sushi, Mexican, Indonesian. Whatever the request
might be, we can match you up with a chef for what you want.”
 Clients with distinctive homes
want the opportunity to showcase their homes through intimate
dinners or summer celebrations, while also entertaining their
guests and enjoying the gathering themselves, Verbeck says. Hey
Chef! gives its clients the opportunity to do just that.
“We provide you that service so
you’re out entertaining your guests in a distinctive way,”
Verbeck says. “They want the flexibility and the lifestyle. It’s
all personal, it’s your home. It’s a much higher level of
personal service. It’s an exceptional menu and the best food.”
Verbeck has an extensive
questionnaire that she goes through with each client from the
type of food they want to the available bar and stemware to
table settings to kitchen prep.
‘We do everything at the front end
to make the work of the chef seamless,” she says.
 After the cuisine is chosen, she
matches the client to a professional chef to meet their needs.
The chef then works with the client to create a specialized
menu, which includes dietary considerations.
Creating a unique menu for each
client is an opportunity for both the chef and client.
“Chefs don’t often get the chance
to play and it’s a really good opportunity for chefs to showcase
their talents,” she says. “The reason why we excel is that, No.
1, we’ve got great food. The chef is the one that’s leading
everything from the menu to shopping for the ingredients.”
Hey Chef! also places a high
standard on its service staff using professional bartenders,
baristas and wait staff at each event.
“The service staff really assures
that the chef’s going to shine and the hostess is going to
please their guests,” Verbeck says.
 “When (you) invite someone into
your home, that’s a really intimate way to entertain people,”
she says of the service Hey Chef! provides.
“If you sat at the table, you’re
calling us next. It’s all about the food and the service and the
service standards.”
Hey Chef! offers private chef
and kitchen staffing services for meals, private parties,
fundraisers, corporate meeting and event staffing. They are
always looking for accomplished chefs and professional staff to
work with them. For more information, call (877) 4-Hey Chef,
(877) 443-9243, or visit
www.heychef.com.
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