In many Dubai households the question comes up within the first week: should the chef who cooks for the family also prepare household staff meals for drivers, nannies and helpers? It can work well, but only as a deliberate arrangement with its own brief — not as an unspoken extra added to the family menu. This guide compares three common arrangements, lists what the brief should cover and shows a worked week. If you are setting up or reviewing a recurring arrangement, start with the full-time private chef service page.
Three arrangements and their trade-offs
| Arrangement | How it works | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| One shared menu | Staff eat the same dishes as the family, at their own time | Small teams with no conflicting dietary needs |
| A parallel simpler dish | The chef cooks a second, simpler dish in the same session | Larger teams, different mealtimes or preferences |
| Prep-only support | The chef preps ingredients; staff cook their own food | Staff who prefer their own cooking and flexible hours |
There is no default answer; the right choice depends on how many people eat, when, and how the household prefers to organise it.
What the brief should cover
- Who eats staff meals, on which days, and at what times.
- Whether portions match the family count or a separate headcount.
- Dietary notes for staff, recorded with the same care as the family's.
- Where staff eat and which dishes and cutlery they use.
- Who washes up after staff meals, and when.
- Whether the arrangement runs on the chef's working days only.
A worked week (hypothetical)
A household with two helpers and a driver chooses the parallel-dish arrangement. The family eats at 19:30; staff eat at 17:00 before the evening service. The chef cooks one simple hot dish for 17:00 — often something that uses the day's prep trim — then cooks the family menu. The helpers wash their own dishes; the chef washes what the cooking used. Total extra cooking time across the week stays modest, because the 17:00 dish was folded into the existing prep. The arrangement was written into the household brief rather than agreed by habit.
Reviewing the arrangement
Staff arrangements change with rosters and seasons. A short review after the first month — using the same structure as a household menu review — keeps the arrangement from drifting. Note what changed, who it affects and what the chef needs to know for next week.
Next step: add staff meals as a line in your household brief and confirm the arrangement when you book the full-time private chef service. Related reading: writing a household menu brief and planning cover for the chef's day off.