Rachel Withers can whip up a grouper piccata or linguine with clam sauce like nobody’s business.
And she will do it in your home.
Withers is a personal chef who caters dinner parties for as few as four people.
After graduating from culinary school at Manatee Technical Institute, Withers decided to spend a year in Boston to get experience working at a variety of restaurants.
perience working at a variety of restaurants.
That’s when the 25-year-old first got the personal chef idea.
“I was living in Boston with seven girls,” Withers says. “None of them cooked. And whenever I was cooking something one of them would be like, ‘Oh, can I have a bite?’ ”
So Withers declared each Sunday family day and collected five dollars from each of her roommates to cook for them.
It turned out to be the best idea she ever had, Withers says.
She has been working as a personal chef for about two years and avoided a lot of bureaucracy by obtaining a party service license as opposed to a traditional catering license.
But although there was less paperwork involved with the party service license, Withers does get some strange calls from time to time because of her designation.
“People will Google you on the Internet and I’ve gotten calls asking me if I was a clown, if I rented chairs — all kinds of funny stuff, she said.”
Withers’ menu, viewable at www.SarasotaChef.com, ranges from sirloin topped with a garlic-herb butter chip and lying in a bed of sautéed button mushrooms and caramelized onions, to fresh Tilapia piccata atop angel hair pasta with lemon white wine caper sauce and a side of asparagus.
Withers is willing to cook about anything, but given her druthers, she will always lean to Southern Italian.
“It just organically happens,” she says.
Her father is Italian and taught her to make linguine with clam sauce when she was about seven.
“He would give me like 10 bucks to go in the kitchen to make linguine and clam sauce and bring him a Diet Coke, and be like his little waitress for the night and clean up after myself,” she says.
“So originally it was probably my dad who gave me the idea of being a personal chef, but it really didn’t hit me until I was in Boston living with those girls that I could actually make money at it.”
Withers has usually worked full-time jobs while running the personal chef business on the side.
“I can consistently get two jobs a month. The most I made in a day was $1,000 and the least I made was about $200,” she says.
The more expensive job was a special Mother’s Day event at which the customer wanted Withers to do a progression of dishes and have a lot of interaction with the guests, explaining different foods and wine pairings.
Usually, Withers does interact with the clientele, and often guests will come into the kitchen to watch her preparing dishes and offer her a drink.
“They like me to be a part of the party,” she says.
Typically, Withers charges about $20 per plate, not including gratuity, for her dinners. She also features appetizer and dessert menus on her Web site.
Withers also is keeping busy with another endeavor. She plans soon to open the Box Social Gallery and Lounge, a unique bar and dining spot at 1507 Main St. in downtown Sarasota where people can grab a bite, have a drink and buy local art.
But Withers says she will still continue the personal chef business on the side.
The income is too good to pass up.
“I’ve always worked full-time somewhere, but it’s like a great second job,” she says, inside her soon-to-be-opened business. “That extra income has helped me get this.”
To book an event with Withers, call 932-5506.
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