The short version
You’ll sit down with your guests to a steady, well-timed meal, and when the night’s over your kitchen is reset, not left looking like a production.
Most people reach out when they want to host, but they do not want their kitchen to feel like a scramble once guests arrive. You’ll get a paced meal and a kitchen that runs quietly, with allergies, timing, and clean-up handled. Next we’ll confirm the menu, the kitchen, and the service plan.
We start with a short kitchen and equipment check-in so we know what’s already there and what we should bring. Then we lock the menu and any dietary needs, shop and prep around your timeline, and cook and serve on-site with a tight station plan so courses land when you want them to.
About us
We’re a small private chef team built around dinners and weekends where the food needs to land on time and the kitchen needs to stay calm. Graham Rutledge cooks the menus and runs the line in your home kitchen. Eliza Waring leads service and keeps the room moving. Nate Holloway handles prep so the cooking stays focused and quiet.
People hire us when they want control without fuss. We do a kitchen check-in before we commit to a plan, we bring what your kitchen is missing instead of discovering it mid-service, and we keep a written pacing timeline so nobody is guessing when the next course is coming. You’ll see the same three people from planning through pack-down.
Who you will work with
You’ll know who’s coming into your home, and who’s running each part of the night.
Team
Graham Rutledge, Private chef. Graham is your private chef. He builds the menu around your table, checks your kitchen set-up in advance, and cooks and plates on-site.
Eliza Waring, Events and service lead. Eliza leads events and service. She sets the pace in the dining room, coordinates any service staff, and keeps the handoff between kitchen and guests smooth.
Nate Holloway, Prep cook. Nate is our prep cook. He handles prep and staging so the burners stay free for the courses that need attention right before they go out.
Past events
Here are a few recent in-home private chef services that show how we run timing, dietary needs, and a home kitchen without noise.
Portfolio
Eight-person work dinner. We ran a five-course dinner with a tight service window and one shared allergy. We brought two induction burners to open up the cooktop, plated in the kitchen, and landed the main course within a 10-minute target.
Weekend family meal prep. We cooked a fridge-and-freezer set for a long weekend, with labeled reheating notes and a separate container set for gluten-free portions. The kitchen was reset before the first guests arrived.
Cocktail party, passed bites. We served six passed hors d’oeuvres for a mixed-age group, with a no-shellfish preference and one dairy-free guest. Eliza ran the service loop while the kitchen stayed focused on hot pickups.
“Everything came out on time, and our kitchen looked untouched afterward.”
Homeowner, hosting a work dinner at home
Leading up to the day
Once you book, we work backwards from your start time. You’ll have one point of contact, and you’ll always know what we still need from you.
1. Hold the date Eight weeks out We confirm the date, guest count range, and the kind of service you want. You’ll get the agreement to sign, and the 30% retainer holds the date once it’s paid. 2. Kitchen check-in Three weeks out We do a quick call to walk through your kitchen: burners, oven space, counter space, pans, platters, and where smoke alarms tend to react. We’ll tell you what we’ll bring so the menu fits your set-up. 3. Menu locked Two weeks out We confirm the menu, allergies, and any cross-contact rules we need to follow. You tell us which items matter most to you and any timing constraints, and we build the service timeline around that. 4. Shop and cook On the day We handle shopping and sourcing, then arrive with a station plan. We cook and serve to the timeline we agreed, coordinate service staff if needed, then pack down and reset the kitchen before we leave.
Kitchen set-up plan
A short kitchen check-in ahead of time, plus a bring-list from us, so we’re not borrowing tools mid-service or changing the menu on the fly.
MULTI-COURSE MENU COOKING
On-site cooking for a paced multi-course meal, with timing called course by course so guests are seated before plates start landing.
DIET AND ALLERGY HANDLING
Diet-specific planning and execution, including separate tools and a separate work area when needed to reduce cross-contact in a home kitchen.
Shopping and sourcing
We shop for the menu and arrive with what the plan needs, including local seafood and produce when it fits the menu and availability.
SERVICE COORDINATION
Eliza runs the room and coordinates any service staff so the kitchen-to-table handoff stays steady and quiet through the evening.
PACK-DOWN AND KITCHEN RESET
We wrap and label any leftovers you want kept, load out what we brought in, wipe down used surfaces, and leave the kitchen in the condition we found it.
Pricing
Pick based on how many courses you want and how much service you want in the room. These prices cover up to 8 guests, with a per-guest rate after that.
Priced items
Getting started
If you’d like us to hold the date and start menu planning, these are the next steps on our side and yours.
1. Sign the agreement here to confirm the booking. 2. Pay the 30% retainer to hold the date. 3. We’ll schedule the kitchen check-in call and send a first menu draft.
Signature
Fee summary
Retainer
To hold your date, we take a 30% retainer when the agreement is signed. We don’t confirm the date on our calendar until the retainer is paid and received.
Payment. The remaining 70% is due before the event, based on your final numbers, by a date we’ll set in writing. Every invoice is payable within 14 days of its date.
Final numbers. We’ll ask for a final guest count and any diet and allergy notes by a deadline we set. We build the shop list and staffing from that number, so later changes may shift price.
Menu changes. We lock the menu two weeks out. After that, changes are still possible if sourcing allows, but they may change the ingredient cost, the prep time, and the service timing.
Kitchen access. We’ll do a kitchen and equipment check-in call three weeks out, then arrive with a plan for how we’ll use your oven, burners, and fridge space. We’ll ask for clear counters and one sink.
Allergies
We handle allergies by confirming ingredients, labels, and substitutions before we shop, then keeping allergen items separated on our boards, pans, and towels. In a home kitchen, we can’t promise a zero-trace environment.
Shopping and sourcing. We do the shopping and sourcing. If you want local seafood and produce, we’ll plan the menu around what’s available the week of your date and confirm any big-ticket items before we buy.
Cleaning and reset. We leave the kitchen reset: dishes we used washed or loaded, counters wiped, trash consolidated, and floors spot-cleaned where we worked. We don’t deep-clean ovens, fridges, or cabinets as part of service.
Reschedule and cancel. If you need to move or cancel, tell us as soon as you can. What we keep depends on how close we are to the date and what we’ve already purchased or staffed, and we’ll set that schedule in your agreement.
