How Much Does a Private Chef Cost in Miami?
A private chef in Miami costs from $200 per guest — the chef's fee — plus groceries, billed at cost and itemized in your quote, with a $2,000 event minimum. I'm Chef Marina Staver, and that fee covers your whole evening: a menu written for your table, ingredients I choose the morning you dine, every course cooked from scratch in your kitchen and plated as the night moves, and the kitchen left the way I found it. Your custom quote arrives within 24 hours.
- Chef's fee — $200 per guest, Michelin-level, cooked from scratch in your kitchen
- Groceries — billed separately, sourced the morning of your dinner
- Groceries itemized in your quote — no hidden fees
- $2,000 event minimum per dinner
- Bartender or server staffing available as an add-on
- Custom quote within 24 hours
I reply with availability and a menu direction within 24 hours.
Private chef cost is the most-searched question in this category — and the least answered. Most Miami companies make you submit a form before you see a number. I put the numbers first, so you get a straight answer before you ever talk to me.
What's included in the price?
The $200 per guest is my fee, and it covers the complete evening: a menu designed around your guests, every course cooked from scratch in your kitchen, plating and service, and a kitchen left cleaner than I found it. Groceries are sourced that morning and billed separately, itemized in your quote.
I'm Marina Staver — a European-trained private chef with more than two decades of private kitchen experience across Europe and now South Florida. I am the chef at every dinner — not a name on a roster. Here is what my fee includes:
- Menu design — written for your table: the occasion, the season, every allergy and preference accounted for.
- Sourcing — ingredients selected that morning, for one dinner, not in bulk.
- Cooking — from scratch, on-site, in your kitchen. Nothing pre-made, nothing reheated.
- Plating and pacing — courses arrive as your evening unfolds, warm from the pan to the table.
- Cleanup — the kitchen returned to order before I say goodnight.
And what's billed separately, so there are no surprises later: groceries at cost, rare-by-request ingredients — caviar, specific vintages — at market price, and service staff, billed at cost and passed through without markup.
What changes the price of a private chef?
Four inputs move a quote up or down: headcount, course count, sourcing level, and staffing.
- Headcount. The size of the table is the first thing that moves a quote. The $2,000 event minimum covers smaller tables, and larger ones are quoted from the per-guest rate. Larger tables scale the way you’d expect — no per-event surcharges hiding in the fine print.
- Courses. A three-course dinner and a five-course tasting are different evenings — more courses mean more sourcing, more prep, and a higher per-guest figure.
- Sourcing level. Seasonal Florida seafood sits inside the standard quote; rare-by-request items (caviar, specific vintages) are added at market price, always confirmed with you first.
- Staffing. Larger tables often add a server or bartender. Groceries and service staff are billed at cost — standard staffing rates, $50–55 per hour per person, five-hour minimum, passed through without markup.
I cook from Homestead to Palm Beach — at home, in vacation rentals and Airbnbs, and on board — across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
What does a private chef dinner cost? Four real scenarios
These are the evenings I cook most often. Each one starts at the $2,000 event minimum; where it lands above that depends on the menu you choose, the sourcing it asks for, and whether you want service staff on the floor.
Dinner for two
An anniversary, a proposal, a quiet celebration for exactly two chairs. I write a menu for two, shop for it that morning, and cook while the wine chills. Warm plates, no hurry — the evening moves at your pace.
The dinner party
My most common booking. You planned the night — you should not spend it at the stove. Three to five courses come warm from the pan, butter and herbs reaching the table before the plates do, while you sit, pour, and stay in the conversation.
The holiday table
One kitchen, one long table, winter spices in the oven. I run the kitchen and pace the feast so you stay seated with your family. December dates fill earliest — the calendar, not the price, is the constraint.
Charter or villa stay
A compact galley on the water or the kitchen of your Miami rental — I cook where your stay happens. You come in with salt still on your skin; the table is already set. What shapes the quote: the kitchen I'll work in, the route, and the length of the stay.
Planning one of these evenings? Tell me the date and the headcount — your custom quote arrives within 24 hours.
I reply with availability and a menu direction within 24 hours.
Planning a day on the water? → yacht chef in Miami · Or see how a dinner party with Marina comes together → private chef for a dinner party
How much is a tasting menu at home?
A multi-course tasting menu starts from the same $200-per-guest chef's fee plus groceries; the course count and sourcing set the final figure, confirmed in your 24-hour quote.
A tasting evening is a different rhythm — six or more small courses paced across the night, each one plated in front of your guests. Because every tasting menu is composed for the specific table, I don't publish a flat rate: you tell me the occasion and the headcount, I draft the menu direction, and the quote lands in your inbox within 24 hours.
Do private chefs charge per hour or per event?
I price per event, not per hour — a $200-per-guest chef's fee with a $2,000 minimum — so the evening runs at your pace, without a clock.
Hourly rates in Miami usually belong to weekly meal-prep services: a different service, built around batch cooking and containers in the fridge. A private dinner is one complete production — menu, sourcing, cooking, service, cleanup — and pricing it per event means a long dessert conversation never costs you extra. The one hourly element is optional staffing: bartenders and servers, billed at cost and passed through without markup.
Is a private chef worth it compared to a restaurant?
With a $200-per-guest chef's fee plus groceries, a private chef dinner sits in the territory of a tasting-menu restaurant night — except the table is yours, the menu is written for your guests, and nobody drives home afterward.
What the restaurant bill never includes: a menu that adjusts to every allergy at your table, a start time you choose, conversation at your own volume, and a kitchen cleaned while you finish the last glass. What it does include — and I don't charge: the drive, the valet, the room full of strangers. For a milestone evening, Michelin-level cooking in your own home is the version your guests will still be talking about next season.
Private chef cost in Miami — frequently asked questions
From $200 per guest — the chef's fee — plus groceries billed separately, with a $2,000 event minimum; groceries are itemized in your quote. One night means one complete event: menu design, morning sourcing, from-scratch cooking in your kitchen, plating, and cleanup. You receive an exact quote within 24 hours.
A dinner for two is priced at the $2,000 event minimum, plus groceries. The evening is built like a full dinner party scaled to one table: a menu written for two, ingredients sourced that morning, every course cooked from scratch in your kitchen. Couples book it most often for anniversaries and proposals at home.
Both models exist in Miami. The Staver prices per guest — a $200 chef's fee plus groceries itemized in your quote — with a $2,000 event minimum, and larger tables are quoted from the per-guest rate, with groceries at cost on top. Optional bartender or server staffing is the only hourly element, and it is billed at cost without markup.
Hourly rates in Miami usually apply to weekly meal-prep services — a different service from a private dinner. The Staver prices per event, from a $200-per-guest chef's fee, so there is no clock on your evening. Support staff, when requested, are billed at cost and passed through without markup.
Multi-day stays — vacation homes, villas, Airbnbs, yacht charters — are quoted per dinner from the same baseline: a $200-per-guest chef's fee plus groceries, with a $2,000 minimum per event. We are an event-based service rather than a live-in arrangement. Send the dates and headcount, and one quote covering the full stay arrives within 24 hours.
Menu design around your guests, cooking from scratch on-site, plating and service through the evening, and full kitchen cleanup — that is the $200-per-guest chef's fee. Billed separately: groceries at cost, rare-by-request ingredients such as caviar at market price, and optional bartender or server staffing billed at cost and passed through without markup.
We have our own plates and serveware and can bring them, depending on your guest count. For larger tables we recommend a rental service and coordinate the order for you. We can also design the table setting for your evening — we agree the direction with you and send a preview beforehand.
Every dinner is one complete production for one client: a menu written for your table, a morning spent sourcing, an afternoon and evening cooking in your kitchen, and the cleanup after. The minimum reflects a full day of work dedicated to a single event — published here instead of hidden inside a quote.
What will your dinner cost?
Tell me three things — the date, the headcount, and what you'd like to celebrate. You'll have a menu direction and a custom quote within 24 hours. No deposit until you approve both.
Book my dateI reply with availability and a menu direction within 24 hours.
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