Private Chef

Onsite Partners•Cumberland Furnace, TN

13h•Onsite

About The Position

The Private Chef is responsible for planning, preparing, and serving nourishing, beautifully crafted meals for clients in our residential healing program. This is a deeply relational, client-facing role — one that sits at the intersection of culinary excellence and therapeutic hospitality. At Milestones, food is never just fuel. For someone in the middle of one of the hardest seasons of their life, sitting down to a warm, intentional, thoughtfully prepared meal is an act of care that echoes the healing work happening in every other corner of our program. Our clients arrive carrying trauma, grief, and vulnerability — and they carry with them a wide range of dietary needs, restrictions, and histories with food that deserve to be honored with both knowledge and compassion. The Private Chef is a genuine part of each client’s support system here. That means showing up with warmth, presence, and consistency — while maintaining the kind of clear professional boundaries that make a therapeutic environment safe. The right person for this role understands the mental health space, respects the relational nature of their position, and brings a rare combination of culinary excellence and emotional intelligence to the table every single day.

Requirements

Proven private chef experience is required — including a track record of delivering personalized, high-quality meals for individuals or small groups in a private household, estate, or boutique residential setting.
5 or more years of experience as a private chef, with demonstrated ability to manage all aspects of a personal kitchen — from menu development and dietary accommodation to ordering, prep, and service — independently and with a high degree of professionalism.
Demonstrated expertise in dietary accommodation across a wide range of needs — including allergies, medically prescribed diets, eating disorder-sensitive meal preparation, gluten-free, vegan, kosher, halal, and other cultural or religious dietary requirements.
ServSafe certification or equivalent required; working knowledge of HACCP protocols and food safety compliance.
Experience with menu development, food costing, inventory management, and kitchen operations.

Nice To Haves

Culinary degree or formal training is a plus, but real-world private chef experience takes precedence.
Experience working in a therapeutic, behavioral health, or emotionally sensitive environment is strongly preferred; candidates who understand the relationship between food, mental health, and healing will stand out.
A natural ability to build warm, genuine relationships with clients while maintaining clear and appropriate professional boundaries — someone who understands the mental health space, can be a consistent and trusted presence in a client’s daily life, and knows the difference between being part of a support system and overstepping into it.
A collaborative spirit and a mission-driven mindset — someone who sees their work in the kitchen as part of a larger story of healing.

Responsibilities

Plan and execute daily menus for lunch and dinner, plus snacks, with a focus on whole, minimally processed, fresh, seasonal, and locally sourced ingredients that support physical and emotional wellbeing.
Build genuine, consistent relationships with clients throughout their residential stay — engaging with warmth, attentiveness, and appropriate professional boundaries. The Private Chef is a familiar and trusted face in the day-to-day life of the program, and that presence matters deeply to the client experience.
Proactively assess, accommodate, and meticulously track the full spectrum of dietary needs across the client population — including medically prescribed diets, allergies, intolerances, eating disorder sensitivities, religious and cultural dietary practices, and personal preferences — ensuring no one at the table is an afterthought.
Collaborate closely with clinical, nursing, and program staff to align meal planning with therapeutic goals, medical guidance, and the daily rhythm of each program.
Prepare creatively delicious, nutritionally balanced meals using advanced culinary techniques, with awareness of how food choices support mental health, emotional regulation, and recovery.
Manage kitchen inventory, ordering, and procurement — sourcing quality ingredients responsibly and operating within budget while maintaining the standard of excellence our clients experience.
Maintain a spotless, organized, and fully compliant kitchen environment in accordance with HACCP standards, ServSafe protocols, and all applicable health and safety regulations.