The 5 Types of Customers Who Use HeyChef!
We’ve helped people entertain their guests in the Truckee and Lake Tahoe region since 1997. During that time, we’ve noticed five types of customers who benefit the most from our services. They are:
Second Homeowners
Second homeowners return to Lake Tahoe and Truckee – a lot. We frequently serve clients in their vacation homes at Martis Camp, Lahontan, Tahoe Donner, Northstar, Olympic Valley, Incline Village, and from all around the North Shore from Agate and Carnelian Bays, to Tahoe City and on down the West Shore. If you’re a second homeowner, chances are you know plenty of your neighbors, and chances are you throw a couple big summer bashes and a few winter holiday parties every year.
One of our favorite lifetime clients throws a themed New Year’s Eve party for 30-40 guests each year complete with costumes and themed appetizers and dinner by our chef and staff. When they depart for the evening fireworks, our team regroups and creates the after-party for their return. They come back to the house and start their second party which goes late into the new year!
Whether you head to the mountains with your extended family for a long weekend, come every weekend so your kids can participate on a ski development team, or have a reputation for annual shindigs that attract friends from miles around, use a private chef and service team to make it happen. We give you back your time and allow you to be a guest at your own party.
Vacationing Families
We regularly get calls from one family member who’s in charge of coordinating a family vacation for their clan (you lucky duck!). Often the person calling us has siblings, most of them have young children and these families live all around the country and choose Lake Tahoe for the place they gather to reconnect. The problem is, going out to restaurants for every meal is a time-consuming logistical nightmare. What our clients really want is time to enjoy leisurely meals and long conversations in the comfort of their vacation rental while the kids put on a movie and wrestle in their pjs. Time together as a family is so rare and precious, having meals at home is one of the best ways to truly reconnect.
Last year one extended family rented six condos for a week in Chinquapin; each family had 2-4 children, counting the adult siblings and their senior parents, the guest count was 14 adults and 16 kiddos! Each morning HeyChef! used one condo to serve grab-n-go breakfast (for 30!) before everyone left for the slopes. And each night we hosted dinner and drinks in a different condo so every family could take a turn at planning their favorite menu and feeling the pride of being the family’s host – Brilliant fun! It’s not a vacation if you have the stress of coordinating all this on your own!
Don’t underestimate the effort it takes to shop for 12 people for a five-day vacation (warning: it’s a couple car loads) and time it takes to prepare three meals a day (12 people x 5 days x 3 meals = 180 plates)…plus snacks and drinks! If you’re renting a home, or multiple homes on the same block, it makes sense to put a professional in charge of the food so you can spend time doing what matters most – connecting with your loved ones over great food in one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Don’t miss out on the spirit of Lake Tahoe, get out of your kitchen!
Personal Assistants & Executive Assistants
Personal assistants and executive assistants are faced with a real challenge. They are responsible for coordinating wonderful celebrations and special events for their boss, or their client’s family and friends, and they often have to do it with lots of details and frequently within a short time frame. To make things more complex, the assistant might never have stepped foot in the Truckee-Tahoe area or the home where the event will take place. Not knowing where to shop for the things you need for a great event, who the most trusted service providers are in the region, and the ins and outs of navigating new terrain all while working from afar is a challenge, to say the least.
I’ve never actually met Hannah in person. She’s one family’s personal assistant, and HeyChef! has worked with her for years. She makes one phone call to us, gives us the dates her client will be in town, and we take care of all the details.
“What a relief to know HeyChef! is there to support me in my work. I call HeyChef! and my boss thinks I work miracles. With HeyChef! I can pull off things that would be impossible on my own.”
When you’re planning an event, especially when you won’t have boots on the ground, it’s critical to work with professionals you can trust and stake your reputation on. We understand. We work with assistants and make sure the events you’re responsible for are effortless and delicious experiences your client will thank you for!
Business Executives
One of the most generous ways executives and CEOs deepen their relationship with clients, potential customers or their executive team, is to host special events and corporate off-sites in their vacation home in Truckee-Tahoe. Many of our clients are business owners from the greater San Francisco area (some require an NDA to serve them so we can’t drop names here). When it comes time to plan and strategize, or recognize achievements and celebrate, we can help.
An executive recently celebrated an acquisition and held a 3-day planning session for the team. We helped the CEO and their assistant by pointing them to the trusted companies we know and work with regularly (like airport transportation, a snowshoe butler service, and customized gifts to commemorate their retreat). We provided staff coffee and breakfast service during their meeting times, we packed gourmet box lunches for their daily activities, and when the work day ended our servers, bartender and chef created intimate, unforgettable dinner experiences that made the CEO homeowner feel proud and left their team feeling valued and special.
Our staff are polished, professional… and discreet. We help teams plan their retreats, their activities, box lunches, celebration dinners and team-building events in the kitchen (can you say black box and pizza making contests?). No one in Tahoe is better at helping executive teams create efficient and unique off-site get-togethers centered around delicious food and lasting memories.
Realtors
Clients value a realtor for their skill and for their connections to local businesses and professional services (like window-washers, black-toppers, tree-trimmers, and… HeyChef!). Top realtors also understand the value of providing a closing gift that is so distinctive it sets them above their competition and demonstrates they know what’s important to new homeowners. That’s why we offer gift certificates for realtors with clients who are purchasing premier homes in Truckee-Tahoe. There’s no better way to start off owning a home in Tahoe than sharing a meal with good friends at their new table. And there’s no better way for a realtor to be remembered than with the gift of a private chef’s dinner.
One of the area’s top realtors creates gift baskets as ‘closing gifts’ for their clients. The come complete with champagne, a guest book and pen, plus a HeyChef! gift certificate for her clients to experience dinner for 8 in their new home. What a way to create a forever client and start off loving their new Tahoe lifestyle!
If You’re One of These 5 Types of Customers…
Smile! We’ve got you covered. Whether it’s for one meal or multiple days, we’re the pros who make your time in Tahoe-Truckee personal, distinctive and effortless. We’ve had our feet on the ground here as active business owners and enthusiasts of our community for decades. We can help with party rentals, flower and balloon arrangements, swag and keepsake gifts (shout out to Atelier in downtown Truckee!). We’re about so much more than great food and exceptional culinary service.
Psst… Yes, the rumors are true, we’ve even done an event featuring a live elephant!