Meet Christopher Johnson | Personal Chef

We had the good fortune of connecting with Christopher Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Christopher, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I had spent several years working in fine dining, including independent restaurants and hotels, and had unintentionally put myself on a track to work on my own. As I knew that I wanted to work for myself, I decided to gain even more experience in Michelin starred kitchens in New York and Chicago to fine tune my skills and to learn more about hospitality. I realized that working in restaurant kitchens as an employee was not a long term career goal of mine – the income potential being limited was one reason, but also the fact that I would be cooking someone else’s menu, and being stuck in the monotony of the schedule. This led me to branch out and create opportunities to cook multi course dinners for clients. It forced me to think outside the box and create experiences that are truly unique, and to use the knowledge I had gained to focus on “pain points” that I had decided were important. The results of doing so have turned into rave reviews from everyone I have cooked for and a growing network of referrals.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
In a nutshell what I do is create unique and customized private dining experiences. I work directly with clients to write a menu just for them and their occasion; for example I cooked for a 90th birthday party and recreated a dessert that he and his wife shared when they were 20. I go above and beyond to make the experience one that they will remember by paying attention to details. I bring printed menus, my own small batch dishes, linen napkins, and anything that will make it so the client can relax and be the host. One of the biggest differences in what I do compared to other personal chefs is being personable. It sounds obvious, but I know several chefs who hate interacting with clients and guests, and I genuinely enjoy meeting new people and making them feel happy and taken care of. The best thing I hear at the end of a dinner is how much they enjoyed being taken care of and at ease throughout the experience.
Getting to where I am now took a ton of effort and difficulty. I have used several paid platforms, instagram, facebook, and word of mouth to book enough private dinners to be self sustaining. It is still a challenge to keep the momentum going and find the right avenues to promote.
Based on what I have directly experienced for the last couple years, people in general are still a bit reluctant to hire a personal chef to create an incredible experience for them. Whenever I work for a client in this position, they are always completely blown away by the experience and happy that they went through with it.
Working with me to create an in home private dining experience has several advantages. Private dining is completely unique to the client – no restaurant can accommodate the amount of customization that I can (and not at the price point), and the client can enjoy the experience in comfort of their own home – no shoes required, and no need to Uber home.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Denver has so many fun hidden gems. I would of course try to take them on a hike or bike ride first, which are my favorite things to do. One of my career experiences was in craft coffee, so I would take them to Pablo’s Coffee for a perfect cortado first. I would also show them the fantastic breweries in the Rino neighborhood, and have a bowl of ramen from Osaka Ramen. Right across the street is a favorite hidden bar of mine called Pon Pon. Dinner would be had at Senor Bear, some of the best interpretations on modern Mexican food, and attempt to get a cocktail at Williams and Graham across the street.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would have to credit many people and publications for where I am today. Working for people over the last decade plus who are real masters of their craft, and successful business people presented me with real life examples of where I could be in the future – local restaurants in Denver, Michelin restaurants in New York and Chicago, and successful caterers in Denver have all been big influences on me. To the same point, I have developed a lot of my craft from incredible smaller publications such as “Art Culinaire”, “Toothace”, “Food Arts”, and my first cookbook when I was 17 “The French Laundry”. I would never undervalue the experience a young chef can achieve from working in great kitchens, but the amount of information available from these publications and other fine dining cookbooks is difficult to overstate.

Website: www.cckdenver.com

Instagram: cckdenver

Facebook: Chef Chris’s Kitchen