This 23-year-old cook earns more as a private chef than she would in restaurants | Canada Voices

Hi! I’m Sophia Bertuzzi, business reporter with The Globe, and I’m filling in this Tuesday for David Berman, who’s on holidays.

When I called Bella DeBartolo, she was also at work – except our offices look very different. She was in her client’s kitchen making pesto chicken bowls while I was sitting in The Globe’s office in downtown Toronto.

Her upbringing on a farm a few hours outside of Toronto, where she was surrounded by an Italian family of chefs, naturally influenced her career choices. After becoming a certified nutritional practitioner, the 23-year-old went to Portugal and Spain to sharpen her cooking skills through culinary courses and became a chef.

When Ms. DeBartolo came back to Toronto, she decided to launch her career as a private chef by doing meal preparation for busy families, rather than working in the restaurant scene, which is known for gruelling long hours, physically demanding working conditions and low pay.

“I’m an entrepreneur at heart and absolutely adore having the freedom that comes with working for yourself,” she told me.

Via word of mouth and Instagram, demand for her services quickly grew. At the same time, she’d made a financially savvy career choice.

“There’s definitely a demand for meal prep because so many people have busy, crazy schedules and they’re needing healthy food, and they don’t want to get takeout,” she told me.

A year into her career, Ms. DeBartolo now makes up to six times the amount chefs in restaurants do on an hourly basis. Chefs in Canada make on average $23 an hour, or around $56,000 a year, according to 2025 data from the federal government.

Ms. DeBartolo now mainly works with professional athletes, including two National Hockey League players, using her background in nutrition to prepare tailored meals designed to fuel performance and support training goals and recovery. For these services and clientele, her rate is between $95 and $150 an hour, depending on her clients’ needs, she told me.

Every week, she takes care of meal planning, grocery shopping, and preparing 90 per cent of her clients’ meals and snacks by cooking in their homes and cleaning up afterward.

Although Ms. DeBartolo balances a few clients and charges an hourly rate, it’s common for private chefs to work full-time with one client and earn an annual salary. The average base pay for a private chef in Canada is more than $95,000 a year, according to Indeed data, based on 39 salaries reported as of July.

So, did she make the right career move? Well, she’s doing something she loves – cooking for other people, while combining her passion and training in nutrition to support her clients’ high-stakes careers and being well compensated for it.

And is hiring a private chef worth it? For athletes or busy families who spend countless hours planning meals, grocery shopping and prepping, I’d say so if their budget allows. How convenient would it be to come home to a fully stocked fridge packed with fresh meals for the week, and you didn’t have to lift a finger?

I selfishly want it myself, but that might be because I’m also 23, but not the best at cooking, and despise the never-ending pile of dishes to clean.

Ms. DeBartolo said families looking for a similar recurring meal-prep service should budget $3,500 to $4,000 a month, including the cost of groceries.

“It’s money, but it’s precious time that they can be doing other things,” Ms. DeBartolo said.

At her clients’ request, she shops organic and local when possible, and opts for products with no refined sugar and gluten when necessary.

For breakfast, her clients have recently been enjoying sourdough bread sandwiches or burritos, and for lunch, protein bowls – with a Greek, Asian or Mexican flair – are the go-to.

For my own budget, I think I can live with washing the dishes, but I see the appeal of meal-prep services and hiring a private chef even if it’s just for an evening.

Sometimes staying in with a homemade meal is better than anything a restaurant could offer.

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