Terms and Conditions
Firstly, thank you for booking a cook through Book A Cook. I am delighted to have you as a client. Please read through the following carefully, and if you are happy please fill in the form at the bottom of the page and tick the Accept box before submitting your form.
FEE STRUCTURE
ONE DAY: £60.00
WEEKEND (or any 2 days): £95.00
ONE WEEK: £150.00 plus £75.00 per week thereafter. Please note that anything over 2+ days will be charged as a week fee.
INTRODUCTORY FEE: £400.00 for on-going use of a chef for ad-hoc work such as weekly food delivery or weekly dinner parties
PERMANENT COOK PLACEMENT: 15% of annual salary
PART TIME COOK PLACEMENT: 10% of annual salary
SUMMER/WINTER SEASON: 1 x weeks of cook’s salary
BANK HOLIDAYS/CHRISTMAS & NEW YEARS/EASTER:
BOOK A COOK: We charges double out agency fees over Bank holidays, Easter, the Festive season (all of December and New Years).
COOKS: Cooks charge double their daily rate over these dates: December 23rd, 24th, 25th 26th, 27th as well as 30th, 31st and 1st January.
EXTRA CHARGES:
ADDITIONAL COOKS - There is also a £50.00 charge for every additional cook or helper you hire.
TRAVEL DAYS - If a cook is coming to work for you and has to travel any additional days, these will be charged as half of their daily fee. If the cook does any cooking/food shopping on this day they are permitted to charge you a full day rate.
LAST MINUTE REQUESTS - if your event is in one week or less this will count as a last-minute request. Please note there is an extra £30.00 charge for all last minute job requests.
INTRODUCTORY FEE INFORMATION
If you are looking for someone to prepare you ad-hoc meal deliveries or need someone for regular dinner parties, then you will need to pay the Introductory fee. This is non-refundable and for one cook only.
Book a Cook will always try to find you a committed cook for this role, but there will on occasion be times the cook is no longer able to carry on with the role, say they take on a full-time placement or move house.
If the cook terminates their role with you in under 3 months for reasons such as the above, then I will search for a replacement cook free of charge.
If they terminate their role in under 6 months, then I will find you a replacement at half the introductory fee (£150 not £300).
If they terminate their role after this point then it will be back to square one and if you would like me to source you another cook then you will need to pay the full fee again.
TRIALS:
If you are hiring a cook for a permanent or part-time role then Book A Cook recommends a trial. This is so you can meet and get to know the cook and their food to make sure that they are the right fit for you. You will need to pay the cook for the trial their usual rate.
For permanent and part-time cook placements Book A Cook will charge a £50.00 trial fee. If the client is happy and decides to proceed with the full booking this £50.00 will be deducted from their final agency fee invoice.
TERMS FOR CLIENTS
COMMUNICATION AND PAYMENT
Once you have chosen your chef you will be sent an invoice via e-mail for the Book A Cook Finder’s Fee. This will be payable to Jodie Lewin via bank transfer. Once this payment has been received you will be sent a confirmation e-mail which will confirm the job. This e-mail will also give you the details of the chef you are hiring. The chef will also receive a confirmation e-mail with your details in it. The chef will then aim to make contact with you within 48 hours. If you would like to get in touch first that is also fine!
Once your details have been exchanged, Book A Cook will no longer be involved in the planning of the job in any way. Payment must be made by you, the client, directly to the chef, Book A Cook does not act as an intermediate, the only payment we accept is the Finder’s Fee.
Cooks are to be paid directly and they should be paid within 48 hours of the role finishing.
LIABILITY
Please note, our chefs have an independent contractor relationship with us, they are not employees. This means the client is hiring the chef directly. Book A Cook does not accept any form of responsibility for chefs when they are on a job, or any accidents or adverse events of any kind that may occur while they are on your client’s premises. In particular, please note that under no circumstances will Book A Cook be liable for any loss or damage caused to the client as a result or wrongdoing by the chef.
We ask all our chefs to take out insurance to cover themselves in case of any problems that may arise in relation to a job they have accepted with a client.
For full time placements, we will do our best to fully vet the chef, we also get references for them and pass them onto you. It is up to you, the client to check their medical and work permit position if you decide to hire them full time.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Please remember that your chef’s contact details are strictly confidential and should not be passed on to anyone else. If a friend of colleague would like to book your chef than they should get in touch with us.
CANCELLATIONS AND REFUNDS
What if the chef cancels? We hold our chefs to a high standard and cancellations on their behalf are extremely rare and only warranted for extremely valid reasons. If a chef has to cancel Book A Cook will work hard to appoint you an appropriate replacement chef. In the unlikely event that we are unable to do this a full refund of your Finder’s Fee will be issued.
What if I want to cancel my event? Unfortunately, our Finder’s Fee is non-refundable if you decide to cancel your event. If you are cancelling your event for very extreme reasons then it will be assessed by Book A Cook on a case by case situation. Alternatively, if you need to move the date of your event this must be discussed with the chef, if at that point they are unable to fulfil the job then Book A Cook will aim to find you an alternative chef.
What if I am not happy with the cook and want to terminate the job half way through?
In the unlikely event of this happening Book A Cook will try and find you a replacement free of charge, your finder’s fee will not be refunded. However please note that it may not be possible to find you a replacement, but we will try our hardest to.
It is up to you the client whether you want to terminate a job with a cook. Some cooks will have their own T&Cs or contract for you to sign which has no involvement from Book A Cook. All the cooks are self-employed and do not work for us.
Full time placement cancellations? If a permanent engagement is terminated the fees will be refunded as follows:
Weeks worked by the chef - Percentage of fee returned to client
1-2 weeks: 60%
3-5 weeks: 40%
6-10 weeks: 20%
Any request for a refund after 10 weeks of a chef working for you will not be permitted.
You must notify us within 7 days of the end of the engagement with the chef and provide proof of this.
RE-BOOKINGS
We want to develop a strong working relationship with everyone we work with, and we pride ourselves on being honest with our chefs and our clients. We are a small business and believe our agency fees are fair, and we rely on the goodwill of our chefs and clients to tell us about re-bookings. If you would like to re-book the cook for further ad-hoc work please let us know and you will be charged the one-off Introductory fee. Thank you in advance.
DEPOSITS
It is up to the chef’s discretion whether they charge you the client a deposit, this will occur after the exchange of details when Book A Cook are no longer involved.
CAUTION
All chefs will hold a current completed hygiene and allergens certificate. It is up to the chef and client to discuss any eating requirements and allergies in advance of the event. Bespoke Chefs will not be held responsible for any negligence that may arise from food intolerance and allergies.
