Cooked in your kitchen
Private chef in Benfleet
Your table in Benfleet, my kitchen for the night: a bespoke menu written for your table, cooked in your home — prep, service, and a spotless kitchen before I leave.
The weekday lunch boxes already come to Benfleet and Canvey every Sunday and Wednesday evening. This year I’ve cooked a birthday dinner party just along the coast in Leigh.
Benfleet is 6 miles by road from the kitchen in Rayleigh.
Photo: Mark Percy, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped · Wikimedia Commons
Who is cooking
A private chef in Benfleet, from a kitchen in Rayleigh
I’m Mike Sutton: 20 years in professional kitchens, nearly a decade running my own restaurant, trained under Gennaro Contaldo and Jamie Oliver. Tipsy Squirrel Events is what I did after I sold the restaurant — the same cooking, brought to your home instead.
The kitchen is in Rayleigh, 6 miles by road from Benfleet, and I cook across Essex, London, the South East and East Anglia. Every menu is written from scratch for your table, with 43 sample menus from six regions of the world to start from, and every dietary in the room handled within the same courses — nobody gets a visibly different plate.
How it works
Tell me the date, the headcount, and the occasion — four fields or a WhatsApp message.
I write the menu around your table and every dietary in the room, and we refine it together.
On the night I arrive early, cook, serve, and leave your kitchen spotless.
The practical bits
From £75 per head, £449 minimum spend
Travel to Benfleet is quoted with the menu, based on the distance from Rayleigh.
Ingredients, menu design, chef and service, equipment and a full clean-down included
Every dietary catered — nobody gets a visibly different plate
From recent tables
In their words
What guests said
“Excellent service, food quality was amazing & Mike offered a friendly & personal approach. I would definitely recommend Mike & plan to book him for future events. 5 stars.”
“Excellent food well presented. Quick to adapt to some unexpected dietary issues. All round an excellent evening.”
Questions from Benfleet
Before you book a private chef in Benfleet
How much is a private chef in Benfleet?
From £75 per head with a £449 minimum spend — ingredients, menu design, the chef on the night, the equipment I bring and a full clean-down are all in that figure. Tell me the date, the headcount and the occasion and you will have the exact price the same day.
Do you charge travel to Benfleet?
Travel to Benfleet is quoted with the menu, based on the distance from Rayleigh, and shown as one line on your quote before you commit — nothing is added later.
Do you cook in my kitchen?
Yes. I arrive early, bring what your kitchen does not have, cook and serve every course, then clean down before I leave. If your hob has two working rings, that is workable — it has been before.
Can you handle allergies and dietary requirements?
Yes. Every menu is built to handle vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free within the same courses, so nobody at the table gets a visibly different plate. Tell me the requirements when you enquire.
Do you deliver the weekday lunch boxes to Benfleet?
Not at the moment: the OuiChef Meal Prep lunch boxes are paused for now. Benfleet is in the delivery area (SS postcodes around Southend), so leave your name on the Meal Prep page and I will let you know first when they restart.
Planning a wedding? See wedding catering in Essex or all my wedding menus and prices.
Christmas? I cook Christmas Day at home and office Christmas parties from £39 a guest.