It began with the ooh’s and aah’s. Sometimes Rebecca Torres wonders why she didn’t start her own personal chef business earlier in life. Since age 5, she’s been busy in the kitchen wooing an audience, at first cooking with her family, and then, as she got older, for larger and larger crowds of people. In her Philadelphia circle, she has a reputation for making memories out of the most casual private occasions using only the recipes in her head. Perhaps it was fear of failure, she said, but this past summer, after years of experience cooking for private parties, she got the extra push she needed to pursue her dream on the next level.
Torres was asked to cook for a private 40th birthday party. Few of those attending the event knew Torres, let alone her food, and yet as the night went on, these total strangers couldn’t get enough of what she laid out on the table.
“What's funny is that I'm Puerto Rican and we are known for cooking like we are feeding an army at all times,” she told AL DÍA News. “But this army just couldn't get enough. By the end of the night I was offered a catering gig and three personal chef gigs.”
So began Mi Vida Deliciosa, or “My Delicious Life,” the name Torres will operate under as she embarks on her new venture.

Unfortunately, one can’t just snap their fingers and become a professional chef overnight — not even on the private level. Under-the-table gigs are no problem, but legitimizing such services requires advertising, establishing a brand, and then building your following. There are multiple permits, both local and national, that Torres will need before she begins promoting her services as one of Philly’s top private chefs.
That’s why she began her Kickstarter campaign. With just under a month left on time-clock, Mi Vida Deliciosa needs to raise another $4,500 to meet its $5000 target. (In case you’re unfamiliar with Kickstarter, projects must meet the entirety of the goal in order to receive any the funding from backers.) Most of the 5 grand will be going towards legal paperwork and permit acquisition, but before you consider donating to the cause based on the pictures of the food (it’s tempting), it’s important to check the business plan first.
Torres has put ample thought into the logistics of Mi Vida. The in-home cooking model, she said, reduces stress between both parties, presenting a lot of opportunity without all of the risks of a restaurant or a large-scale catering operation.
“With a catering company you have to front a ton of money on cooking supplies with no guarantee that you’ll ever even get booked for an event. You also have to pay a staff, find a commercial kitchen to cook in. The licenses are much higher in cost and there is a ton of competition out there so you have to do a lot to stand out from the others,” she told AL DÍA News. “With a personal chef business all those worries go away. It’s just you and your client and you’re cooking in their kitchen.”
In addition, from a financial perspective, the modest $5000 for the Kickstarter campaign would be enough to bring Torres’ project into fruition.
“The beauty of a personal chef business is that there are no financial barriers once all your legal ducks are in a row,” she added. “Of course there will be taxes and renewals on permits and licenses, but I don’t see those as barriers. I see them as a responsibility I must fulfill to live my dream which is priceless.”

Numbers show that being a personal chef is one of the hospitality industry’s highest paying jobs. Generally speaking, once a client settles on the private chef of their choice, a long-term relationship is formed — but that loyalty is hard-won. With cutthroat competition for a relatively small client base, personal chefs need to offer something that others don’t. Rachel Lori, for instance, cooks up a successful menu using only local ingredients. When we asked Torres what sets her apart, she didn’t hesitate.
“I feel that I offer a very unique experience in that I don’t read or follow recipes or use measures,” she said. “I see something that looks interesting, I taste it and then I recreate it and make it my own. A few dishes that I make which I have never seen in Philly would be my tostone burger, my Irish-inspired curried parsnip bisque with the chorizo bacon crumble, and then my Peruvian-inspired aguacate relleno and my plantain waffle. I get these random ideas and I just go for it without hesitation and 98 percent of the time, it’s a winner.”

Though she firmly believes in word of mouth, Torres also plans to use social media as a way of sharing her love of gourmet food with new customers, by no means limited to the Puerto Rican Community in Philadelphia.
“You can speak a different language, have different religious and moral beliefs, or live on the other side of the world,” she continued. “But what we all have in common is the need to eat and have it be delicious. I want people to see that playing with ingredients and flavors isn’t scary, it’s fun and it’s addictive. I also want to show that just because I’m not Peruvian or Irish or Jamaican or from another country doesn’t mean that I can’t make an incredible dish inspired by that country and its people. Travel has definitely widened my knowledge of food and every place is a new chance for me to learn and bring something back with me to share.”