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Marrow Private Chefs
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Private Chefs on 30a - A Guide

Everything you need to know about booking a private chef on the Emerald Coast

What Is a Private Chef Experience?

A private chef experience brings restaurant-quality dining to your vacation rental, beach house, or private venue. Instead of making reservations, fighting for parking, and dining in a crowded restaurant, a professional chef comes to you — preparing a multi-course meal in your kitchen, serving your guests, and handling all cleanup.

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It's the ultimate luxury: exceptional food without lifting a finger.

What's Included?

A full private chef experience typically includes:

  • Menu planning and customization

  • Grocery shopping and ingredient sourcing

  • Professional chef and support staff

  • All cooking equipment and serving ware

  • Multi-course meal preparation and plating

  • Table setup and service

  • Complete kitchen cleanup

What you provide:

  • A working kitchen (stove, oven, sink with running water)

  • Table and seating for your guests

  • Dining ware and glassware (we generally use what's in the home, but can provide our own if needed)

What's not included:

  • Beverages (wine, beer, cocktails) — though we can source and serve these for an additional fee

  • Gratuity is not included in our pricing

Why Choose a Private Chef on 30A?

The Emerald Coast is known for its stunning beaches, luxury vacation rentals, and coastal dining. But during peak season, restaurant reservations are hard to come by, wait times are long, and coordinating large groups is stressful.

A private chef experience solves all of this:

  • Convenience - No reservations, no driving, no waiting. The chef comes to you.

  • Privacy - Celebrate in the comfort of your own space with just your group.

  • Customization - Every detail tailored to your preferences, dietary needs, and occasion.

  • Quality - Culinary skill and technique with locally-sourced Gulf seafood and Emerald Coast ingredients.

  • Experience - It's not just a meal. Watching a chef work, asking questions, enjoying the aromas and anticipation creates memories.

  • No cleanup - The kitchen is left spotless. You get to be a guest at your own gathering.

How Much Does a Private Chef Cost on 30A?

Private chef pricing on the Emerald Coast typically ranges from $100 to $500+ per person, depending on the menu, guest count, customization level, and service requirements.

Marrow Private Chefs Pricing Structure

Tasting Menu: $500 per person

  • 9 course tasting menus with wine pairings

  • Fully custom menus designed for your occasion

  • Premium ingredients, advanced techniques, sommelier service

Signature Experiences: $175 - $250 per person

  • Chophouse Dinner, Signature Private Chef Menu, Private Chef Brunch

  • Ideal for special occasions, anniversaries, milestone birthdays

  • Individual plating, elevated presentation, multiple courses

Family-Style & Casual Menus: $150 per person

  • Southern Supper, Taco Feast, Italian Dinner

  • Perfect for families, casual celebrations, larger groups

  • Family-style

Ready-To-Eat Delivery Meals: $85 per person

  • Bayou Shrimp Boil, Southern BBQ, Tex Mex Tacos

  • Prepared fully in our catering kitchen - delivered to you ready to eat

  • Family-style

Minimums: We don't have minimum guest counts, but we do have minimum spend requirements — $1,500 for private chef events, $850 for delivery meals.

What affects the price:

  • Guest count (larger groups = lower per-person cost)

  • Menu complexity (number of courses, ingredient costs)

  • Dietary restrictions (extensive modifications may increase cost)

  • Service level (plated vs. family-style, additional staff)

  • Add-ons (wine service, specialty cocktails, passed appetizers)

How We Compare

Marrow Private Chefs offers exceptional value for the quality and service level:

  • Over 2,500 events served since 2018

  • 600+ five-star Google reviews

  • Best Chef on the Emerald Coast 2023 & 2024

  • Transparent pricing with all costs itemized upfront

Our Menus

Curated Seasonal Menus

We offer a collection of chef-designed menus that showcase the best of Emerald Coast cuisine. Each menu is carefully crafted to highlight seasonal ingredients, Gulf seafood, and local flavors.

Popular Menus

  • Signature Private Chef Menu — Four-course tasting experience featuring innovative appetizers, house specialties, premium proteins, and seasonal vegetables and sides

  • Chophouse Dinner — Classic steakhouse experience with prime cuts, fresh gulf seafood, and elevated sides

  • Southern Supper — Elevated Southern comfort food with roasted pork tenderloin, homestyle sides made from scratch, and classic southern strawberry shortcake for dessert.

  • Taco Feast — Gourmet taco bar with house-braised tomatillo chicken and blackened gulf shrimp, plus all the accoutrements and dulce de leche bread pudding

  • Italian Dinner — Handmade lasagna and rustic Italian flavors

  • Tasting Menu — Chef's choice multi-course progression (9 courses) with cocktail & wine pairings

Seasonal Menu Changes

  • Our menus rotate seasonally to showcase the freshest ingredients:

  • Spring/Summer (April-September) — Lighter preparations, Gulf seafood focus, fresh herbs, citrus, summer vegetables

  • Fall/Winter (October-March) — Heartier dishes, braised preparations, root vegetables, rich sauces

Custom Menus

Prefer something entirely your own? We love creating custom menus tailored to your vision, dietary needs, and occasion. Share your ideas and we'll design a menu specifically for you.

What to Expect: The Marrow Experience

Before Your Event

1. Initial inquiry — Browse our menus and submit a booking request with your preferred date and basic details.

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2. Confirmation — We'll respond within 24 hours to confirm availability, answer questions, and provide a detailed proposal with all costs itemized.

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3. Reserve your date — Once you're ready to move forward, we'll reserve your chef with a deposit (25% of total). That's it — your chef is locked in.

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4. Finalize details — All the other details can wait until closer to your event:

  • Final guest count

  • Menu customizations

  • Dietary restrictions

  • Exact timing preferences

 

You have up to 10 days before your event to finalize everything. We'll send reminders as your date approaches.

Arrival and setup (1 hour before service)

  • Chef arrives with all ingredients and equipment

  • Kitchen inspection and prep area setup

  • Table setting

  • Mise en place and cooking begins

 

Service (varies by menu)

  • Courses are plated and served at a comfortable pace

  • Chef explains each dish and answers questions

  • Wine service and beverage assistance (if requested)

  • Attentive but unobtrusive hospitality

 

Cleanup

  • Kitchen returned to spotless condition

  • All cookware and equipment packed

  • Trash removed and surfaces sanitized

 

Total time on site: 2-3 hours from arrival to departure

Day of Your Event

Dietary Accommodations

We make it our mission to serve the perfect plate to every guest at the table. Whether you have severe allergies, ethical dietary choices, or picky eaters, we'll create a menu everyone can enjoy.

We regularly accommodate:

  • Gluten-free and celiac

  • Dairy-free and lactose intolerance

  • Nut allergies (all tree nuts and peanuts)

  • Shellfish and fish allergies

  • Vegetarian and vegan

  • Paleo, keto, and low-carb

  • Religious dietary requirements

  • Children's preferences

Our philosophy:

We do our best to ensure that guests with dietary restrictions have as similar an experience as everyone else. If most guests are having seared scallops, a vegetarian guest might receive braised daikon radish — similar in appearance and texture, but completely plant-based. The goal is to make sure dietary restrictions don't mean a lesser dining experience.

How we handle it:

  • Separate prep areas and cookware to prevent cross-contamination

  • Ingredient substitutions that maintain flavor and presentation

  • Clear communication with all guests about modifications

  • Experience creating dishes that accommodate multiple restrictions simultaneously

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Important: Please inform us of all dietary restrictions when you book/finalize. Last-minute changes may be difficult to accommodate.

Preparing Your Vacation Rental

Any fully functioning home kitchen provides what we need to execute our menus.

What we bring:

  • All groceries and ingredients

  • All cookware and cooking utensils

  • Napkins for the table

  • Plates and silverware (if needed)

What we use from your rental:

Plates and silverware (we generally plan to use what's in the home, but can provide our own if necessary)

What we ask from you:

  • Tidy kitchen with plenty of workspace

  • All dishes clean and ready for use

  • Empty dishwasher (so we can load as we go)

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You don't need to set the table — our chefs will take care of that.

We're flexible on dining style:

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  • Indoor dining room

  • Outdoor patio or deck (let us know if you will be dining on a different floor from where the kitchen is)

  • Beachfront home (ceremony on sand, reception indoors)

  • Multiple tables for larger groups

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Optional upgrades: If you'd like us to provide upscale serving ware, specialty linens, or other items, just ask.

Dining Space Setup

Occasions We Serve

Vacation Dining

Most of our events are vacation experiences — families and friend groups visiting 30A who want a special meal without the restaurant hassle. It's become a tradition for many returning guests.

Celebrations

  • Milestone birthdays (30th, 40th, 50th, 60th+)

  • Anniversaries

  • Graduation dinners

  • Retirement parties

  • Bachelorette and bachelor parties

  • Engagement celebrations

Weddings

  • Rehearsal dinners

  • Wedding receptions (25-250 guests)

  • Post-wedding brunches

  • Elopement dinners

  • Multi-day wedding celebrations

  • Executive retreats

  • Team dinners and celebrations

  • Client entertainment

  • Board meetings and offsites

Corporate & Business

We are closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas so that our chefs and staff can spend those special days with their families. However, the kitchen is open and we are eager to serve you the other 363 days of the year.

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Note: Holiday dates book months in advance. Reserve early.

Holidays

Service Areas

We proudly serve the entire Emerald Coast region:

Primary service area:

  • 30A & Scenic 98 corridor (all neighborhoods from Laguna Beach to Destin)

  • Destin

  • Santa Rosa Beach

  • South Walton

  • Miramar Beach

  • Sandestin

Specific communities we serve:

  • Laguna Beach

  • Inlet Beach

  • Rosemary Beach

  • Alys Beach

  • Seacrest Beach

  • Watersound

  • Seagrove Beach

  • Seaside

  • WaterColor

  • Grayton Beach

  • Blue Mountain Beach

  • Santa Rosa Beach

  • Gulf Place

  • Dune Allen Beach

  • Topsail

  • Sandestin

  • Crystal Beach

  • Miramar Beach

  • Destin

​For locations outside our primary area, if available, we may apply a travel fee depending on distance. This primarily applies to larger catered events.

Extended Service Area:

Why Choose Marrow Private Chefs?

Awards & Recognition

  • Best Chef on the Emerald Coast — 2023 & 2024

  • 600+ five-star Google reviews — Perfect 5.0 rating

  • Featured in Southern Bride magazine, local press

  • Since 2018 — Over 2,500 events served

What Our Guests Say

"If I could give them 10 stars I would."

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"Literally the best meal I've ever had."

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"Made everything so easy — we didn't lift a finger."

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"The chefs were friendly, professional, and fun to have in our home."

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"We book Marrow first when planning our vacation every year."

Our Commitment

  • Culinary skill — Technique and creativity in every dish

  • Warm hospitality — Professional but approachable

  • Local ingredients — Gulf seafood, Emerald Coast purveyors, seasonal produce

  • Reliability — We show up on time, execute flawlessly, and exceed expectations

  • Transparency — Clear pricing with all costs itemized upfront, no surprise fees

Frequently Asked Questions

How far in advance should I book?

​Peak season (March-September) and holidays: 4-6 weeks in advance. Off-season: 2-3 weeks. Last-minute bookings (within 7 days) are sometimes available — reach out and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Can you accommodate dietary restrictions?

Absolutely. We handle gluten-free, vegan, allergies, and more. Just let us know when you book.

Do you provide the food and drinks?

​We provide all food. Beverages are not included but we can source and serve for an additional fee, including full bar service.

What if my rental kitchen is small?

No problem. We bring what we need. As long as you have a stove, oven, and sink, we can make it work.

Can kids eat what the adults are eating?

We can adjust any menu for kids or create separate kid-friendly options.

What's your cancellation policy?

Cancellations are 75% refundable 30+ days from the event. Deposits are non-refundable less than 30 days prior. All reservations for major holidays and holiday weekends are also non-refundable. No cancellations can be made inside of 7 days prior to an event.

How does payment work?

We'll run your credit card on file the day following your meal. There's nothing you need to do. If you've made alternative payment arrangements, we'll have already accounted for those as well. Simply relax and savor the time with your guests.

What forms of payment do you accept?

We accept cash, credit cards, debit cards, bank transfers, and cryptocurrency.

**View all FAQs**

Ready to Book Your Experience?

​Browse our curated menus, choose your date, and submit a booking inquiry. We'll respond within 24 hours to confirm availability and answer any questions.

**View Our Menus** | **Book Now** | **Contact Us**

About the Chefs

Marrow Private Chefs was established in 2018 by chefs Richard McCord and Ryan McNay with a simple mission: prepare and serve excellent cuisine while providing the most relaxed and carefree dining experience on the Emerald Coast.

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What started as in-home private chef dinners has grown into a full-service catering operation serving over 2,500 events — from intimate vacation dinners to elegant weddings.

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Our team brings decades of combined culinary experience, a genuine love for hospitality, and an obsessive attention to detail. Every dish we serve is made from scratch using quality ingredients.

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We believe a shared meal should be a source of satisfaction, not stress - and that every meal should be a memory worth keeping.

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