As the personal chef to many of Washington’s rich and powerful, Jenn Crovato, 37, must know boundaries.
She is the help. They are the boss.
Flying across continents in personal jets, meeting big-name entertainers such as Patti Austin and Lionel Ritchie, cooking for Steve Case, Donald Rumsfeld, utility executive Mayo Shattuck and the Washington Post Board of Directors can be heady stuff for a young 20- or 30-something.
Crovato brings an unemotional, business-like approach to a chef’s life. It is work, plain and simple.
“This whole Food Network thing has people screwed up,” she said. “They think you are a celebrity and you make a lot of money. Most executive chefs might make $80,000 a year. It’s not glamorous by any stretch.”
Crovato had to keep all that in mind during her six years as a personal chef to the late financier/philanthropist Joseph E. Robert Jr., who died of brain cancer in December 2011. She was Robert’s chef when he entertained moguls, diplomats and Abu Dhabi royalty. “I’ve witnessed a number of property managers, nannies, that feel a sense of power, entitlement and control, as if it is their house and their life. It’s not.”
Robert made it easy for Crovato to remember the division between worker and boss. He was demanding and spare on compliments, but businesslike and fair. He spent two weeks a month on business, flying the globe on his Bombardier Global Express. But when he was at home in McLean, he wanted Crovato available at all hours.
When Crovato wanted a $150,000 salary, more than double what he was paying her, he compromised: $100,000, plus private school tuition for her two children.
She agreed, as long as she could keep a small client list that includes Monumental Sports & Entertainment vice chairman Raul Fernandez, former AOL mogul Jim Kimsey, George Washington University Board of Trustees chairman Russ Ramsey and Case.
She makes a living as personal chef to those and others, working out of her Silver Spring home as a sole proprietorship. She has a Web site, is starting a blog and recently hired a team to help promote her cooking on social media.
Crovato borrowed $80,000 from a bank to fund her expanding business, Healing With Fresh Foods, which has a book coming out next month called “Olive Oil, Sea Salt & Pepper.” Crovato hopes the book is a springboard to new opportunities like teaching and consulting. She already has a consulting contract to Case’s winery in Madison, Va.
The book is a road map for developing healthy cooking and eating habits through simple methods and preparations of fresh, unprocessed foods using the basic ingredients in the title. She is donating $3 of every copy sold to the Fight for Children charity that Robert championed.
Crovato is all business. She tries to keep cooking jobs to one per week. She won’t take a job for less than $1,000. “It’s not worth it,” said the mother of two, who charges $85 an hour.
The average job takes about 20 hours, including grocery shopping and preparation. She does prep work like chopping and dicing at her own home, but the meal is cooked in the client’s kitchen. Someone else usually serves. She usually makes around $1,700 to feed a group of 10 or so.
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