The Private Chef Business Is Booming

<p><strong>Interested in Chef Tech Stack?</strong><a href="https://justinkhanna.notion.site/36138fe6ebfb80e4949ffce6e9cf446a">⁠⁠⁠Learn more here.⁠⁠⁠</a></p><p><strong>Want 1-on-1 Coaching with Repertoire?</strong><a href="https://justinkhanna.notion.site/39c38fe6ebfb8098bbdfc636fdac611a">⁠⁠⁠Apply here.</a></p><p><br></p><p>The restaurant industry is changing faster than most operators can react — and this week Ray goes solo on four stories that show exactly where it&#39;s headed.First, a Wall Street Journal piece on chefs, plumbers, and contractors turning client work into media companies. Private chef Olivia Tiedemann went from a couple thousand Instagram followers to 4.3 million in three months, and she&#39;s not an outlier — 73% of small business owners now identify as content creators. Ray makes the case that the &quot;pay your dues first&quot; mindset is costing people years of earning power they&#39;ll never get back.Then, The Economist on why the restaurant business is unrecognizable: Thursday has overtaken Friday as the peak dining night, three of every four American restaurant meals are now consumed off-premise, 42% of US food outlets were unprofitable last year, and the pandemic push into apps and delivery drove a 15% jump in labor productivity after thirty years of flat. Plus a look at Osteria 166 in Buffalo, where the owner killed his à la carte dining room and cut the average check by 25%.Third, the National Restaurant Association&#39;s 2026 Beverage Trends report — 87% of full-service operators say drinks now drive traffic, and Ray argues the real story is social, not liquid: the forty-minute drive-thru line is the hangout.Finally, a new Gallup poll putting GLP-1 use at 11–12% of American adults, up from 3% in 2024. Chipotle, Smoothie King, and Shake Shack are already building menus around it — and GLP-1 users are buying from restaurants more often than non-users, not less.Repertoire Report is a weekly hospitality industry news show from Justin Khanna and Ray Delucci. Links to every story are below.🎧 At 2,500 YouTube subscribers, we&#39;re doing a listener Q&amp;A — we&#39;re about 290 away. Subscribe and drop your question in the comments.Photo Credit: Photography by Chris Buck for WSJ. Magazine (Edited)</p><p><br></p><p>Links: </p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/style/contractors-chefs-becoming-influencers-with-clients-permission-c0b31fb6" target="_new" rel="noopener">Chef Content Creators (Wall Street Journal)</a></p><p><a href="https://w