How to find regular customers for home-cooked meals and become a sought-after chef

Many chefs, pastry chefs, and home cooks prepare delicious food, but they face one major problem: where to find new customers who will consistently buy their dishes. In fact, home cooks have enormous potential: customers want proven, natural, fresh food prepared "just like at home." But in order for them to start ordering, it is necessary to build a clear promotion system based on psychology, statistics, and modern tools.

This detailed material is designed as a practical guide: step by step, from the first action to a steady stream of orders that brings in a stable income every day.
Here you will find clear techniques that work for those who offer: lunches, dinners, pastries, cakes, diet meals, weekly meal kits, catering, holiday orders, or private chef services.

1. Understanding your audience and their needs

A successful chef understands that before looking for customers, you need to determine exactly who you are selling to. People order home-cooked meals for different reasons, and each reason creates a separate category of customers.

The main segments are:

1) Busy people

People who work late into the evening, young professionals, IT employees, parents of young children — they all want delicious meals but are not willing to spend time cooking. These are the most loyal and regular customers.

2) People who value food quality

Those who avoid cafes because they do not trust the quality of the food; they choose home cooking and want "mom's cooking."

3) Families

They often order sets for 3–5 days to save time. This is a stable and predictable income that any home cook would be happy to have.

4) Local neighbors

People in your area are happy to choose dishes nearby so they don't have to overpay for delivery.

5) Sweet lovers

Confectionery, desserts, and baked goods are one of the most popular and profitable areas. Finding customers for a pastry chef requires a specific approach.

6) Companies and small organizations

They order lunches for their staff, catering, and small office events.

If you understand that each segment has its own needs, it is much easier to tailor your customer search. For some, delivery speed is important, for others — quality, and for others — product uniqueness.

2. Essential foundation: how to build trust and a professional image

Before you start promoting, you need to prepare your "shop window":

1) Photos

The first thing people look at. Food marketplace statistics show that a good photo increases conversion to orders by 87%
. The main thing is to have a

• a light background,
• natural lighting,
• close-up shots,
• focus on the texture of the dish.

Photos are your main salesperson.

2) Names

Simple and clear.
Example:
❌ "Su-vid chicken fillet in sweet and sour sauce"
✔️ "Chicken fillet with aromatic sauce"

The buyer should instantly understand what they are getting.

3) Description

Short but informative. Emphasize:

• natural products;
• freshness;
• health benefits;
• homestyle;
• no chemicals.

4) Price

Don't underestimate the cost. Cheaper does not mean better. Customers are willing to pay more for quality home-cooked food than for cafeteria meals.

5) Professional profile

Photos, a short greeting, a list of dishes, reviews, and an up-to-date menu all build trust.

3. Main promotion channels and their actual effectiveness

To understand how to find customers for a chef, you need to analyze all available channels, see what works and what doesn't, and why. Not all tools are equally useful. Some provide a quick flow of orders, while others require lengthy preparation.

4. The best ways to attract customers: a step-by-step system

This is the most important section. It contains proven methods that deliver results.

Each step builds on the previous one.

Step 1. Local strategy: start with your immediate surroundings

Its effectiveness has been proven by chefs across the country: the first regular customers almost always appear among:

• neighbors,
• colleagues,
• acquaintances,
• parents of classmates,
• local residents.

How to work locally:

1. Create an attractive menu for the week.
2. Send it to local chat groups (building, neighborhood, house).
3. Offer a small introductory discount.
4. Focus on consistency: people quickly get used to convenient services.

Local demand generates regular orders, and they provide the basis for income.

Step 2. Social networks are gradually dying out

It is useful to understand that social networks are not a tool for "immediate sales." A few years ago, they were tools for forming communities with a level of trust and demonstrating quality. But every day, the popularity of social networks is declining due to an overabundance of similar content.

The DOMASHKA service provides an alternative platform for organizing your own culinary business at home without the need for lengthy account promotion, popularization, and visitor attraction. All these aspects are already taken care of automatically.

But for greater return, it is important to set up your account correctly.

How to organize your menu on the service:

• each post is your dish, process, packaging, or review;
• Minimum text, maximum natural photos, and accurate descriptions.
• Stories with cooking are welcome;
• up-to-date prices;
• Real reviews.

Common mistakes:

• "too personal" content;
• low-quality photos;
• lack of descriptions for dishes;
• low-quality design of dish cards;
• focus on overly specific dishes that are not in demand.

The emphasis should be on popular dishes. It is useful to review statistics on how often certain dishes are ordered in your region.

Step 3. Marketplaces and specialized platforms

This is where most professional home cooks get the majority of their orders. The marketplace generates an influx of customers, and the cook only has to focus on cooking.

The essence: the customer enters the name of the dish in the search → sees your position → places an order.

This is the fastest way because:

• the search works automatically,
• there is no need to purchase advertising,
• the rating system works,
• customers trust the platform.

Such platforms are often used by people who want natural, homemade food.

It is important to understand that the easiest way to find customers for homemade food is through such services, because people have already come looking for it.

Step 4. Personal recommendations

The power of word of mouth is enormous.
Psychology confirms that people are more likely to buy from someone their friends talk about than from someone who advertises.

To make recommendations work:

• add small bonuses to orders,
• leave a business card or QR code,
• ask for feedback,
• ask them to share photos.

Each satisfied customer brings in 1–3 new ones.
After 3–4 months, this turns into a steady stream.

Step 5. Groups, local chats, forums

Your local Telegram group is a gold mine.
Facebook groups for your area are too. Every day, people use
these platforms to search for home-cooked meals, cakes, pastries, chefs, and desserts.

But it's important to do it right:

• don't spam,
• post only high-quality content,
• provide useful information,
• show fresh dishes,
• respond quickly.

These groups are where emotional, "impulse" purchases happen—especially for sweets, cooking, and holiday orders.

Step 6. Evenings, master classes, themed events

This is one of the most powerful but underrated methods.
When people try your food in person, the conversion rate to orders reaches 60–80%.

Formats:

• tastings,
• mini-dinners for 4–6 people,
• cooking evenings,
• themed dessert gatherings.

After such events, the chef has a list of regular customers for the month ahead.

Important point #1

If you need to understand where to find customers for a chef, look where people are already looking for food.

Social networks are not the basis, but a supplement.
Marketplaces and local chats are the basis.

Specialized gastronomic platforms such as Grudinka.

5. A systematic approach: how to organize a steady stream of orders

In order to not just "catch customers" once, but to build a stable flow, you need a system consisting of several elements:

Element 1. Regularity

New dish → if you have learned to cook something new, create a card for the new dish.
New photos → as you work, periodically add new photos to old dishes.
Constant presence → try not to take long breaks from the service.

Customers love activity and consistency, and they are also open to novelty.

Element 2. Quality

If you consistently cook delicious food, customers will stay forever.
If the dishes are sometimes delicious and sometimes not, customers will leave.
Satisfied customers fill your pages with positive reviews.

Element 3. Promotions and offers

These work great:

• discounts on first purchases,
• bonus with order,
• free delivery for orders over a certain amount,
• weekly sets.

Element 4. Response speed

According to platform statistics:
if you respond to a customer within 10 minutes, the probability of an order is 72%.
If you respond within an hour, it is 14%.

Element 5. Service

Packaging, neatness, cleanliness — all of these things build trust.
Attractive boxes and labels increase conversion by 30%.

But don't go overboard with the packaging. People value the quality of the food, not the beauty of the packaging. Your food is not a gift, but a daily necessity.

Conclusion

All of the above recommendations boil down to a simple formula:

1. Register on the platform as a chef;
2. Set up the region where you plan to receive orders;
3. Add at least 10 simple dishes to the menu;
4. Keep track of incoming orders so you don't miss them.
5. Fulfill orders on time and according to the stated requirements.

And forget about having to promote your account yourself. This is not a social network, and there is no need to invest in promoting a group, account, community, etc.

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