A life shaped by cooking.
I’m Patrick Stumm, a French private chef. I grew up in the restaurant industry, trained in Paris and have spent my career working in professional kitchens. Today, I bring that experience into private homes, cooking for people and occasions of all kinds.
My first jobs were in my family’s restaurant. I grew up surrounded by the world of food and hospitality, so when it came to choosing a career, cooking felt like a natural choice. It was also a way of continuing a family tradition and finding my own place in it.
I trained in Paris, first at culinary school and then in professional kitchens, during a time when the industry was going through a generational shift. I experienced the pressure, long hours and demanding discipline of traditional kitchens, followed by the emergence of bistronomy, where I worked before moving on to lead kitchens of my own. These years gave me the technical skills and discipline that continue to shape my cooking today.
Now, as a private chef, I begin by understanding each client’s tastes, the occasion and what they are looking for. From there, I build the menu around the season and the quality of the available produce. My approach is straightforward: let good ingredients take centre stage, using technique to bring out their best without overcomplicating things.
For me, there’s no greater satisfaction than seeing empty plates and happy guests.