Prep sheet 003 — the pass
Add front of house and nobody leaves the hob to answer the door. Somebody else takes the coats, pours the wine you bought, carries each course out and clears it away, and resets the table between them — so your chef stays beside you from the first pan to the last plate. Seven days a week, mornings included, on any tier.
One person, on the floor, all evening. No bar and no cooking — and nothing that needs a licence, because they pour what you already own.
The floor
The washing up was always included, at every level, and so was the teaching. What £90 adds is not more cleaning — it is a second pair of hands out on the floor, so the first pair never has to leave the pan.
The problem
Chef-only is the right booking most nights, and it works because everyone ends up in the kitchen anyway. But somebody still has to answer the door, find the corkscrew, carry four plates out and bring them back — and on a chef-only booking that somebody is either you or the person you are paying to show you how to cook.
The fix
They arrive with your chef and they stay out of the kitchen. Door, coats, water, the wine you bought, each course carried out and cleared away, the table reset between them, the room put back at the end. The pass runs, and nobody at the hob stops to run it.
The limit
Nobody performs at you, nobody hovers behind your chair and nobody is going to call you sir. You still get up, you still argue about the salt, you still eat in a kitchen that smells of what you just cooked. This is somebody clearing the way, not putting on a show.
The evening
The same evening as a chef-only booking, hour for hour. What changes is who does what — the chef-only version is here.
19:00
Your chef unpacks the shopping. Front of house finds the glasses, the corkscrew and somewhere to put fourteen coats. Neither job interrupts the other, which is the first thing you notice.
19:15
You are prepping with your chef and they stay there for all of it. The table gets laid, water and ice come out, and nobody has to ask for either.
19:45
Front of house answers it every time, takes the coats, and hands people a drink from the bottles you bought. Late arrivals get looked after instead of getting a shout from the kitchen.
20:45
Still you, still beside your chef, because that is the lesson and it is where the evening is won. Front of house carries it out and comes straight back for the next one.
21:00
Courses cleared as they finish, glasses topped up from your own bottles, plates back to the kitchen and stacked out of the way. Your chef is at the table or at the hob, whichever the menu needs, rather than walking laps.
22:15
Table cleared and wiped, glassware washed, chairs where they started, bins out. The washing up was always included; what front of house changes is that most of it happened while you were still sitting down.
What it costs
A supplement on top of a session, never a booking on its own. Prices are placeholders until commercial sign-off.
Adding front of house to any tier is +£90. Adding a drinks specialist as well is +£180 with a sommelier or +£210 with a mixologist — £20 less than adding the two separately, either way. One or the other, never both; the mixologist is Fridays and Saturdays only, the sommelier any day. The tiers themselves are unchanged: the three session prices are here. Sessions in PL10–PL21 carry the same £20 travel charge as any other, and a morning start adds £25.
Ingredients are invoiced afterwards at cost with the receipts, the same as any session. Cancel free up to 48 hours out; inside 48 hours we charge half, because your chef has already shopped.
The room
Small kitchens are the normal case across PL1–PL21, and this is the service level that asks least of yours.
Somewhere to stand glasses, somewhere for coats, and a bin that is not already full. That is the list. Front of house works the table and the hallway rather than the kitchen, which is the whole point: the kitchen is where you and your chef are, and two people cooking in a galley is already one too many.
They bring cloths, an apron and their own hands. Glassware does not arrive with front of house: ice, tumblers and bar kit come with a mixologist, and wine glasses and a decanter with a sommelier. So if you want matching glasses for fourteen, say so at booking and we will tell you honestly which of those is worth adding, or whether to borrow some.
If your table does not seat everyone, they will lay it as two sittings or as a standing course, and tell you which in advance rather than on the night.
Questions
Anything else, email hello@forkingchefing.com and a person answers.
Next
The booking questions ask which service level you want, so pick front of house there. Seven days a week, mornings included, confirmed once we have spoken.