What does niching mean in the Personal Chef Business?

Do you often hear this statement?

"You need to niche to bring customers to your business."

What does that really mean?

The dictionary calls a niche, "distinct segment of the market" and yes, that summarizes it, but just somewhat.

As a personal chef, you can't cook all things for all people. Which business do you think receives more new client requests?

1. JoAnne's Personal Chef Services specializes in making your Atlanta bachelorette party an evening with friends that will always be remembered as one of the best events of your life.
2. JoAnne's Personal Chef Services offers meal prep, dinner parties and cooking classes for those in Atlanta, Georgia.

Another way to look at it is by asking yourself what you would do if you were having marriage problems. Which company would you call?

1. Sam's Counseling Service: serving the Kirkland, Washington neighborhoods
2. Sam's Marriage Counseling Service: helping Kirkland residents work through relationship issues of grief, resentment, depression, and anxiety.

You get it now.

So, is target marketing the same as niching?

Target marketing and niching are two different concepts actually.

• Your target market is the group of people you serve.
• Your niche is the service you specialize in offering to your target market.

For example, you and a competing personal chef may both target athletes as your marketing segment, but each of you may offer them different services.

• The competing personal chef may offer nutritional analysis and boxed lunches
• You may offer weeknight dinners that athletes can eat with their families

The target market in this case would be athletes and the niche would be weeknight dinners for athletes. One is a segment of people and the other is the service you're offering.

Another way to look at it would be:

• Target market is the WHO
• Niche is the WHAT you're helping the WHO with

Are you having trouble figuring out your niche? It helps to start with your target market, then move into niching. 

When you put these 2 pieces together – your WHAT and your WHO – you have a clear niche that makes marketing so much easier.

You’ll be able to easily create compelling copy for your website that speaks directly to your ideal client. You can offer services that are tailored to exactly what they’re looking for. 

You become more valuable as a specialist aka focusing on a niche market. Yes, that means you can charge more!

Learn more about Pricing Your Personal Chef services here >>

A dermatologist or neurologist charges more than a general practitioner. This is because they specialize, focusing in one niche.

Examples of niches in the personal chef business:

• Regional cooking - southern, Asian, Hawaiian
• Food type - paella, BBQ, dumplings
• Diet specific - Paleo, diabetic, nut allergy
• Preparation type - no oil cooking, fried foods, baked goods

Have you decided on a niche yet? Or...have you been attempting to operate without a niche and then wondering "how do I get clients?"

I'm Virginia Stockwell, a Personal Chef Business Mentor. I help cooks and chefs start and build personal chef businesses so they can have control over their own hours and income.

Unlike most personal chef mentors, I don't provide you with a checklist of marketing things to do, but instead introduce you to the principles of marketing so you can build a long lasting business based on referrals and stop wondering where the next client is coming from.

You just learned about niching...one of the principles of marketing. There's so much more to learn when you join the Personal Chef Business in 10 Weeks program. Your business will be propelled so much faster if you reach out for help.

Working with someone who has been in the personal chef business for years is going to get you to your ideal point in business much faster than trying to go at it alone. How long do you plan on struggling?

Best Wishes & Much Success to You, Virginia Stockwell

Check out everything you're going to learn about the foundations of the Personal Chef Business here >>