Done by AI · not an agency
Brief Zarla the way you'd brief a web designer. Its AI designs your site in about 30 seconds, with a call button and a check-a-date form, then adds pages for your sample menus and the towns you cook in, up to your plan's page limit. No sales call, no weeks-long build.
Your brief: add your town
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Sample designs
Six Zarla designs, shown for made-up private chefs, from a weekly meal-prep chef to a nine-course tasting menu. Start from one and the AI rewrites it around yours, or let your brief decide.
Dinner parties
'Private Chef in Santa Barbara, CA' in a tall serif over a terrace table at sunset, 'In-home dinner parties · Tasting menus · Weekend stays' above it, 'Check a Date' and 'Read a Summer Menu' as the buttons and 'One dinner a night · Plated or family-style · Up to 20 guests' beneath, for the chef who cooks one party at a time.
Weekly meal prep
'Meal Prep Chef in Atlanta, GA' in oversized type with 'Weekly · One visit · Cooked in your kitchen' above it, one plain sentence on what a cook day is, 'Start Your Week' as the button and a strip of packed glass containers under the headline, for the chef who sells a routine.
Events & weddings
'Private Event Chef in Napa' in a serif over a candlelit long table, beside a 'Check Your Date' form asking the occasion, the date and the guest count, with '12 to 60 guests · Servers for larger tables · Allergies planned seat by seat' under the phone number, for rehearsal dinners and small weddings.
Plant-based & dietary
'Vegan Chef in Malibu' in wide rounded type on deep green, 'Plant-based' in the pill above it, 'Diets' and 'Allergies' first in the menu and 'Plan My Menu' as the button, for the chef hired because of what someone at the table can't eat.
Tasting menu
'Tasting Menu Private Chef in Chicago, IL' over a plated course and a pair of tweezers on a near-black page, 'Seven to Nine Courses at Home' above it, 'Request a Date' and 'Read the Winter Menu' as the buttons and 'Dinners Wednesday to Saturday · Menus change each season' in the pills beneath, for the chef who brings the restaurant home.
Family household chef
'Family Private Chef in Greenwich, CT' in a warm serif beside the chef at a home range, 'Weeknight dinners · Lunch boxes · Weekends' above it, 'Arrange a Trial Dinner' as the button and 'Same chef, same days, every week' beneath, for the household chef on a weekly rota.
The checklist
Six things a private chef website needs to turn a 'private chef near me' search into a date on your calendar, each shown on one of Zarla's designs.
A dinner party, a week of family dinners and a rehearsal dinner for forty are three different clients, and most chef sites make all three read the whole page to find out which one you cook for. Say it in the line above the headline, in the host's words, so each knows in a second whether to keep reading.
The host's first question is whether you're free on the 14th for twelve. A form in the first screen that asks the occasion, the date and the guest count lets you answer in one line instead of three emails, and the date field is what turns a browse into an inquiry.
Nobody books a chef they can't picture eating. Two or three sample menus, written course by course, with the per-head price or a 'from' figure beside each, answer 'what would it be like?' and 'what does it cost?' together; a menu with no price sends the host to the chef who prints one.
The host who needs you is often the one with a guest who can't eat something. Put 'Allergies' in the menu and describe what you do (the questions you ask, how you plan the table), and never promise a dish is free of anything: the pill above the headline can say what you cook, the allergies page says how you plan, not what you guarantee. In the US, whether a chef cooking in a client's home needs a food handler card or a permit is set by state and county health departments; check with your county health department for what applies to you.
Letting a stranger cook in your kitchen is a trust decision before it's a food decision. A photograph of you at a home range, with how long you've cooked for local families and that it's the same chef every week, does more than a gallery of plates; the plates come next.
'Can you do my party?' is answered by three facts: the most guests you'll cook for, whether you serve plated or family-style, and how many dinners you take a night. Put them in a strip under the buttons, so the host with twenty-four guests doesn't fill in the form for nothing.
Process and turnaround
For comparison, from the pages of web designers who build chef and catering sites: live in 48 hours on an agency's smallest caterer package and in 7 days on its larger ones, about week 6 at a local studio, and 2–4 weeks for a solo private chef's 6-page site in a cost-estimate guide's catering post; a self-serve page builder's chef page says live in 3–5 minutes, but you build it.
Finish one sentence about your cooking: what you cook, who for, and where.
Zarla's AI designs your home page with call buttons and a quote form, then adds pages for your sample menus and the towns you cook in, up to your plan's page limit.
Click any section to swap in photos of your plates and put your per-head price in. Or type it: "add a page for weekly meal prep."
Publish on a Premium or Business plan and connect your domain.
What's included
Revisions
A local studio's care plan covers hosting and monthly content edits from $60 a month after the build is paid; a self-serve page builder's chef page changes copy and photos when you chat with its AI. With Zarla you make the changes yourself, whenever you want.
Change any section's words, photos, colors or order yourself. As often as you like, on every plan. No AI involved.
Type what you want and the AI makes the change. Typed changes use AI credits: a starter allowance on Free, a monthly allowance on Premium and Business, with a daily limit.
Move to a different design any time and keep your words, photos and pages. Layout, colors and fonts change; your content isn't rewritten.
Prices
Prices web designers, page builders and chef software publish on their own websites for private chef and catering sites, checked 3 November 2026. Most designers only quote after a call. Not like-for-like: an agency's price includes people.
| Who | Upfront | Ongoing | Time to launch | Changes after launch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A web agency in Huntington, NY (its caterer page)Foundation: a site with menu packages by service style, event photo galleries and an inquiry form that captures the date and headcount; hosting and SSL set up; you own it | $997 one-time | None published | Live in 48 hours | Not published |
| The same agencyGrowth: adds a per-head pricing estimator, tasting booking on your calendar, a proposal and deposit workflow, copywriting and a page for each service and town; Flagship adds a client portal and 12 months of content | $3,497 or $9,997 one-time | None published | Live in 7 days, or 7 days or less | 30 days of post-launch support on Growth, 90 days of priority support on Flagship |
| An owner-run web studio in Las Vegas, NV, building sites since 2005 (its catering page)A WordPress catering site you update menus on yourself | From $1,500 | Not published | Not published; a reply within one business day | Menus updated by you |
| A local web studio in Matthews, NC (its food and hospitality page; the larger tier adds private dining and event pages)Essentials, up to 4 pages, or Business with 5–7 pages | $899 or $1,299 upfront, or $75 or $108.25 a month on a 12-month plan | A care plan from $60 or $90 a month after the build is paid | About week 6 | Monthly content edits in the care plan |
| A self-serve AI page builder (its private chef page)A chef site with sample menus, per-guest pricing, dietary specialties, a bio and reviews; you build it | None published | $19 a year | Live in 3–5 minutes | You chat with its AI to change copy, colors, sections and photos |
| A private chef booking-software companyPro plan: a professional website and a custom domain on top of its free calendar, quotes and booking widget | None published | $29 a month, plus a flat 2.9% service fee when you get booked | Not published | Not published |
| Market ranges, a solo private chefAs published by a cost-estimate guide's catering post (16 June 2026): a 5-page site | Freelancer $1,200–$2,400 · agency $3,000–$6,000; an event inquiry flow adds $600–$1,400 with a freelancer | $41–$672 a month for a solo chef's hosting, tools and software | 2–4 weeks (its 6-page solo example) | — |
| Market ranges, catering companiesAs published by the same guide's catering company page (updated July 2026) | Freelancer $2,900–$8,700 · agency $7,250–$21,750 (median $5,800) | $40–$180 a month for hosting, tools and maintenance | 3–8 weeks | — |
| Zarla's AINot an agency | Free to design and preview | A Premium or Business plan to publish · see pricing | About 30 seconds to a first design; publish the same day | Click to edit any time; typed changes use AI credits |
The honest part
Zarla does the design part of an agency's job with AI. Here's what you'd still be paying people for.
Zarla partners are independent agencies and freelancers who build on Zarla and do the marketing work: SEO, ads and growth. The AI does the design; a person does the rest.
Browse Zarla partners →No. Zarla is AI. It does the design part of an agency's job, the layout, words, pages and forms, from a one-sentence brief. There's no designer on the other end. If you want a person for marketing or SEO, Zarla partners are independent agencies and freelancers who work on Zarla sites.
Web designers who publish prices for chef and catering sites charge $997 to $9,997 one-time at an agency, from $1,500 at an owner-run studio, and $899 or $1,299 upfront (or $75 or $108.25 a month on a 12-month plan) at a local studio; a self-serve page builder's chef page is $19 a year, and chef booking software includes a website on its $29-a-month plan; a cost guide puts a freelancer's solo private chef site at $1,200 to $2,400 and an agency's at $3,000 to $6,000. Designing and previewing on Zarla is free; you choose a Premium or Business plan when you publish.
The kind of chef you are in the first line (dinner parties, weekly meal prep, events), a check-a-date form that asks the occasion, the date and the guest count, sample menus with the per-head price or a 'from' figure beside them, how you handle diets and allergies, a photo of you at a stove and a few plates, how many you seat and whether you serve plated or family-style, and your reviews. In the US, food handler cards and permits for a chef cooking in a client's home are set by state and county health departments; check with your county health department for what applies to you. Zarla adds menu and town pages from your brief, up to your plan's page limit. Customers can attach up to five photos of the job to the form, so you can often price it from the photos instead of a site visit. The form doesn't work out a price for you — you read the request and quote it yourself.
Web designers who publish timelines for chef and catering sites quote live in 48 hours on an agency's smallest caterer package and 7 days on its larger ones; about week 6 at a local studio; a cost guide puts a solo private chef's 6-page site at 2–4 weeks; a self-serve page builder says 3–5 minutes for a chef site you build yourself. Zarla's first design takes about 30 seconds; after your changes, you can publish the same day on a paid plan.
Yes. Customers book appointments or service calls from your website; bookings sync to Google Calendar, and you can take a deposit or full payment through your own Stripe account. Offer a tasting or a planning call as a bookable slot, and take the deposit that holds the date.
Yes. Zarla gives your site an online menu with prices and categories, plus a private-event inquiry form. List each menu as a category (a four-course spring dinner, a week of family dinners, a nine-course tasting) with the per-head price beside it; change a dish or a price in the editor, or type it, and the menu updates when you publish.
Send a payment link by text or email and get paid without an invoice. Create branded invoices that already know your services, send them, and get paid online; paid invoices land back in the CRM. The usual shape for a dinner party is the link for the deposit when the date is agreed and the invoice for the balance after the night.
Yes, at least a 'from' figure. The host comparing three chefs skips the one that hides the number, and a per-head price beside each sample menu saves the first email. Say what the figure covers (groceries, the cooking, service, the clean-up) and what changes it (the guest count, the number of courses, a server for larger tables).
Yes. Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
Finish the sentence with your town. Zarla's AI designs your site from it.
Already have a website? Bring it across →