Personal branding · Hospitality and food
The ratings belong to the restaurant, and you may not always be in it.
Personal branding for a chef is the reputation that travels with the person instead of the outlet: your food, your training and your record, kept somewhere you own when the kitchen changes hands.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Personal branding for a chef is the reputation that travels with the person instead of the outlet: your food, your training and your record, kept somewhere you own when the kitchen changes hands. GullySales builds that and opens a route for consulting, pop-ups and press.
Also written for
Chef, Celebrity chef, Restaurant owner, Restaurateur, Cloud kitchen founder.
Where this sits
For chefs and restaurateurs
Where it usually goes wrong, and what we would do.
“Every rating you earned sits on the outlet's listing”
Four years of reviews on the delivery apps and the maps profile belong to an address. Walk out of that kitchen and the score stays behind the door.
“The photographs of your food are not yours”
The shoot was paid for by the restaurant and the images sit in their drive under their licence. A chef who leaves has a phone full of service-time snaps and nothing a magazine will print.
“The money is in the work beside the stove”
Menu consulting for a new property, a cloud kitchen brand, a product line, a guest night, a hotel relaunching its food and beverage. Those come to a name, and they pay on the Tuesdays when covers do not.
“Partners and investors are backing a person”
Anyone putting money into a new outlet is judging whether you can hold a kitchen, cost a menu and stay for three years. That judgement is made on whatever they can see, and most chefs have left nothing to see.
What we do
What we deliver for chefs and restaurateurs.
Every deliverable, what it covers for you, and the result it is there to produce. Nothing here is an extra.
A chef's profile that outlives the address
Where you trained, the kitchens you have run, the cuisines you actually cook, the menus you have opened. On a page in your name, not in a restaurant's about section.
Result: A reputation you take with you on the day you hand over the keys.
Photographs with the rights agreed first
A shoot of your own dishes with usage written down before the shutter, so the images are yours to send to a food editor or an investor. Where the restaurant paid for a shoot, we agree in advance what you may use.
Result: Material ready the week a magazine asks, instead of a fortnight of chasing a former employer.
The story behind the food, told once and properly
The region, the technique, the farmer you buy the chillies from, your grandmother's method and what you changed about it. Written from the hour with you, because a copywriter cannot invent any of it. If that hour cannot be found between services, put the money into the outlet's listings instead.
Result: Press and collaborations that arrive for the food rather than for a discount.
Claims kept inside the food rules
Anything said about health, nutrition or an ingredient's benefit has to sit inside what the food safety regulations permit, and it is the licence over your kitchen that carries the consequence, not our copy. We draft around it and mark every such line for your own food safety consultant to pass or cut. We do not clear anything ourselves.
Result: Nothing on your page that a regulator's notice could turn into a problem.
An enquiry route for consulting and appearances
A page for menu consulting, pop-ups, guest nights and brand work, saying what you take on, the notice you need and how you charge for it.
Result: Approaches come by mail with a budget rather than through a reservation line.
Awards and guide entries submitted on time
The guides, awards and trade listings that accept entries in your category, with the closing dates and the material each one wants.
Result: Entries that go in complete instead of three days late.
How the result is measured
- Enquiries that name you or came through your profile
- Searches for your name, from Search Console
- Profile views and connection requests from your industry
- Speaking invitations, press enquiries and podcast requests
- Posts published against posts planned, and what held up the rest
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
How it works
How the work runs for chefs and restaurateurs
The work itself, in order. How an engagement starts, from your brief to a written scope, is set out on our method page.
- 1
Work out whether this is even your bottleneck
The first conversation covers how enquiries reach you today. If the company's own site is the weaker link, that comes first, and we say so.
- 2
Search your own name with you
We look at what a buyer sees today: every profile, old listing and photograph. Some of it you will want taken down, and some of it only you can take down.
- 3
Agree what you will and will not say
The subjects you know cold, the ones that belong to your clients, and the lines your regulator or association draws. Written down before anything is published.
- 4
Rebuild the profiles
The bio page, LinkedIn and the directories that matter in your field, done once and done properly.
- 5
The routine
Interview, drafts, your approval, publication. The interview is the only part that needs you, and it is the part that cannot be skipped.
- 6
Hand it over
The subject list, the drafting notes and the calendar are yours. If you would rather keep it running yourself, that is a fair outcome.
Before you hire anyone
The first thing to do yourself.
It costs nothing, and it shows what a buyer sees before they ever call you.
- Search your own name and your practice or business name in a private browser window, and list the first ten results.
- Open your profile on each major platform and check that the name, photo, description and contact details agree.
- Ask two people who recently chose you what they looked up first, and write down their answers.
Judge any provider
What to ask any agency or ghost-writer.
Useful whoever you choose, including us.
- Who writes my words, and do I approve everything before it goes out?
- Which of my own details and claims will you need to check with me before publishing?
- What will you not write because of the rules my profession follows?
- Whose account do the profiles and the content sit in, and what happens to them if we stop?
- What do you count as a result, and what will you not promise?
Where this fits
Three pieces of sales work, in this order.
GullySales builds every engagement from three pieces of sales work. This page is not one of them, but the same three steps apply to the business behind it.
Step 1
Sales audit
Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.
Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.
Step 2
Sales process design
One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.
Start here if every salesperson sells differently.
Step 3
Sales management
A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.
Start here if the team has targets and no routine.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Will this fill my restaurant on a weekday?
I am employed as an executive chef. Can I do this?
My restaurant already has a big following. Is this the same thing?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Hospitality and food
Personal branding for the rest of the hospitality and food.
Or start from personal branding.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.