For East End native Robyn Henderson-Diederiks, becoming a private chef was not something she planned for.
“It actually fell into my lap,” she says.
Growing up in Montauk Henderson-Diederiks’s mother — the person who would light the initial spark for her interest in food — was a restaurateur during her formative years, working in multiple local kitchens as well as constantly orchestrating catering events. Later, Henderson-Diederiks started working in restaurants herself, as a front-of-house employee, predominantly waiting tables.
“My passion for cooking definitely started at home,” she says, “but because of my work in restaurants, that’s where I started to get a taste for finer food. I would finish work and want to eat what I had just served. I think the passion for cooking came from a desire of wanting to eat.”
It was during her tenure at Fairway Restaurant, located at Poxabogue Golf Course in Sagaponack, that she got her “big break” into the culinary world.
“I was working [at Poxabogue] and I had lots of regulars,” she says. “And what do you do when you get regulars? You chat.” One woman regular of hers asked for help with a private dinner party she was planning, and since Henderson-Diederiks was a seasoned waitress and “always down to make more money” she accepted the request.
“I showed up, nothing was ready, and she was pretty frazzled,” the now Southampton resident says of that first event. “People were going to start showing up in a half hour and I said to her, ‘I can do this. I can cook.’ It was a super simple meal. Chicken skewers, salad. It wasn’t a big deal. So, I did it.”
It may not of been a big deal to her, but nevertheless,a guest at the party noticed Henderson-Diederik’s ability to cook an entire dinner, impromptu, and offered her an opportunity to serve as a private chef for the summer season.
“The thought of me being a chef still wasn’t there,” she says, “but it was so cool how I got into this by word of mouth. I’m not a classically trained chef, but I was making more money than I ever dreamed I would be.”
Eventually, the wife and mother of two boys founded her own business, Robyn’s Kitchen, in 2017. While Henderson-Diederiks still serves as a private chef for a specific family during the summer, her services also include meal prep, building custom menus, and table décor as well as preparing small dinners for the public to enjoy. For a list of her services, as well as price points, click here.
Next month, on Nov. 13, Henderson-Diederik’s will be preparing a small, intimate farm-to-table dinner at the newly opened Head of Pond House, a waterfront bed and breakfast in Water Mill. With a focus on simple, seasonal and locally sourced ingredients, there are still seats available for the 7:30 p.m. seating. Tickets are $150 per person. Click here to snag yours!
In September, she started writing a monthly column “The Chef’s Notebook,” featured in the Southampton Press, offering readers stories on her personal journey, seasonal recipes and a behind-the-scenes look at the local edible bounty of the East End.
Although her present career was born from a happy accident, Henderson-Diederiks is over the moon with her newfound success, noting she’s confident she won’t return to the restaurant world.
“I don’t want a restaurant,” she says. “What I love about being a private chef is it’s really personal. People hire me always, always for special occasions. They’re already celebrating something. I get to be a part of something really special.”
