For chefs
What we require before your profile goes live
These are the standards every LocalChef agrees to meet. Build your profile today: publishing unlocks once our team has reviewed and approved it.
What we check before a chef goes live
Every real LocalChef chef must complete identity verification, background screening, and LocalChef’s application and profile review before being published; these checks open with production screening, and no real chef goes live before passing them. Verification reduces risk. It is not a guarantee of future conduct or complete safety. Food-safety licensing and insurance responsibilities are explained separately because they depend on how and where each chef operates.
Government ID and live identity verification
What we verify: Government-ID and live-selfie verification will be required before a real chef is published once production screening opens. Checkr, our screening provider, will collect and check the ID and selfie on its own secure system: LocalChef will not collect or store your identification document, license number, selfie, or biometric information.
Why it matters: Guests invite chefs into their homes. This helps confirm that the person completing the application and screening is a real person and is who they claim to be.
Criminal background screening
What we verify: After identity verification and your authorization, Checkr conducts LocalChef’s required criminal background screening. LocalChef reviews the completed screening under its background-check policy. A real chef’s profile cannot be published until the required screening has received an approved decision.
Why it matters: Identity verification confirms who is being screened; the background check reviews relevant history. Both checks are required because they answer different safety questions.
LocalChef application and profile review
What we verify: A LocalChef administrator reviews your application, profile information, service details, profile photograph, and onboarding readiness before publication. We may schedule a brief live video call when additional identity or profile confirmation is needed.
Why it matters: This helps connect the verified person to the chef profile customers will see and reduces the risk of account substitution or misleading profiles.
Payout-account readiness
What we verify: Before accepting paid bookings, you must complete Stripe’s secure onboarding requirements and have an account approved for charges and payouts. Stripe collects the sensitive banking, tax, and identity information required for that process; LocalChef does not store it.
Why it matters: This connects each active chef account to an approved payout account and helps prevent anonymous or improperly configured accounts from receiving customer funds.
Professional requirements
Food-safety credentials and operating licenses
Food-safety and licensing requirements depend on how and where you prepare, store, transport, and serve food. Cooking entirely in a customer’s private home may be treated differently from catering, off-site preparation, or operating from a commercial kitchen. You are responsible for maintaining any certification or license required for your operation. LocalChef strongly recommends a current Food Protection Manager certification and may request documentation when a chef’s operating model requires it.
RIDOH’s Center for Food Protection can confirm what your setup requires: 401-222-2749 or DOH.foodprotectionFMC@health.ri.gov.
Liability insurance
LocalChef does not currently require chefs to submit proof-of-coverage documents for general liability insurance, but we strongly recommend appropriate coverage for anyone providing services in customers’ homes. Insurance or licensing requirements may vary depending on your activities, contracts, and operating model.
Build first, verify in parallel
Verification never blocks you from working on your profile. It only gates the moment it becomes public.
Build your profile now
Your profile starts as a private draft. Add your story, dishes, multi-course meals, photos, and pricing in any order. Nothing is public yet.
Submit your documents
Tell us about your food credential through your chef application, or with our team when we reach out. You can keep editing while we review.
We review and verify
Our team reads every application by hand and reaches out directly if anything needs a second look.
Publish unlocks
Once approved, the Publish button on your profile goes live. Until then your profile stays private: guests can’t view it, find it, or book it.
Common questions
Can I build my profile before I am verified?
Yes. Drafts are completely private. Build everything, save as often as you like, and publish the moment verification clears.
I already have a catering license. Does that count?
Yes. A current RIDOH license to operate plus your certified food safety manager certificate covers the food credential requirement. Share both with our team.
I am a home cook, not a professional chef. Do these rules apply to me?
Yes. The same requirements apply on the Professional Chef path and the Local Chef path, and every profile is reviewed and approved by LocalChef before it goes live.
Who sees my documents?
It depends which documents. Files you upload to LocalChef, such as your resume or a food-safety certificate, are seen only by the LocalChef review team, through private, expiring links: never on your public profile, never by guests. Identity documents are different: when screening opens, your government ID and selfie go directly to Checkr, our screening provider, on Checkr’s own secure system. LocalChef never receives or stores them.
What about food safety and ServSafe?
We recommend a current Food Protection Manager certification, such as ServSafe Manager or an accepted equivalent, and we do not require one to publish your profile. Rhode Island exempts private homes from its food safety manager rule, so a chef cooking entirely in a customer’s kitchen is not automatically covered by it, though different rules can apply if food is prepared or stored off-site. Holding whatever your own operation requires is yours to arrange: we point you to it rather than doing it for you. Get certified through ServSafe Manager
What if the person who arrives does not match the chef profile?
End the visit if you feel unsafe, and tell us immediately: use the report option in your conversation with the chef, or email support@localchefri.com. Only the chef identified on your booking may perform the service, and we can pause an account while we review a reported mismatch.
How does the background check work?
Background screening runs through Checkr, our third-party screening provider, with your authorization collected first on Checkr’s own secure form. LocalChef never sees or stores your Social Security number or the sensitive details Checkr collects. A real chef’s profile cannot be published until the required screening is complete and a LocalChef administrator has reviewed and approved the result; that rule is enforced by our systems, not by policy alone. We are completing Checkr’s onboarding now, which is one reason no real chef profiles are live yet.
Official Rhode Island resources
- RIDOH Center for Food Protection
- Rhode Island food safety manager training guidance
- 216-RICR-50-10-2, Certification of Managers in Food Safety
- Get certified through ServSafe Manager
This page summarizes LocalChef’s verification standard and points to the Rhode Island rules that most commonly apply. It is not legal advice: your specific licensing depends on how you operate, and the RIDOH Center for Food Protection (401-222-2749) is the authority on what your setup requires.