# What Is The Difference Between A Relief Chef & Temp Chef?

This week I wanted to talk about the difference between Relief Chefs and Temp Chefs, because there is a slight difference between the 2. Some Chefs will class themselves as a Relief Chef when really they are a Temp Chef, vice versa. I thought I would try and get rid of some of the fog over the subject.

##### Relief Chefs

Relief Chefs would predominantly be self-employed and work for themselves. You employ them directly into your establishment. You pay them directly via invoice, and then they would look after all their taxes, personal liability insurance and public liability as well. They would be in charge of looking after themselves, on a self-employed status. I would say 1 advantage of using a Relief Chef is that they are cheaper. You are paying the Chef direct. This means you don’t have the costs of everything that comes with using a Chef agency. You also have a direct line of communication with the Chef and can build a relationship with them.

##### Temp Chefs

A Temp Chef gets paid directly through us, with us paying their HMRC contributions such as holiday pay, national insurance and pensions. Temp Chefs are also covered under our liability umbrella as well. This means if anything does happen in the kitchen (touch wood it doesn’t! It hasn’t so far in the 9 years The Chef Tree has been running) they would come under our liability not your own. The Chef Tree, as an agent would invoice you, and we would ensure the Chef is all sorted and ready to work at your establishment, and would then make our margin on top of that.

##### Summary

The downside is if the Relief Chef doesn’t show up for his shift due to sickness or an emergency, you haven’t really got a second port of call. Whereas with using a Chef agency for a Temp Chef the office team will be straight on it looking at all of our other Chefs who are available to provide cover. You have customers or residents (depending on your establishment) who need feeding. The last thing you want is for the Chef not to turn up! Temp Chef Agencies such as The Chef Tree take away the stress so you don’t have to do everything by yourself.

Hopefully, that answers your questions regarding the difference between Relief Chefs & Temporary Chefs.

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