Kris Etze grew up tied to her grandmother’s apron strings and trying to get her own hands into food preparation. Her maternal grandmother continuously clipped new recipes from the newspaper and experimented regularly on her family. Curiosity was always there; Kris loved to taste new combinations. She asked lots of questions and just watched closely.

As a newlywed in the late sixties, Kris brought that love of experimentation to her own kitchen. She and her husband Tony entertained often. Friends and family looked forward to recipes that Kris discovered and “tweaked” to make them her own.

Being an elementary classroom teacher, she encouraged her students in the same way – they often did projects pertaining to foods of the world, and even prepared some dishes of the country they were studying. Letting them experience different tastes and cultures was important to Kris in helping her students grasp an understanding of our cultural commonalities.

A collector of recipes and an avid reader of cookbooks, Kris continued to explore new culinary trends. She dreamed of one day having a business that revolved around the world of food. 

In the eighties, Kris pursued her culinary adventures by taking as many local classes in ethnic food preparation as she could while teaching elementary school. She dreamed about leaving the world of education and becoming a chef. To that end, she visited a local culinary school, but at once realized that the long hours on one’s feet that a chef endures would not mesh with the world of a new mother. Their beautiful daughter, Brooke Soo Jin, had just arrived home from Korea and would need full time parenting.


As she approached the end of a 32-year public school teaching career in 1999, Kris made plans to retire to their beloved beach area of Delaware with her husband, Tony. She taught in a private school setting for a couple of years while waiting for Tony to retire from his government position.


Once again, Kris began to feel that she needed a new and challenging focus. She began taking classes in Court Reporting. Finding that training extremely stressful, she decided that medical transcription was a great way for her to use the “word skills”. She took a transcription home study course in 2001 and planned to start a retirement career in that field. But Kris knew, at least for the moment, that a solitary career like transcription was not a good fit for her outgoing personality.

Kris was sitting at the transcriber one February day in 2002 when she had an awakening. “Turn what you LOVE into what you DO”, she remembered. And that is EXACTLY what she did from that moment on. She happened upon the Personal Chefs Network on the web, and the rest is history…or shall we say HERstory? Abra…ca…dinner Personal Chef Service was born!

At present, Kris prepares meals monthly for eight clients. She is committed to loving what she does. In addition, she does small dinners and dinner parties. She feels that the best thing about being a Personal Chef is that she has the ability to create her business just as she wants it to be. The feeling of being a part of the families for which she creates meals is just exactly what she had in mind all along!

“There is absolutely nothing I could do which would give me more joy, she says. This is THE BEST job! All my good friends and family who have known me for years understand that I have finally found what I am meant to be doing. I am thrilled. My clients are fabulous. They love what I do; they are all wonderful folks! We have built an open dialogue, and they feel comfortable giving me honest feedback on the dishes I prepare. That helps me improve my service.”

Kris attributes her current success to the resources and support she has received from the Personal Chefs Network. She is an active participant in community life, is a Rotarian, and often prepares lunches for the building crew of her local Habitat for Humanity. 

“There is no better place to be a Personal Chef and no finer group of folks around”, she says. “Personal Chefs Network certainly helped me to become the person I have always dreamed of being. The ability to network with a fine group of professionals cannot be equaled.”


With today’s busy lifestyles and folks wanting to make healthier food choices, Kris is thrilled to be a part of the trend. She dreams of writing a cookbook someday as well as adding cooking classes to her service.
Perhaps one cannot take the teacher out of the chef!