Growing up in Alaska in the 1970's-1980's afforded Sandy Hall the opportunity to experience a wide range of culinary styles and ingredients - including whale blubber! Which is an acquired taste should anyone wish to know. Sandy's mother was a full-time homemaker who liked to experiment with a variety of ingredients and cooking techniques. Her philosophy on food was that everything needed to be tasted at least once!

Sandy married her high school sweetheart, then a Private in the US Army, and moved to Berlin, Germany just few months after graduating High School. Because her mother had been solely in charge of all meal preparation at home, Sandy had very few useful kitchen skills, something she set about rectifying after "enjoying" fast food her whole first week abroad. Eventually, cooking became more than a way to avoid starvation, it became a way to relax after a stressful day at work, as well as a way to create a comforting piece of home for both herself and her husband and the other solders so far away from their families. Sandy's home became "the" place to be for holidays and as requests were welcomed, she learned new dishes and new traditions through the soldiers who graced their dinner table over Thanksgivings, Christmases and Easters. Sandy also explored Germany and as many of the nearby countries as she could while she and her then husband were stationed overseas. She learned to detect which spices and flavors made up the foods she enjoyed while eating out and she came back, determined to recreate them at home. To this day her German-style stroganoff is one of her most requested dishes!

After returning to the states, Sandy found herself remarried and living in the Gulf Coast region of Texas, working as a banker. The longer and more stressful the day, the more elaborate her dinners became! Eventually she moved from banking into the Title Insurance industry as an Escrow Officer. Although there were elements of the job she loved, by 1999 Sandy decided it was time to go into business for herself. This dream was put on hold for about a year though as Sandy was diagnosed and subsequently treated for, cervical cancer.

A few months later, cancer free and preparing to set the wheels in motion to start her own data entry business, she ran across an advertisement in the back of one of her favorite cooking magazines. It offered training to become a Personal Chef! Intrigued, Sandy did her research (the industry was not as well known as it is today) and decided life was too short to not try following her passion! In early July of 2000 she shipped off to the United States Personal Chef Institute, then located in Rio Rancho, NM. She spent an intense week of 9 hour days, learning the ins and outs behind the business end of running a personal chef service, as well as the science involved in how foods freeze. She learned how to properly freeze preservative-free foods so that when thawed and heated, they taste freshly made, with no compromising on quality. Sandy decided to specialize in "special diets" as her family history was filled with issues such as diabetes and heart disease. She was already creating meals at home with an eye toward eating whole foods, less processed ingredients and with prevention, not repairing after-the-fact in mind - why not do the same for prospective clients?

By that September Dinners on Demand Personal Chef Service signed its first client and Chef Sandy was enjoying helping clients 4-5 days a week, every week within the next 2 years. She created and served as President to the Texas Coastal Bend's Chapter of Personal Chefs for the USPCA and was active in local charity events such as Star Chefs. She was "the" resource in Corpus Christi for people suffering from food allergies/sensitivities, heart disease and diabetes. Though Sandy has no formal culinary training, she has been honored to serve meals (to rave reviews!) to a variety of America's who's-who. During her time in Corpus Christi, Sandy was also a familiar face on area TV due to her regular appearances, offering quick cooking tips and health alternatives to the less healthful foods so many people love. She has been quoted in local and national publications and was most recently credited as a source in author and culinary instructor Denise Vivaldo's latest book, "How to Create a Home-Based Personal Chef Service".

During this time she discovered and joined the Personal Chef's Network. Here she discovered a plethora of chefs who were eager to share their hard-won knowledge on what works and what doesn't. Subjects ranging from marketing techniques that produce results and successfully pulling off a catering event for 200 and even the best ways to fit exercise into an already physically demanding day! This atmosphere of sharing has allowed Sandy to continually offer her clients updated and beneficial options to the services they already enjoy.

Just over a year ago, in July of 2007, Sandy and her husband packed up and moved across the state of Texas, from Corpus Christi to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. She now lives in the rural (but rapidly expanding!) town of Decatur, TX. Starting over happened to coincide with Sandy's fortieth birthday. Determined to achieve some goals that had previously fallen by the wayside, Sandy enrolled in college, focused on obtaining her degree once and for all. She currently maintains a 3.9 GPA and hopes to never have to apply herself to Algebra in any form, ever again!

After a year of hard work, determination and widespread marketing, Sandy has resurrected Dinners on Demand Personal Chef Service and is once again helping clients with special diet needs enjoy amazing flavors and the convenience of custom-made meals that are ready when they are.

Contact Chef Sandy Hall
Dinners on Demand Personal Chef Service
940-255-2020
www.dinnersondemand.biz