Private Chef on Long Beach Island
The biggest rental market on the Jersey Shore — vacation dining that keeps the week centered on the house, not on restaurant waits.
Long Beach Island is built around the rental house. Families book a week, two families split a stay, and the house becomes the headquarters for the whole trip. The problem is that the kitchen is almost always empty on arrival, and by day three the group is tired of figuring out dinner. Chef Matts Culinary Creations solves that by cooking in your LBI rental — polished dinners, relaxed brunches, and multi-night vacation packages served right where you're already staying.
We serve the full island: Ship Bottom, Surf City, Harvey Cedars, Loveladies, Beach Haven, and Barnegat Light. Most bookings run May through October, with summer weekends and holiday weeks filling the fastest.
Learn more about our personal chef services.
Check AvailabilityOur Personal Chef Services
Three ways to book Chef Matt — pick the one that fits your week or your occasion.
Vacation Chef
Multi-night private dining across your LBI rental stay — different menus each night, full service, and zero cleanup. From $125/person.
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Private Dinners
A polished dinner party in your beach house starting at $125/person — coursed or family-style for the whole rental group.
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Breakfast & Brunch
A relaxed morning spread starting at $150/person — ideal before the beach or as a checkout send-off.
Learn MoreWhat to Expect From a Personal Chef on Long Beach Island
Booking a personal chef on Long Beach Island is designed to feel effortless from the very first conversation. Chef Matt starts by learning about your household — how many people you're feeding, the dietary preferences and restrictions in your home, the kitchen you're working with, and the kind of experience you want to create. From there, he builds a fully custom menu and confirms every detail in writing before the date so there are no surprises on the day of service.
Every booking includes complete planning, sourcing of fresh seasonal ingredients, in-home cooking, plating or portioning, and a full kitchen cleanup before he leaves. For weekly meal prep clients on Long Beach Island, that means meals labeled, dated, and stored in your refrigerator or freezer with simple reheating instructions. For private dinner parties, it means a full course-by-course experience served on your own table, with Chef Matt handling pacing, presentation, and clearing throughout the evening.
With more than eighteen years in professional kitchens — including time as an executive chef by age twenty-two and ongoing membership in the United States Personal Chef Association — Chef Matt brings restaurant-level technique into homes throughout Long Beach Island. The result is food that tastes like a fine-dining experience, served in the comfort of the place you already love most.
Why Book a Private Chef on Long Beach Island
LBI is the largest rental market on the Jersey Shore. The houses are big, the groups are bigger, and the restaurants are crowded. A private chef lets your group skip the logistics — no splitting across multiple tables, no 90-minute waits, no deciding who has to cook and who has to clean. Instead, the best meal of the week happens in your rental.
This is especially true for multi-family houses. Two or three families sharing a single rental often have different schedules, kids of different ages, and different food preferences. A chef can build one menu that works for everyone, serve it at a single time, and handle the kitchen so the parents can actually enjoy the evening.
For a full breakdown of arrival dinners and multi-night stays in LBI rentals, see our beach house vacation rental chef service.
Ideal For
- Week-long summer rentals with two or three dinners across the stay
- Multi-family houses sharing one kitchen
- Milestone birthdays and anniversary celebrations
- Bachelorette weekends and friend-group getaways
- Arrival-day dinners for houses that show up empty
- Relaxed brunches before the beach or the bay
Services & Pricing on LBI
- Vacation Chef — $125/person for dinner. The most popular LBI booking: two or three dinners across a week-long stay, with different menus each night so no one repeats a meal. Eight-guest minimum ($1,000). See private dinner parties.
- Private Dinners — $125/person. A single standout evening for a birthday, reunion, or special occasion. Coursed or family-style depending on the house and the group. Eight-guest minimum ($1,000).
- Breakfast & Brunch — $150/person. A leisurely morning spread before the beach, or a send-off meal before checkout. Eight-guest minimum ($1,200). See private brunch chef.
- Grocery Reimbursement & Gratuity. Groceries are reimbursed at cost. A 20% gratuity is automatically applied to all parties over $1,000.
Provisioning for a House That Arrives Empty
Most LBI rentals arrive with nothing in the pantry. Guests stop at a grocery store, spend a fortune on condiments they'll never finish, and still end up short on basics. When Chef Matt handles the dinner, you don't need to think about any of it. He brings the proteins, produce, staples, and finishing ingredients — everything required for the menu. Your only job is to be at the house when dinner is served.
This is one of the reasons multi-night packages work so well on LBI. We can plan the week so groceries are used efficiently across menus, reducing waste and making the trip feel more intentional than a series of last-minute decisions.
Areas Served on Long Beach Island
Ship Bottom, Surf City, Harvey Cedars, Loveladies, Beach Haven, Barnegat Light — plus the surrounding Ocean County barrier island addresses. For the full Jersey Shore region, including Cape May, Avalon, Stone Harbor, and Monmouth County, see private chef services at the Jersey Shore. For statewide coverage, see private chef services in New Jersey.
Sample LBI Vacation Menus
Arrival-Day Family Dinner, Family-Style
Antipasto board with cured meats, marinated olives, and grilled vegetables. Grilled branzino with lemon and herbs, herb-crusted chicken with roasted potatoes, charred broccolini with garlic and chili. Fresh bread and olive oil. Seasonal berry tart with whipped cream.
Coursed Shore Dinner for Eight
Local littleneck clams with white wine and herbs. Heirloom tomato salad with basil and burrata. Pan-seared fluke with brown butter, capers, and summer squash. Dry-aged ribeye with rosemary and roasted fingerling potatoes. Dark chocolate pot de crème with sea salt.
Sunday Brunch Before Checkout
Smoked salmon board with capers, red onion, and cream cheese. Frittata with seasonal vegetables and local cheese. Buttermilk biscuits, seasonal fruit platter, and fresh pastries. Build-your-own mimosas with sparkling wine and fresh juice.
Book a Private Chef on Long Beach Island
Request a BookingHow It Works
- 1
Share Your LBI Dates
Tell us your rental dates, group size, which towns you're near, and how many nights you'd like a chef.
- 2
Receive a Custom Menu Plan
Chef Matt builds menus for your stay — different each night, calibrated to your kitchen and your group's preferences.
- 3
We Provision and Cook On-Site
All ingredients and equipment arrive with the chef. No grocery runs, no prep work, no cleanup for you.
- 4
Enjoy the House
Dinner is served when you want it. The kitchen is left clean and your group stays together for the evening.
Areas We Serve
Private chef services for Long Beach Island, including Ship Bottom, Surf City, Harvey Cedars, Loveladies, Beach Haven, and Barnegat Light — vacation rental dinners, private events, and brunch.
Local Sourcing & Seasonal Menus
Menus for clients on Long Beach Island are written around the season and the local market. Chef Matt sources fresh produce, seafood, and proteins from trusted regional purveyors and grocers, then builds each menu around what's actually at peak that week — heirloom tomatoes and stone fruit in late summer, root vegetables and braises in the colder months, and fresh-caught seafood whenever the catch supports it. Every menu is reviewed with you in advance, with full flexibility for allergies, gluten-free or dairy-free needs, vegetarian and pescatarian preferences, kid-friendly versions, and any cultural or religious considerations in your household.
Meet Your Personal Chef
- 18+ years professional kitchen experience
- Executive Chef by age 22
- Academy of Culinary Arts graduate
- USPCA member
- Specialized in dietary-aware cooking
Chef Matt brings restaurant-quality dining directly to your home. Every meal is crafted around your preferences, dietary needs, and lifestyle — sourced with intention and cooked with precision.
Learn More About Chef MattWhat Our Clients Say
"Amazing dinner for ten by Chef Matt in our LBI home. We loved every bite of the meal he prepared for my husband's 60th birthday. There were constant comments from my family 'this is the best I ever had!'"
Gail A.
Long Beach Island, NJ
"We hired Chef Matt for a bachelor party dinner of 10. The meal was excellent — the guys are still talking about it."
D K
Jersey Shore
"We hired Chef Matt for a birthday dinner party, and the entire experience exceeded every expectation. The menu was absolutely phenomenal."
Heather Rehfuss
New Jersey
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to Book Your Personal Chef?
Fill out our short availability form — no obligation, no pressure. We'll get back to you within 24 hours.
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