Personal Chef in Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill is where The Travelling Cafe started, and it is still home base for the collective.
When the day belongs to UNC, the hospital or a houseful of family, cooking well is usually the first thing that slips. Our chef comes to your kitchen, shops, cooks to your plan and cleans up, so a good meal is waiting when you get home.
The Travelling Cafe is a collective of personal and private chefs based in Chapel Hill and cooking across the Triangle and beyond.
Life in Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill is a college town at heart. UNC and Tar Heels basketball set the rhythm of the year, Franklin Street is where people go to eat and hear live music, and the Ackland Art Museum and Morehead Planetarium are a short walk from campus.
Between home games, graduations and visiting family, there is always a reason to gather around a table here, and we cook for those tables.
What we cook in Chapel Hill
Here we cook for households working from a plan their care team set, such as AIP, low-FODMAP or GLP-1, and for hosts who want a dinner party at home without spending the night in the kitchen. Graduation weekends, game days and family visits bring a lot of guests to Chapel Hill, and we cook for those tables too.
Weekly meal prep. For long UNC days, a chef comes to your kitchen once a week, shops, cooks a week of meals to your plan, labels everything and cleans up. One all-in price. Groceries are included.
Dinner parties. Graduation dinners, game-day spreads and family visits, planned with you and cooked, served and cleared in your home.
Private cooking classes. Private lessons in your own kitchen, from the same chefs who teach our public classes.
Special diets. We cook to the plan your clinician or dietitian set, for GLP-1, AIP, low-FODMAP, diabetic, paleo, keto, athletes and more. Every dietary need, same price. See all the special diets we cook.
Meet some of our chefs
Leslie founded the collective right here in Chapel Hill, and Chefs Bruce and Crene come from nearby Raleigh. Every chef in the collective cooks all over the Triangle and beyond, so the chefs on this page are a few of the many who can cook for you. We match you with the one who fits your household.
Chef Bruce Pressey
Based in Raleigh
Bruce attended Le Cordon Bleu in France and has spent decades in professional kitchens.
Leslie Chartier
Founder, based in Chapel Hill
Leslie founded The Travelling Cafe. Her gift is translating global cuisines into limiting diets, so anyone with food allergies or health conditions can still enjoy the food of the world.
Chef Crene Manishimwe
Based in Raleigh
Born in Tanzania to Burundian parents, Crene’s passion for food began in a small kitchen alongside both parents.
How it works
- Tell us how you eat. Fill out our food questionnaire: your plan, any restrictions, and what you love.
- Meet your chef. We match you with a chef from the collective.
- Open the fridge. Your chef shops, cooks in your kitchen, labels everything and cleans up.
Start with the food questionnaire
Frequently asked questions
Do you cook in Chapel Hill?
Yes. Chapel Hill is our home base, and we cook here every week.
Can you cook for family visiting for a UNC graduation or game weekend?
Yes. We cook dinner parties and meals in the home where you are hosting or staying.
Do you also cook in Carrboro and Hillsborough?
Yes. Our chefs cook all over the Triangle and beyond, including Carrboro and Hillsborough.
Can you cook to a doctor’s or dietitian’s plan?
Yes. We cook the plan their care team set. We don’t give medical advice.
How much does it cost?
Weekly meal prep is one all-in price with groceries included, and every dietary need is the same price. Fill out our food questionnaire and we will send the plan that fits your household.
We also cook in Raleigh, Apex, Wake Forest, Morrisville, Fuquay-Varina, Pittsboro, Durham, Cary, plus Carrboro and Hillsborough.
Questions? Get in touch.
With you at the table.