Over the past five years, Chef William Turner has become one of the most sought-after, in-demand private chefs in the Valley. Not only does he cook a wide variety of food styles for his clients and celebrity friends to enjoy, he is also known as a highly skilled barbecue master who proudly boasts, “I’ll cook you the best steak you’ve ever had in your life.”
When Turner prepares and serves an elegant steak dinner inside the comfort of a client’s private home, suddenly the thought of ever dining out at a steakhouse restaurant is changed forever. Turner proves repeatedly that dining in for special occasions can be so much more exciting, memorable and fun than dining out.
Known for his warm and friendly demeanor, loveable southern charm and the black baseball cap he often wears backwards on his head, Turner has been named the “Top Private Chef” in Arizona three times by Phoenix Entrepreneur Magazine.
Originally from South Carolina, Turner’s rapid rise in Arizona's private chef industry is quite a delicious business success story. He moved to Gilbert in 2018 without having any business contacts in the Valley.
Turner had been traveling around the country working as a seasonal chef in some of the nation’s most beautiful parks and resorts. When he eventually arrived in Arizona, Turner said he immediately fell in love with the beauty of the state and the warmth of the people. Turner decided he wanted to start a whole new life and business here.
“I chose to bet on myself and finally pursue my dream of becoming a private chef,” Turner said.
That started with focusing primarily on the affluent, private homes in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.
The truth is, he started with virtually nothing back in 2018. Not even a car. And in the beginning, Turner did all the cooking inside the beautiful kitchens of his clients’ homes.
But fast forward to today — five years and thousands of cooking gigs later — Turner, 44, has now added a small group of experienced, talented chefs to his growing culinary team and they do all the gourmet cooking out of a large, professional kitchen in north Chandler.
Turner also now works with a large group of servers, bartenders and event coordinators and he has an office location headquartered in Scottsdale where he’s able to meet with clients.
The numerous private parties that Turner cooks for include casual and formal brunches, lunches and dinner parties, milestone birthday parties, small weddings, baby showers, anniversary celebrations, corporate dinners, guys-only golfing trips and — what he has become the most sought-after for — the Scottsdale-area bachelorette parties.
Chef Turner is among those helping to make Scottsdale the wildly popular U.S. bachelorette party destination location it has become today — second only to Nashville.
The Scottsdale-area bachelorette parties have become an enormous part of Turner’s expanding business. Large groups of women from all over the world book flights to Scottsdale and specifically hire Turner to be their exclusive, private chef for the entire, luxurious bachelorette party weekend.
“My dinners are very wide-ranging in scope and price point and although I love bringing the formal southern fine dining experience to Valley homes, I also enjoy setting up casual, poolside barbecues where formalities and formal attire go right out the window and great food and fun is the focus of the night,” Turner said. “My goal is to provide my clients with whatever type of dinner party they want to have. I'm extremely flexible. For example, if a client wants to incorporate a cooking lesson while I’m cooking and setting up for the event, I'm more than happy to do that. My clients love to watch me cook in their kitchen and I always welcome that.”
Turner is actually so comfortable having people watch him cook — and feels so natural and comfortable in front of TV cameras — that he has been featured numerous times on local and national TV stations doing instructional and entertaining cooking segments.
The chef’s price range begins at $75 per person and goes up from there, depending on the menu and level of service. Turner is also available for “destination needs,” meaning that he’s willing to travel and cook on location when needed anywhere in the U.S.
“This is definitely a people-pleasing business, and you can’t be successful at it unless you love people,” Turner said. “For me, my first love is people, and food is the way I express that love in a tangible way.”
Plus, Turner added that his clients love the fact that when they hire him to cook for a private party in their home, they can decide to keep the party going for as long as they like.
“When I’m hired to cook for a special event in a client’s home, closing time is always up to them,” he said.
To learn more about Turner, visit chefwilliamturner.com.
For more information about Turner’s new business, The “Bach” Chef (“Bach” as in bachelor or bachelorette party), which helps people to book private chefs, servers, bartenders and entertainment for bachelor or bachelorette parties nationwide, visit thebachchef.com.
