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How far can the trend go? If busy consumers hire a maid to clean their homes, wondered entrepreneur David MacKay, wouldn't they pay someone to come over and make dinner? Voila, the Personal Chef Association was born. Formed in 1991 with five chefs, the organization has mushroomed to 1,400, with 10 to 20 customers each. These culinary fairy godmothers prepare custom meals that cost about $7 to $8 a person, and need only a quick, 15-min. warm-up in the oven. "It's a service whose time has come," says MacKay. "What's for dinner is a problem in this country."
Even that holiday holdout of home cooking known as Thanksgiving seems doomed. A Boston Market survey last year reported that 27 million Americans bought some prepared food for the repast. Charles Webre, 35, an ad executive in New York City, and his clothing-designer wife Priscilla, 35, spent $400 last year for a 12-course store-bought Thanksgiving. "I felt like I cheated," says Charles, who presented the meal on the family china. "I work hard, we have two kids, and my wife is stressed out. We believe in traditional-food values, but we don't have the time to do it ourselves." For harried Americans, time is money, and so long as Mom is out bringing home the bacon, somebody else is going to have to come up with supper.
--With reporting by Rachele Kanigel/San Ramon