Preparing Your Kitchen Before a Booking

A few simple steps before your Cook arrives can help your booking start smoothly.

Before your Cook arrives

• Make the agreed cooking area accessible and reasonably clear.
• Make sure the appliances you expect your Cook to use are available and in working order.
• Have your groceries or ingredients accessible, based on how you're handling groceries — see Who Buys the Groceries?
• Provide reasonable working space in your kitchen.
• Keep pets and children away from hot surfaces, knives, and active cooking areas while your Cook is working.
• Let your Cook know about any unusual kitchen limitations before the session — see Messaging Your Cook.
• If you won't be home, arrange safe, lawful access in advance (like a lockbox, smart lock, or building staff) and leave clear instructions.

Unattended bookings

You don't have to be home for your entire booking. If you've arranged safe, lawful access in advance and given your Cook the instructions they need, your Cook can work while you're away. Stay reasonably reachable for anything essential, or make sure your instructions are thorough enough that your Cook can proceed without needing to reach you.

An unattended booking doesn't change your Cook's role — your Cook is there to complete the booked cooking service, not to supervise children or vulnerable adults, or to watch pets. If you won't be home, secure any valuables or private areas that aren't needed for the booking. See What Cooks Can and Cannot Do for the full scope of a Cook's role.

If a child will be at home

The rule above changes if anyone under 18 will be at home while your Cook is working. In that case, you or another responsible adult (18 or older, and not your Cook) needs to stay at home for the whole time the child is there during the booking — your Cook being an adult doesn't count. You can still step out briefly if another qualifying adult is there with the child; you just can't leave a child alone with your Cook.

If that adult isn't there when your Cook arrives, or leaves during the booking without another qualifying adult present, your Cook can pause, decline, or end the booking and contact PlatedUp Support rather than continue. See What Cooks Can and Cannot Do for more on why — a Cook isn't a childcare provider.

If something causes a delay

If a delay comes up because of something on your end — like a missing item, an access problem, or needing to reach you for a decision — your Cook will try to keep working on another part of the meal where possible. If the issue can't reasonably be worked around, your Cook may spend up to about 15 minutes trying to resolve it before contacting PlatedUp Support.

That time comes out of your booking rather than extending it automatically. When scheduling allows, your Cook may be able to finish slightly later, but additional time isn't guaranteed and can depend on your Cook's other bookings.

If a delay like this means your Cook genuinely can't continue, you're responsible for the Cook time reasonably spent on your booking, calculated at PlatedUp's fixed $25/hour rate, with a minimum of one hour ($25). PlatedUp's service fee is also retained, and any remaining, unused Cook-service amount is released or refunded. For example, on a 4-hour booking (4 × $25 = $100 Cook-service amount), if your Cook reasonably spends 2 hours before the booking can't continue, $50 is retained and the remaining $50 is released or refunded.

This only applies when the interruption is genuinely on your end — not when it's caused by your Cook or PlatedUp, or involves a safety or emergency situation, which are reviewed separately. See What Happens During a Booking? for more on what to expect once your Cook has started.

Good to know

These are practical suggestions to help your booking go smoothly, not a complete list of requirements. For more on what to expect once your Cook arrives, see What Happens During a Booking?

Still need help?

If you're unsure how to prepare for a booking, contact PlatedUp Support.