What It Feels Like To Book A Dinner With Your Canna Chef
“People first. The rest will take care of itself.”
Reflections by Chef Adam Vandermey
11 minute read · Guest Experience & Hospitality
Most people who reach out to us for the first time are feeling two things simultaneously:
Intrigued and intimidated.
They are curious about the idea of culinary cannabis, excited by the possibility of a private chef experience in their home and interested in exploring something completely outside of their normal routine.
But there is usually uncertainty too.
Questions they may not even say out loud:
What if I accidentally get too high?
What if my guests are nervous?
What if this feels awkward?
What if it turns into a stereotypical “weed dinner”?
What if I lose control of the experience?
Those emotional realities matter to us because hospitality starts long before the first plate ever hits the table.
Our job is not to take control away from our guests.
Our job is to create enough trust and structure that guests feel comfortable relaxing into the experience.
From the very first inquiry, we want our guests to understand something clearly:
they are in complete control of the evening.
We are simply facilitators of the experience they want to create.
The process usually begins with a phone call where we discuss the host’s vision for the evening. Some people want an elevated backyard dinner party. Some want an intimate date-night atmosphere.
Others want something highly social and interactive.
Before we ever talk about dosing or infusions, we want to understand the emotional tone of the evening itself.
Once we understand the vision, we create a custom landing page featuring several curated menu concepts designed specifically for that event. We intentionally use a single point of contact for planning because we never want “telephone game” communication to become part of the guest experience.
The host can share the landing page with their guests so everyone sees the same menus, descriptions and overall tone for the evening.
Once the menu has been finalized, a 50% deposit secures the booking with the remaining balance due three days prior to the event. If plans change, deposits remain refundable up to one week before the dinner.
We understand that life happens, and we try to approach the business side of hospitality with the same level of fairness and flexibility that we bring to the table itself.
One thing guests may notice immediately is that references to infusion are intentionally subtle throughout our materials.
That is not accidental.
At Your Canna Chef, the food always comes first.
Guests are hiring us to create an exceptional dining experience. Cannabis is not the centerpiece of the evening. It is the supporting layer where our professional experience and hospitality systems quietly step in to enhance the atmosphere, pacing and overall experience.
As the event approaches, the landing page evolves into a more detailed guest experience guide.
About a week before the dinner, guests receive a personalized video from me introducing the menu, the team that will be arriving and the overall flow of the evening.
More importantly, we invite guests to contact us directly with any questions or concerns they may have before the dinner.
By the time we arrive at a guest’s home, we never want to feel like strangers walking through the door.
There are also practical and legal conversations that happen before every event.
Our host agreement outlines important expectations around guest safety, including transportation planning and ensuring guests are not driving home impaired after the dinner.
We take those conversations seriously because responsible hospitality extends far beyond what happens at the table itself.
Interestingly, individualized infusion preferences are not finalized until we are physically on site with guests.
That is intentional.
Cannabis comfort levels are emotional, personal and often difficult for people to estimate in advance.
For guests who are newer to ingesting cannabis, we usually recommend experimenting with a commercially available gummy or beverage from a dispensary before the event to help establish a comfortable baseline.
Understanding what 10mg feels like in a familiar environment gives people a much better sense of how they may want their dining progression structured.
Before service begins, we sit with guests individually and discuss their comfort levels, previous experiences and goals for the evening.
Some guests may request 5mg across the entire dinner.
Others may prefer 15mg or more.
Some may choose not to infuse at all.
Every one of those decisions is treated with the same level of respect.
We also maintain a hard rule during those conversations:
no bullying.
No guest is ever allowed to pressure another guest into consuming more cannabis than they are personally comfortable with.
Individualized dosing is not a competition.
Our responsibility is creating an environment where people feel safe enough to be honest about their own comfort levels.
We also intentionally cap our dining experiences at 20mg per guest throughout the evening.
That standard exists for a reason.
Our goal is never overwhelming intoxication. Much like guests would not typically consume multiple shots of tequila between courses at a fine dining restaurant, we believe culinary cannabis should enhance the atmosphere instead of dominating it.
The goal is connection, comfort and presence, not impairment.
Once service begins, everything becomes about presence.
Seats are assigned numbers to maintain individualized dosing accuracy and we jokingly remind guests that there will be no “musical chairs” during dinner service.
Before the first course arrives, I explain the progression of the evening, the flavor profiles guests will be experiencing and where the infusion points exist throughout the menu. I also warn them that in about 40 minutes I will become “the bad guy” who tells everyone to get the hell up from the table during the intermission between courses.
That moment usually gets a laugh.
But the structure matters.
By that point, the goal is simple:
I do not want guests looking at their plates wondering or guessing about anything.
If we have done our jobs properly, guests already understand the menu, trust the process and feel excited to fully engage with both the food and the people sitting around the table with them.
And honestly, one of the biggest signs that the evening is working exactly the way we hoped is when guests completely forget I told them to stand up and move around during the break.
They become so engaged with each other, the conversation and the experience itself that Jeanette or I eventually have to step back into the dining room and remind everyone to get out of their seats, stretch their legs and pay attention to how they are feeling.
That break serves several purposes.
Operationally, it gives us time to reset the kitchen and prepare the remaining courses. But more importantly, it gives guests an opportunity to recognize the subtle effects of the cannabis, check in with themselves and collaboratively adjust their infusion plan if desired.
And interestingly, this is often the moment where first-time guests begin quietly asking to increase their dosage slightly.
At the beginning of the evening, many guests request conservative dosing because uncertainty is still present. But once the food exceeds expectations, the atmosphere relaxes and the trust fully settles in, confidence usually replaces hesitation.
What often happens next is one of my favorite parts of the evening:
a couple of guests inevitably sneak into the kitchen during the break, curious about what we are doing behind the scenes and quietly asking if they can increase their dosage a little for the remaining courses.
That moment always makes me smile because it means the fear has disappeared.
By the end of the evening, our goal is not for guests to remember how “high” they became.
Our goal is for guests to remember how they felt.
Relaxed.
Connected.
Present.
Comfortable.
Cared for.
I do not need our dinners to be remembered as the most technically complex culinary experiences guests have ever had. What matters most to us is that guests think back on the evening later and instinctively smile before they can even fully explain why.
Because at the end of the day, our business is hospitality.
But our driving force is people.
People first.
The rest will take care of itself.