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Nothing — Tableside doesn't charge hosts, and there are no platform fees during our launch. You pay your chef directly, and the price you agree to in a proposal is all-in: nothing gets added afterward.

That's the chef's starting rate — a signal, not a price tag. Your exact price is set in the proposal a chef sends for your specific event, and it's locked once you both confirm.

Almost — tap “Choose this menu” on any chef's storefront, tell us your date, guests, and location, and the chef confirms (or adjusts) it as a proposal built for your event. The listed menu is the starting point; the chef's confirmation makes it real. One flow, no side deals, everything on the record.

Often, yes — look for “Travel: open to requests beyond these areas” on a chef's profile. Invite them to your event and say where it is; if they take it on, travel, lodging, or kitchen rental show up as clearly priced line items in their proposal — part of the all-in price, never a surprise later. Chefs who haven't opted in may still say yes to the right event: you can always ask.

Exactly one person: your confirmed chef, and only after you've both committed. Chefs never see your address while browsing or proposing, and our terms bar them from ever photographing, posting, or geotagging your home without your explicit consent.

Your chef confirms — that locks the agreed terms so they can't drift. Then a private “Plan together” space opens on the event: share your address, kitchen notes, timing, and a day-of phone number, and message each other directly.

Tap the heart on any chef and they land in three places: the Saved Chefs card on your dashboard, the “♥ Saved” filter on Browse Chefs, and — most usefully — an “Invite your saved chefs” panel on any event you post.

Every chef is personally reviewed — a real conversation with our founding team, not an algorithm. We verify identity, food-safety certification, insurance (if you carry it), and talk through your experience. While you wait, build your storefront: photos, menus, and availability are what hosts compare. Our standard is public on the Trust & Safety page.

It means you told us, and we're honest with hosts about that. Once we've sighted your certificate or insurance documents during review, the marks are upgraded — verification means we checked, and we never imply more than we did.

Tableside's commission is 15% — and we'd rather you compare than wonder: Airbnb Experiences takes 20%, Fiverr takes 20%, Upwork takes 10% (per their published pricing, August 2026). Card-processing fees come out of our share, never yours. Before you send any proposal you'll see “host pays $X · you receive $Y” — the number you see is the number you get. Why a commission at all? Because Tableside is a business, plainly — the commission is how we keep the platform running and improving. And it means we only make money when you do, which is exactly how we like the incentives pointed.

Three steps, about five minutes, all inside Tableside — you never leave the site or create an account anywhere else. 1. Go to Dashboard → Payouts. 2. Fill in the secure form: legal name, date of birth, address, and the bank account you want paid (direct deposit). That information goes straight to Stripe, our payment processor — Tableside never sees or stores your banking details. 3. When the status shows green, you're done — every payout after that is automatic. No invoices to send, no chasing: when a booking's event finishes, your money is released to your bank the next business day (ticketed events release two days after the event). If regulations ever require an extra document, a banner on the Payouts page tells you exactly what's needed — that banner is the only maintenance this ever asks of you. The Payouts page unlocks when platform payments go live at launch — we'll email every chef the moment it opens.

No. You set your price in each proposal, hosts compare complete proposals — there's no counter-offer machinery and no pressure slider. Their budget is visible up front, so you price it right the first time.

For most chefs, no — and the framing matters: you're not selling your restaurant's dishes, you're offering your own menus, as yourself. As one chef put it: “You're not doing dishes off your menu — you're doing things offered by yourself, as a freelance person.” Your storefront never shows your current employer unless you choose to list it, and your display name can be a business name instead of your own. One honest caveat: some employment contracts restrict outside work — only you know what you signed, so it's worth a look before you take bookings.

Never. Proposals are sealed — only the event's host sees yours. Competitors never see your menu concept or your numbers.

Your booking window (Profile → Availability) sets how far ahead hosts can book you — 1, 3, 6, or 12 months. Dates beyond it show as “not open yet” on your public calendar.

Flip on “Open to special requests & travel beyond my zone” in Profile → Basic Info, under your service area. Your storefront then tells hosts you take travel requests, and out-of-area invitations arrive welcomed instead of warned-off. You decide every time: price travel, lodging, or kitchen rental as line items in your proposal so the host sees the true all-in number. Practical tip until you know a booking is solid — book refundable fares.

Enter whichever you think in — the proposal form has a toggle and always shows the conversion (“$85 per guest × 18 guests = $1,530 total”) before you send. What the host sees always matches their event's budget format, so proposals compare cleanly.

Host posts an event → chefs propose (or the host invites specific chefs to propose) → host compares sealed proposals side by side → host selects one → the chef confirms → terms lock, coordination opens, dinner happens.

Chefs can revise before selection — the host always sees the latest version, and history is preserved. After both sides confirm, the terms are locked: what you agreed is what stands.

Your other proposals stay open until the chef confirms — selecting doesn't burn your alternatives. If they decline, you're back to your full pool with nothing lost.

The closer the dinner, the more is owed — our full standard, in plain words, is on the Cancellations & Refunds page. If a chef cancels, the host is made whole, always. And before cancelling, try rescheduling: if both sides accept a new date, nothing is forfeited.

Directly between host and chef — Tableside doesn't process payments or hold funds yet. Agree on deposit terms in your event's coordination thread. When payments come to the platform, the agreed price stays the final price: taxes and any fees live inside it, never on top.

Reviews can only come from events that actually happened — there are no purchased placements or invented ratings anywhere on Tableside. A chef with zero reviews is new, not suspicious. Cancellations are recorded separately from reviews, so quality and reliability are two signals you can read independently.

Only what a dinner needs, shared only with who needs it — the five-line summary at the top of our Privacy Policy covers it. We never sell personal information. Ever.

Contact us — at our size, a founder reads every message, and genuine emergencies are handled person-by-person. You can also email hello@tableside.co directly.

No, and no waiting either. If you have a dinner, tasting, class or culinary experience to put on, open Pop-ups & Events from your dashboard, build it, connect a payout account through Stripe, accept the organizer terms, and publish — it's live by link and selling right away. The one thing we review personally is whether an event appears on Tableside's own homepage. That's curation; the link is yours from day one.

They're two different jobs. On a ticketed event you bring the audience and we run the box office: page, checkout, door list, reminders, refunds, payout — priced like ticketing, card processing included, nothing added on the buyer's side. On a private dinner we run the booking: the post, competing proposals, money held until the dinner happens, cancellation terms, reviews, coordination — priced as a commission. Either way you see the number before you commit: host pays $2,000, you receive $1,700.

Yes. The person selling the tickets is the organizer of the event — that's a job, not a kind of account. Hire a chef to cook, name them on the event page, and sell the seats. Tableside collects the ticket money and pays you two days after the event.

Yes — post it as an event request and chefs propose, exactly like booking a private dinner, and the chef's work stays on their Tableside record. You can also hire a chef directly and pay them yourself, the way you'd pay a venue. Either way the ticket proceeds come to you as the organizer; Tableside doesn't split ticket money between people.

Every guest is refunded in full, automatically. The card-processing cost on those refunds (about 3%) comes out of your side, so a cancellation is never free. Move the date instead where you can — a rescheduled event keeps its guests.