We provide our client clubs with a deep and talented pool of carefully screened candidates, all of whom have the professional culinary skills and personal temperaments to flourish at the club for many years to come.

Unlike others, we do not present the same candidate to more than one club at the same time.

We are the only private club search firm to require written responses from proposed candidates as part of our internal evaluation process.  We want to be sure that our placements really know the business – have the business acumen – and can communicate in an articulate, persuasive and grammatically correct manner. It is important to learn as much about the Chefs and understand their food philosophy, member-focus ability, team membership and more – as the right fit of the chef to the right fit to the specific culture of a club is paramount for a long-term successful placement.

(DZA) also offers an optional “On-site Culinary Strength Test”. This includes a hands-on exercise challenging the final chef candidate/s to demonstrate their skills by actually cooking, which we can personally administer at your club. Each candidate receives a “Tasting Exercise” with ingredients representing materials commonly found on club menus. Candidates are instructor to write a menu and prepare a four-course meal within a four-hour period, then serve this to your Chef Selection Committee for evaluation. The number of portions to be determined according to the number of individuals participating in the evaluation process.

Everyone on the DZA Team has extraordinary experience and has successfully worked with private clubs and luxury properties for more than 25 years. The team has more extensive personal contacts – and knows what it really takes.

The “no excuses” guarantee and unique “after placement follow-up” insure a smooth and productive transition. We offer a guarantee for the placement and have found only to have used this on very few occasions and a confirmed significantly lower percentage than any other firm in the private club executive search business. Knowing that we only place chefs makes our focus unparalleled to others.

We purposely limit the number of assignments we accept at any given time. When you engage with DZA Associates, you get highly personalized, full-time attention.