I hired a private chef for my 9-person AI startup — it was cheaper than our $13,500+ a month food delivery habit

• CEO Nathaneo Johnson hired a private chef to cut costs and improve productivity at his AI startup.
• The chef earns a high-five-figure salary and cooks three daily meals at the New York office.
• Johnson cut other roles that didn't fit the small team's needs, such as chief of staff.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nathaneo Johnson, 22, who co-founded Series, an AI-powered social network, and is based in New York. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I knew my startup had a problem when our food budget hit over $13,500 a month.

Before the end of last year, most of that money was spent on DoorDash. Paying for the team's meals is a super important part of moving fast for us. I think it saves at least two hours a day because no one has to leave the office to get food.

We moved into a new office with a kitchen and realized that having a private chef would probably be much cheaper than ordering meals every day. Within a week or so, my cofounder and I hired someone.

It might seem odd for a team of eight to have a professional cook, but I doubt the chef will make me bankrupt or give the company a negative connotation that will ruin its trajectory. Even though I got some initial pushback, this change has given us the opportunity to be healthier and more productive.

Some employees told me I was a little crazy for suggesting hiring a private chef

My team loved being able to order what they wanted from DoorDash. So, I knew the chef had to be good enough to beat the appeal of ordering from any restaurant in New York City.

We posted on TikTok looking for a chef, then reached out to people who showed interest in the comments and started interviewing. The first interview and test meal didn't go well, but I still wanted to pursue the idea a bit further.

We interviewed and had test meals with a few candidates. The chef we hired was the third person we tested. Her food was amazing, and by then the team was convinced that a chef would be a good idea.

Our company chef works more typical hours than the rest of the team

Our chef works more typical 9-to-5 hours. This can vary based on our operational needs. Her salary is lower than that of employees on the business side, but she makes in the high 5-figure range. In addition to her salary, she also gets a free gym membership and a grocery stipend to use for the team's meals each month.

There are nine of us total, including her. She prepares three family-style meals for us throughout the day. Some people have dietary restrictions and caloric goals, so she accounts for that, and we weigh in on the weekly menu.

She tries to make healthy meals for us. Breakfast is usually something like maple bacon, protein pancakes, and green juice. Lunch will be chicken meatballs or buffalo hot honey cornflake chicken tenders with a salad, and we also request steak a lot.

Everyone has been happy with it for the most part. There are a few people who are nitpicky and complain, but people can still order food with their own money if they'd like.

Eating healthier has increased our productivity

The biggest benefit, honestly, is the nutrients and the balance of the meals we eat now. When we were ordering food constantly, we didn't eat as healthily. Especially when it got late, and we would order from places like Five Guys or Popeyes.

I've realized that little things like having green juice in the morning every day can help me start my day the right way more than anything else. I don't feel as much brain fog anymore. I feel more productive.

I also think the benefits will compound over time, with people hopefully getting sick less and overall taking better care of their diets.

I wouldn't recommend this for every startup

I think a company needs the right setup in its office for a private chef to work. We're blessed to have this mixed space in New York with a separate kitchen.

We aren't seeing, smelling, or hearing anything happening in the kitchen. Our chef just tells us to come to the conference room when the food is in there. I don't think having a chef would work for us without this setup. Things would probably get crowded, and I wouldn't want to be smelling food all day.

As soon as an AI model can cook for us, we'll try it

We recently reduced the team by a few people to ensure each role was really necessary. We had a chief of staff at one point. That was one role we experimented with, but it didn't seem like a great fit given how small the team is.

If you're not a specialist, if you can't do anything that's better than everyone else in the room, then you shouldn't be here. I think creativity and vision will always be shaped by humans. Everything else can and probably will be replaced, to an extent.

This decision, hiring a personal chef, was about efficiency and costs, but I definitely think a chef can be replaced by AI in the near future.

Do you have a Tiny Teams story to share? Contact this reporter, Agnes Applegate, at aapplegate@businessinsider.com.