By the Sevetu team
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Short answer
If you want the most control over your day, part-time rounds in several houses let you pick your slots and earn from each house separately. If you want one steady salary and to be home at night, a full-time home job fits. If you want the highest home pay and can live away from family, live-in pays most. If you want to grow your skill fast and work with a team, a restaurant kitchen does that, with late shifts.
Part-time rounds: several houses, your slots
Many home cooks work in two, three or four houses a day: breakfast in one, lunch prep in another, dinner in a third. Each house pays for its slot, on Sevetu's published range ₹3,000 to ₹8,000 a month1.
Good: you decide the slots, and if one house stops, the others continue. Hard: travel between houses, and every family wants the 7 am slot.
Full-time in one house
Two or three meals a day, groceries and kitchen upkeep for one family. Sevetu's published range is ₹8,000 to ₹18,000 a month1. You're home at night, and there's one salary to track.
Good: one family, one kitchen, one pay date. Hard: if that one job ends, all your income stops at once. Ask for notice in writing.
In Bengaluru, Karnataka has notified a minimum wage for cooking and kitchen work of ₹20,548.35 a month or ₹790.32 a day for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, in BBMP areas2. It applies to monthly and daily work, not hourly or part-time arrangements.
Live-in: lives with the family
You cook whenever the family eats and live in their home. Sevetu's published range is ₹15,000 to ₹28,000 a month, with room and food on top1.
Good: the highest home pay, and no rent or food to buy. Hard: long days, little privacy, and the line between work and rest blurs. Before you agree, get these in writing: your room, your meals, your working hours and break, and a full weekly off.
Our take: live-in isn't automatically the better deal. Count your hours. A live-in job with sixteen hours a day can pay less per hour than two part-time houses.
Restaurant, hotel or canteen kitchen
Commercial kitchens hire through job apps. Real listings in November 2026 show, for example, ₹10,000 to ₹17,000 a month for a cook in Delhi, from 12 noon to 11 pm, six days a week, with meals3, and ₹13,000 to ₹25,000 for cooks at a restaurant in Allahabad4. Some agency listings for house cooks and chefs mention PF, ESI and meals5.
Good: your skill and speed grow fast, there's a team, and some jobs come with a payslip and PF. Hard: late nights, six days a week, and a manager, not a family.
How to choose
| If you want | Look at |
|---|---|
| To choose your own hours | Part-time rounds |
| One salary and home by night | Full-time in one house |
| The highest home pay, room and food | Live-in |
| To grow as a chef, with a payslip | Restaurant or hotel |
| To start near home with no agent | Part-time, through an app where families post |
Whichever you choose
Get these in writing before day one: pay and pay date, hours, meals and number of people, weekly off, leave and notice. Never pay a fee to get the job.
Apps for cook jobs, compared → · Cook jobs near you →
Read next: cook salary in 2027 · live-in or part-time, compared
Questions people ask
At home, live-in pays the most on Sevetu's published range, ₹15,000 to ₹28,000 a month plus room and food. Restaurant and hotel jobs vary widely; senior chefs earn more, but with late shifts. Count your hours before comparing.
It depends on what you want. A home job usually means fewer people, a family as your employer and daytime hours. A restaurant means faster skill growth, a team and sometimes PF, with late nights and six-day weeks.
As many slots as fit your day and your travel. Many cooks work two to four houses. Each house pays separately, so plan travel time between them.
For 2026 to 2027, Karnataka's notified minimum wage for cooking and kitchen work in BBMP areas is ₹20,548.35 a month or ₹790.32 a day. It does not set an hourly rate.
Use an app where families post jobs and apply directly, verify your ID, and never pay a fee to apply. Apps for cook jobs →
Sources
- Sevetu, Hire a cook, cost section, read 12 November 2026: part-time cook ₹3,000 to ₹8,000 a month, full-time ₹8,000 to ₹18,000, live-in ₹15,000 to ₹28,000. sevetu.com/hire-a-cook/
- Government of Karnataka, Office of the Labour Commissioner, minimum wage rate sheet for 2026-27, Notification No. KAE 68 LWA 2022, Sl. No. 27, Zone 1: cooking and kitchen work ₹20,548.35 a month, ₹790.32 a day. karmikaspandana.karnataka.gov.in (PDF)
- JobHai, Chef job at Fododo, Rama Park, Delhi, read 12 November 2026: "salary 10,000 - 17,000 /month", "12:00 PM - 11:00 PM timing", "6 days working", benefits "Meal". jobhai.com
- JobHai, Cook job at Tandoori Adda, Mahewa East, Allahabad, read 12 November 2026: "salary 13,000 - 25,000 /month". jobhai.com
- apna, House Cook/ Chef, Mercury Agency, Triplicane, Chennai, read 12 November 2026: "₹30,000 - ₹45,000 monthly"; "Benefits include: Overtime Pay, PF, ESI (ESIC), Food/Meals". apna.co
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Written by the Sevetu teamSevetu is a hiring marketplace for household work in India, operated by Fiel Private Limited. These guides come from the questions families and workers ask us. Nothing here is sponsored, and where a number has no defensible source we say so instead of inventing one. About Sevetu
