By the Sevetu team
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Short answer
In Bengaluru, a home cook costs ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 a month part-time, ₹12,000 to ₹20,000 full-time and ₹20,000 to ₹35,000 live-in on Sevetu's city pay guide1. Full-time pay shouldn't go below Karnataka's floor of ₹20,548.35 a month for cooking work2. Post the job with your cuisine and slot, shortlist, run a paid trial cook, and write the terms down.
Hire for the food you eat
Bengaluru families come from every state, and a good cook for one kitchen isn't for another. Say the cuisine in the job post: North Indian rotis and sabzi, Bengali fish curry, Odia dalma, Tamil or Andhra meals, Jain food, or "whatever the children will eat". Ask the cook to make your family's everyday dish on the trial day.
Where to look
- A direct hiring app: on Sevetu, post the job with cuisine, meals, people and slot. Cooks near you apply, many ID verified. Free to post and hire3.
- Your society or building group: fast and free, but nothing is checked or written, and numbers get forwarded everywhere.
- An agency: shortlists and replaces, for a fee often around a month's salary. What agencies charge →
- A neighbour's cook with a free slot: the most common route in the city. Still write the terms down.
All the ways to find a cook, compared →
Timing is everything
The 6 to 8 am slot is the one every apartment wants, and cooks fill it first. If you can take a mid-morning or evening slot, you'll have more choice and sometimes a better price.
The trial and the agreement
Pay for one or two trial days of real cooking. Then agree pay, pay date, meals, people, weekly off, leave, notice and the yearly raise, in writing. What to put in it →
Hire a cook in Bangalore, free →
Read next: questions to ask a cook before hiring · cook salary in 2027 · home cook vs tiffin service, the cost
Questions people ask
On Sevetu's Bengaluru pay guide, ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 a month part-time, ₹12,000 to ₹20,000 full-time and ₹20,000 to ₹35,000 live-in.
For 2026 to 2027, ₹20,548.35 a month or ₹790.32 a day for cooking and kitchen work in BBMP areas. There is no hourly rate.
Say the cuisine in your job post and ask for your family's everyday dish on a paid trial day.
Sources
- Sevetu, Bangalore pay guide, cook section, read 12 November 2026: part-time cook ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 a month; full-time ₹12,000 to ₹20,000; live-in ₹20,000 to ₹35,000. sevetu.com/bangalore/cost/
- 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)
- Sevetu, Pricing, read 10 November 2026: posting and hiring free; no commission. sevetu.com/pricing/
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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
