The Yacht Chef Media exists because there is a gap between the people who can operate a camera and the people who understand what happens aboard a superyacht. I am one of the few who does both.
I am Dean Harrison. I trained as a chef and spent sixteen years in professional kitchens, nine of those working aboard superyachts ranging from 25 metres up to the 106 metre sailing yacht Black Pearl.
Somewhere in the middle of that I started filming what I was doing. At the time the yachting world was almost entirely closed. Nobody posted anything. What went on behind the passerelle stayed there. I was one of the first chefs to document the reality of the job, and it turned out a lot of people wanted to see it.
That audience changed the direction of my career. It led to Become A Yacht Chef, an online course for people trying to break into the industry, and Yacht Chef Jobs, a recruitment platform connecting vetted chefs with vessels. It also led to captains, owners and brands asking whether I could shoot for them.
Access and timing. Those are the two things that separate good yacht content from generic yacht content, and both come from having actually done the job.
I know the rhythm of a charter week. I know when the boat is repositioning and the light will be right, when guests are ashore and the interior can be shot properly, when the galley is in the middle of service and should be left alone. An external crew has to guess at all of this, and usually gets one usable day out of three.
I also understand what a captain is worried about when they let a camera onboard. Confidentiality, disruption, and someone getting in the way during service. Being crew means fitting into the operation rather than interrupting it.
The Yacht Chef Media produces video, photography and social content for yachts, luxury accommodation and the brands around them. We work across the Mediterranean and Caribbean seasons and travel worldwide for the right project.
Vessels we have worked aboard include Black Pearl, Project X, Starfire, Loon, Amor A Vida, Arience, Rio, South, Lady B, Fifty, Qing, King Benji, Adios and Cherry.
You can find the recipes, career content and industry writing at The Yacht Chef, and the day to day work on Instagram.
Whether you are a yacht looking to attract more charters, a chef building a personal brand, or a brand wanting genuine ocean side content, tell us what you have in mind.
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