Kenyan Chef Who Cooks For Arsenal Quits After 2 Years
Despite not revealing her next move, Kariuki expressed her gratitude to the Gunners for her opportunity to work at the football club.
Marvin Chege 
Renowned private chef Bernice Kariuki announced on Monday, May 29 that she was leaving English Premier League football club, Arsenal, where she served for two years.
Under the leadership of Arsenal's executive chef, Kariuki has been cooking exclusively for first-team players, the management team and members of the club’s technical bench.
She announced her departure on social media, despite coming in the back of the 2022/23 football season where Arsenal finished second in the Premier League behind reigning champions Manchester City, their best season since the Invincibles era which saw them go an entire season without defeat.
Despite not revealing her next move, Kariuki expressed her gratitude to the Gunners for her opportunity to work at the football club.
Former Arsenal Chef Bernice Kariuki. /FACEBOOK.BERNICE KARIUKI
She further appreciated Arsenal's impressive campaign that came to an end with a 5-0 thrashing against Wolves at the Emirates Stadium in North London.
“A final day flourish. Finished the season with a bang! Simply the best!!! Arsenal… Arsenal… Arsenal.. 2020/2023 is the best special season ever I hang my gloves as a very proud chef it’s been an honour working for the best club in the whole world… I was truly humbled!” she wrote.
The chef also thanked Kenyans for their support, adding: “More blessings my next job it’s like dream royally truly humbled…Asanteni sana especially my country.”
Kariuki has been cooking for the team players and the management team for the past two years. She also managed the daily well-being and nutrition of the team before and after matches as well as menus for the travelling team.
She was born and raised in Nairobi’s Jericho Estate and joined Arsenal in mid-2021 on the heels of Mikel Arteta being appointed as Arsenal's head coach, as the first-team private chef.
"A girl from the ghetto Jericho living nothing but her dreams. May I reintroduce myself as Arsenal's first-team private chef," wrote Kariuki on social media at the time following her appointment.
Kariuki's resume boasts of past stints as a chef for swanky hotels in the United Kingdom, including The Lanesborough, The Dorchester and The Waldorf Hilton in London.
She is an alumnus of Westminster Kingsway College in London, where she studied culinary arts.
She credited her success at the club to a chance meeting with former Arsenal captain and current Chelsea striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whom she met during a Christmas party he attended, and which she was part of a culinary team that prepared the meals.
Aubameyang was impressed by a special pilau dish she had prepared at the time and sought to know the identity of the chef, which led him to Kariuki and after an engagement, he helped her land the lucrative job.
During her tenure at the club, Kariuki had a rigorous schedule which involved a work shift commencing at 3.00 am and preparing fish for the players before they arrive at 4.00 am at the stadium for their morning runs.
"We do their shakes because the players arrive on the pitch by 4:00 am and do their running. Afterwards, they have their omelette and some avocado, have a chilling time and begin their sessions at 11:00 am, so the money they're paid is worth it."
"We're talking about 600 people in that big training ground so we have about 90 chefs. The first team has 27 chefs. It's not just about cooking, it's about healthy cooking. I'm a dietician so you ensure you marinate your food and cook. You also have to do their shakes, and juices from scratch," she previously told Chams Media.
She stated that the players normally ate fish, salmon and seabass, green beans plantain, and wild rice.
She worked 14 hours a day, 90 hours a week, starting her shifts in the early morning hours owing to the runs by Arsenal players at 4.00 am, tailoring their meals in line with the diet requirements of the players.
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