Cheef: a dietitian’s review after 1 week of testing (2025)

Introducing Cheef

The Brand

Cheef is a young French brand created in 2020 by Guillaume Vidal Soler in the Lille metropolis. Meals are prepared on-site.

The Cheef weight loss program offers a comprehensive and personalized approach to modify clients’ eating habits.

It consists of:

• Weekly meal delivery (breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner) or only the “meals only” option
• Dietary follow-up with a dietitian every 2 weeks 
• A sports program and sports classes included in the schedule
• Access to a community of over 8,300 members, the Club Cheef

This program is for people who want to lose weight, who do not have time or do not like cooking, and want to eat healthily.

The different meals of the day arrive directly at your home every week, fortnightly, or monthly depending on the chosen plan. Only a few groceries are needed to complete the program. 

The weight loss program

Cheef offers dietary balancing programs, the duration of which varies according to each individual’s weight loss goals.

It ranges from 2 weeks for a 1 to 2 kilo loss to 8 months for a weight loss estimated at over 25 kg in the best cases.

Healthy and balanced dishes ready to enjoy are delivered by parcel covering all meals of the day: breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner, or just the midday and evening meals for the “meals only” option.

You can choose from over 150 recipes.

However, it is necessary to add foods (fruits, vegetables, and dairy products) to complete the program and ensure optimal nutritional intake.

To adapt the program to one’s professional and social life, several plans are available allowing 0, 1, or 2 days of freedom per week. 

2 types of dish are offered:

• The gourmet dishes are validated and enhanced by Marc Meurin, a 2-star chef since 1998, and cooked on-site. Cheef also offers Premium dishes, available in the gourmet formula. The recipes are more elaborate, and the ingredients are of superior quality. (For example: Cod fillet, cider sauce with truffle and green asparagus, or Sea bream and Scallops with pesto rosso)
• Long conservation prepared meals delivered monthly. There are more than 100 different dishes. They can be stored at room temperature for several months. 

All offered dishes are cooked in France; they are not always organic but are guaranteed GMO-free, preservative-free, and free of artificial coloring.

Their Nutri-Score rating is A or B. The prepared meals are validated and enhanced by Marc Meurin, a two-star chef since 1998, and are cooked on site.

The program also includes fitness coaching and dietary follow-up with a dietitian.

Focus on the slimming assessment

Before ordering, you can take your slimming assessment. This allows you to determine your goal and set the duration of the chosen program. 

Simply provide your age, weight, height, and answer a few questions about your physical condition and lifestyle.

It remains to determine the frequency of the menus, the duration of the program, and choose meals from the hundred dishes offered. The dishes are varied and can be adapted to all tastes and all types of diets. 

There are vegetarian dishes, with or without pork, and free from certain allergens like gluten, eggs, or nuts.

You can book an appointment directly with a dietitian who will help balance the program according to your needs.

In fact, the 4 proposed meals (breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner) provide around 1300 kcal. It is necessary to supplement these intakes to meet your body’s natural needs. 

Promo code and discounts

Our test

Produits ★★★★☆

I was able to test a week of the Cheef “catering” program with 5 days of menus.

I received my package 11 days after choosing the contents of my program by refrigerated carrier. This is a minimum timeframe because dish preparation is made to order and planned a week in advance. 

My package was properly sealed, the dishes protected with bubble wrap. The breakfasts and snacks were in a pretty box in the brand’s colors.

The package included: 

• 10 prepared dishes: Beef lasagna, Seafood paella, Greek-style zucchini timbale…
• 5 breakfasts (2 organic mueslis, 1 pack of protein bread, and 2 cereal bars) 
• 5 snacks (2 small cakes and 3 packs of 5 biscuits) 
• 1 Cheef booklet, including program tips

The dishes 

The dishes are packaged in recycled cardboard trays coated with a plastic film. This technique allows for a reduction of more than 85% of plastic compared to the plastic trays offered by other brands. 

The dishes are made to be quickly reheated in the microwave. Personally, lacking one, I chose to reheat my dishes in the oven having removed them from their trays beforehand.

The dishes contain between 350 and 400 kcal, provide 15 to 30 g of protein, and have little fat, about 12 g per serving. It is noted that vegetables make up at least 50% of the recipes.

The ingredient list is simple, meats are of French origin. I really liked the variety of dishes offered.

What about the taste? The dishes are flavorful and well-seasoned. It’s clear that the products used are fresh.

A small downside, in each recipe, the vegetables are very finely sliced, I would have preferred larger pieces to promote chewing, preserve their crunchiness, and vary the visual aspect. The brand informed me that other customers had made the same comment and that they have since modified this aspect.

Breakfasts provide around 150 to 180 kcal. 

Some are organic (muesli and bread). They should be combined with a fruit and a dairy product to complete this first meal of the day.

While the mueslis have an interesting composition, the cereal bars are a bit too processed despite their high protein content. The presence of sucralose, a chemical sweetener, is regrettable.

The planned snacks provide between 150 and 200 kcal, I was able to test the organic small cakes and the biscuits. 

Personally, I enjoyed the biscuit but much less the small cakes, too dry for my taste.

From an energy perspective, the Cheef programs provide around 1200 to 1300 kcal per day, which is extremely low. It is impossible to meet all nutritional needs with so little.

This is why it is important to supplement the program with other foods based on sex, age, and lifestyle. 

I received my package on March 17 and the expiration date of the dishes was March 30. I was surprised by such a shelf life despite no preservatives and that the website stated a maximum shelf life of 8 days.

Dietary follow-up 

An appointment can be booked directly through your Cheef account with a state-certified dietitian at the start of the program.

A team of dietitians, each with their own specialty (phytotherapy, micronutrition, sports …) is at your disposal to assist you in your journey.

After several questions about my lifestyle, the frequency of my physical activity, and my health condition, the dietitian took the time to explain the content of the program.

In my case, given my sports practice and lifestyle, to reach 1900 to 2000 kcal/day, she advised me to supplement my program daily with: 

• 3 fruits
• 3 dairy products
• 1 to 2 slices of non-white bread 
•  An additional protein source 

I also received advice on promoting good hydration and how to organize my free days from a dietary perspective. After the appointment, I received a summary email.

The dietary follow-up takes place every 15 days, I can send an email at any time if I have a question. 

I found the dietary appointment very interesting and suited to my request. Being advised to add numerous foods reassured me greatly about the quality of the follow-up. 

Not being a fan of low-calorie diets that are often ineffective in the long run, I agreed with the dietitian’s advice. 

Since the programs are the same for everyone, it’s normal to personalize them by adding different foods. 

Sports coaching

A comprehensive 12-week sports program and à la carte sports classes are included in the program. There’s something for everyone: gym, pilates, yoga, cardio, abs… enough to make you sweat!

There is also a support community “The Cheef Club”. It’s a Facebook group with over 8300 members open to everyone where you can ask questions, share successes, and feel supported by people on the same journey as us. 

In summary, the Cheef Program is very comprehensive but to be effective in the long term, it must be tailored to one’s morphology. Fortunately, the dietitians ensure that nutritional needs are met.

The downside of such a program is that it doesn’t anchor dietary habit changes in the long term since no effort is needed to prepare the meals.

Prix ★★★★☆

The price of the Cheef program is degressive depending on the duration of the commitment.

When committing for several months, be careful not to be mistaken, the price for the first month is cheaper than that of the following months for the regular program.

And the price for the first week is (much) cheaper than that of the following weeks for the catering program.

Cheef is quite competitive compared to competitors such as Qilibri and Diet Bon.

It should be noted that the price only considers the foods you will receive in your program. It does not account for the foods to be added to the program for good balance. 

The delivery of Cheef programs is at home or to a relay point. It is free for mainland France, Switzerland, or Belgium and is done by refrigerated carrier for the “catering” package. 

In case of holidays or impediment for a few weeks, you can suspend the delivery of your program during your absence.

The brand offers a referral program, each referred person receives a €30 discount on their first order and you will receive the same discount on your future order.

A connected scale is offered if you commit for more than 6 months.

Transparence ★★★★☆

Cheef is part of EOL Group created in 2003 by Guillaume Vidal Soler.

The company consists of about thirty people including 6 to 8 in the kitchen depending on the season. It is located in the suburbs of Lille in Roncq. Little is known about its leader, who remains quite discreet in the media. 

The fresh dishes are cooked directly on-site; unfortunately, the origin of the raw materials is not always known.

The meats are sourced in France (for the dishes I tested), but the origin of the fish is unknown. The company’s marketing department stated in our discussions that they aim to prioritize short supply chains in the near future.

The long shelf-life dishes of the classic program come from various French suppliers, as do the breakfasts and snacks. There is a lack of transparency at this level; we would like to know more. 

There are before/after photos of Cheef clients on the website, but it would be interesting to see their progress a few months after their program.

Indeed, low-calorie diets are very effective but rarely in the long term if there is no personalized follow-up to ensure weight stabilization.

Expertise ★★★★☆

Cheef benefits from over 20 years of experience in the field of dietetics thanks to the EOL Group to which it belongs.

The recipes are created by a team of dietitians and chefs to ensure nutritional and taste quality.

All the recipes for the catering program’s dishes are approved and embellished by Marc Meurin, a 2-star Chef since 1998. Some dishes from the classic formula are also approved by the chef (identifiable by the “Chef” icon).

The dietitians who support the clients are salaried health professionals of the company. Some of them are authors of books on nutrition, like Fabienne Lemaître who published “Save Our Intestines, A Chance for Life” with Geai Bleu editions.

Cheef has a blog with various articles on nutrition written by the dietitians of the weight loss program. The content is interesting and full of great tips for better eating habits. 

On the Cheef account, you can access 49 light recipes to learn to cook differently. 

Popularité ★★★★☆

On social media, the company has more than 2,700 followers on Facebook and 2,150 followers on Instagram, which is not very significant compared to other meal delivery services.

The Facebook support group “the Cheef club” has over 3,900 members.

On the TRUSTPILOT site, Cheef receives an excellent rating of 4.9/5 with over 7,900 reviews, making the brand the top-ranked weight loss program. The comments are mainly positive, highlighting the good taste of the meals offered and the effectiveness in weight loss.

Confiance ★★★☆☆

Cheef has a customer service reachable by phone or email. 

I sent an email for some information on: 

• the origin of raw materials like meat and vegetables
• the best way to reheat dishes without a microwave

After not receiving a response by email after a week, I called the customer service directly.

The answers provided were clear although not very specific regarding the origin of the raw materials: 

• The raw materials come from France or Europe. 
• The best way to reheat dishes is the microwave; reheating in a bain-marie or oven is possible as long as they are removed from their container.  

Our Opinion