How to Verify a Cook Before You Hire One
You are about to give someone a key to your home and let them cook what your family eats. It is worth twenty minutes of diligence, and most people do roughly none.
Here is what that twenty minutes should consist of.
Check ID, and keep a copy
Aadhaar plus one other document. Photograph both. This is not about suspicion — it is that if anything goes wrong later, "I do not know her full name" is a genuinely bad position to be in.
Ask about police verification
Reputable placement agencies run it. Many informal arrangements do not. You can file for it yourself at the local police station, and in most Hyderabad commissionerate areas it is a straightforward process for domestic workers.
Ask the agency directly: "have you done police verification, and can I see it?" A good agency answers immediately. An evasive answer is information.
Call a reference, and ask one specific question
Most people either skip references or ask "was she good", which produces "yes" and tells you nothing.
Ask instead: "why did the arrangement end?" It is the question that actually produces information, and the answer is usually honest because it is factual rather than evaluative.
Run a paid trial week and pay for it regardless of the outcome. Taste, timing and hygiene all reveal themselves inside seven days, and paying for the trial keeps the conversation honest on both sides — nobody is doing anyone a favour, so nobody has to pretend it went well.
What the trial week actually tests
- Timing. Does she arrive when she said? This is the single most common failure and it shows up immediately.
- Taste, over several days. Anyone can cook one good meal.
- Kitchen hygiene. Watch once, without hovering.
- Communication. Can you say "less oil" and have it stick?
Get the terms in writing
Not a contract — a WhatsApp message you both have. It should cover:
- Arrival window, specifically. "Morning" is not a time.
- Which meals, and roughly what.
- Days off per month and how much notice.
- Salary, pay date, and when it will next be reviewed.
- Festival bonus expectations.
Nearly every arrangement that falls apart falls apart on leave policy, and nearly every one of those had no written agreement about it.
What agencies do and do not do
Do: find candidates faster than you can, usually run some verification, and often offer a replacement window of 30–90 days.
Do not: guarantee fit, manage the relationship, or make the timing conversation for you. The fee — typically half to a full month's salary — buys the search and the replacement guarantee, not the outcome.
If you found someone through your building's WhatsApp group instead, you have a real reference and no replacement guarantee, which is a reasonable trade. Just do the trial week properly, because there is no fallback.
Where to look
Your building first — it is faster and the reference is real. Failing that, Sulekha, Justdial, QuikrEasy and AskLaila all carry per-locality cook listings, and we link the right ones for each area on our cook guides.
Fresh, chef-cooked lunches delivered daily across Hyderabad — from ₹90 a meal, no delivery fees.
Or skip hiring for lunch entirelyShort version
Photograph the ID. Ask about police verification. Call one reference and ask why the last arrangement ended. Run a paid trial week. Put the terms in a message. That is the whole list, and it takes an afternoon.
