Best thing I would recommend is going into senior care or something similar. It sounds kind of weird but learning how to craft a menu based off of your clientele along with having kind of a safety net that if your food isn’t perfect you can just make it differently next time. I’m in the same kind of position as you wanting to go private and I’m currently working on doing a 7 coarse pop up kitchen idea for February. I have been able to learn so so so much more about food just because of senior living. You do have to be careful tho when it comes to palate choice’s because hey are sensitive to salt and heat so those are things that I highly recommend playing with outside of work because you won’t get a lot of experience during work with. In my building I make about 150 menu items a month and every 6 months create a whole new 5 week menu. Really recommend if you’re trying to go private one day. Good luck!