How To Start a Cooking Class Business: A Recipe for Success

Cooking class businesses have been booming over the past few years. Their rise to popularity can be partly attributed to COVID-19, as quarantined individuals would often turn to virtual culinary experiences to keep their morale high.

A cooking class can be an engaging experience for everyone involved. It encourages people to make healthier food choices and gain a newfound appreciation for food from different cultures. If you’re wondering how to start a cooking class business, this quick guide will take you through all the basics.   

Why a Cooking Class Business Is a Profitable Idea

Data has shown that the global cooking class market is projected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.9% between 2021 and 2029. This has encouraged many culinary enthusiasts to start their own cooking class business. 

It can be highly profitable for many reasons, primarily due to the flexibility it offers. You can hold classes in your home kitchen or arrange a special venue. If you’re pursuing it only as a part-time gig, you can schedule classes over the weekend. You can also delegate the kitchen duties to someone else if you prefer to take on a managerial role.

It also has the potential for a huge profit margin; around 60-80% if you’re utilizing your home kitchen. Even if you decide to opt for an external venue, you can still expect around 30-40% in profits.  

Planning Your Cooking Class Business

The first step to building your cooking class business is to plan every detail. Here are the key aspects to consider:

• Identify Your Target Audience

Determine your ideal customers based on the prevailing food trends, common interests, and demographic of your area. Take into account the age range and average income level of your potential clients. Decide if you want to teach advanced courses or keep it simple. These factors will help you narrow down your target audience and build a structure for your cooking classes.

• Identify the Types of Cooking Classes to Offer

Here are some ideas of the different types of cooking classes you can offer:

‍

Basic cooking techniques

Include lessons on boiling, poaching, pan frying, and other basic cooking techniques.

International cuisines

Teach the preparation techniques and history of cultural dishes from around the world. You can offer Thai, Japanese, and Italian cuisine classes.

Baking and pastry making

These classes can teach customers how to master the art of baking and enhance their skills in French pastry-making, cake decorating, and other related practices.  

Healthy cooking and nutrition

Healthy cooking classes can help your customers create appetizing recipes and learn the benefits of mindful eating.

Vegetarian and vegan cooking

These classes can help your vegan/vegetarian customers expand their palates and discover a whole new world of delicious plant-based recipes.

Farm-to-table cooking

By partnering with your local farmers, you can arrange farm-to-table cooking classes and teach your customers how to create delicious recipes incorporating fresh seasonal produce.

Cooking for special diets

These special cooking classes can include gluten-free, low-sodium, or low-carb recipes to cater to specific dietary needs.   

Date night cooking classes

Date night cooking classes are a great way for your audience to learn about cooking for their loved ones on special occasions, such as anniversaries and Valentine’s Day.

Parent-child cooking classes

Parent-children cooking classes can be a fun and engaging way to introduce young ones to the culinary world.

Research the Competition

Make a list of your competitors and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Discern gaps in their offerings that can be filled by your classes. There is a lot of competition in this industry, so it’s best to stay ahead and differentiate yourself from the norm.

Define Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Your USP is what sets your business apart from others. Articulate your proposition while you’re marketing and branding your cooking classes. It could be a special cuisine class, a particular technique or style of cooking, a focus on healthy or sustainable cooking, or specialized classes for a certain demographic.

Planning Your Cooking Class Business

The first step to building your cooking class business is to plan every detail. Here are the key aspects to consider:

• Identify Your Target Audience

Determine your ideal customers based on the prevailing food trends, common interests, and demographic of your area. Take into account the age range and average income level of your potential clients. Decide if you want to teach advanced courses or keep it simple. These factors will help you narrow down your target audience and build a structure for your cooking classes.

• Identify the Types of Cooking Classes to Offer

Here are some ideas of the different types of cooking classes you can offer:

‍

Basic cooking techniques

Include lessons on boiling, poaching, pan frying, and other basic cooking techniques.

International cuisines

Teach the preparation techniques and history of cultural dishes from around the world. You can offer Thai, Japanese, and Italian cuisine classes.

Baking and pastry making

These classes can teach customers how to master the art of baking and enhance their skills in French pastry-making, cake decorating, and other related practices.  

Healthy cooking and nutrition

Healthy cooking classes can help your customers create appetizing recipes and learn the benefits of mindful eating.

Vegetarian and vegan cooking

These classes can help your vegan/vegetarian customers expand their palates and discover a whole new world of delicious plant-based recipes.

Farm-to-table cooking

By partnering with your local farmers, you can arrange farm-to-table cooking classes and teach your customers how to create delicious recipes incorporating fresh seasonal produce.

Cooking for special diets

These special cooking classes can include gluten-free, low-sodium, or low-carb recipes to cater to specific dietary needs.   

Date night cooking classes

Date night cooking classes are a great way for your audience to learn about cooking for their loved ones on special occasions, such as anniversaries and Valentine’s Day.

Parent-child cooking classes

Parent-children cooking classes can be a fun and engaging way to introduce young ones to the culinary world.

Research the Competition

Make a list of your competitors and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Discern gaps in their offerings that can be filled by your classes. There is a lot of competition in this industry, so it’s best to stay ahead and differentiate yourself from the norm.

Define Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Your USP is what sets your business apart from others. Articulate your proposition while you’re marketing and branding your cooking classes. It could be a special cuisine class, a particular technique or style of cooking, a focus on healthy or sustainable cooking, or specialized classes for a certain demographic.

Setting Up Your Cooking Class Business

After the planning phase, it’s time to get started on setting up your cooking classes.

• Legal Requirements and Licenses

The first order of business is to obtain the necessary licenses and permits from the state and federal governments. Depending on where you live, you might require a food handler’s permit. You’ll need the DBA (Doing Business As) license if you’re setting up under an alias instead of a personal name. You’ll also need OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) permits.

• Choosing a Location

Depending on the size of your business, you have four options:

1.     Home Kitchen

A home kitchen is a great option if you’re just starting out and don’t expect more than 5 or 6 customers. Turn your home kitchen into a culinary teaching zone to maximize profits at the start of your career.

2.     Rental Kitchen

A rental kitchen is a great option for a growing business. It can cater to a large audience and comes with specialty kitchen equipment and cleaning staff.

3.     Community Kitchen

If you don’t have the money to rent a commercial kitchen, you can opt for a community kitchen instead. It offers flexible hourly/weekly/monthly renting options and can help you save money.

4.     Outdoor Locations

Outdoor kitchens located in parks and recreational areas have a great ambience and a lot of space. They can help you save on energy costs but do have their downsides such as potentially high setup costs and not being suitable in bad weather.

• Designing Your Kitchen and Classroom

This phase involves crafting a design that will make your kitchen look professional while also maximizing efficiency. Make sure your design facilitates your style of teaching. There should be ample space between workstations and a designated area where the instructor can stand to be seen by everyone in the class. Design the workstations to be in easy reach of all the required equipment. 

As for the color scheme, you might notice that white, red, and black are common choices in many kitchens. These colors are believed to heighten energy levels — much needed in an interactive culinary environment.

• Equipping Your Kitchen and Classroom

Equip every workstation with the tools required to prepare the recipes you are planning. Some items might be required by each student while some can be placed in a designated shared area outside the workstations.

Place the equipment in an easily accessible manner to increase efficiency during cooking. You can also make the best use of space and resources by installing appliance bridges between two workstations so that the students on both sides can access the facilities.

Marketing Your Cooking Class Business

After establishing the fundamentals of your cooking class business, it’s time to get the word out to your target audience. Here are your avenues to do so:

• Social Media Marketing

Leverage Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram to promote your classes. Create a business page and keep it updated with high-quality images and videos of your creations. Run ad campaigns on these platforms to get people interested in your business. 

• Email Marketing

Email marketing is a cost-effective approach that can help you personally reach out to your desired customers. There are many email marketing tools to help you send personalized emails in bulk and track success.

• SEO And PPC Advertising

Build a website for your business and use keywords to increase your ranking in search engine results. You can also employ a Pay-Per-Click ad model where you only have to pay if someone clicks on your ad.

• Content Marketing

You can create and share videos, blogs, or podcasts of your recipes, cooking methods and teaching style on your website to help you draw an audience.  

• Events

Host creative workshops or attend events to engage with your potential customers face-to-face. It could be a food and drink networking event or speaking at a conference, for example.  

• Referral Program

Referral programs are designed to spark discussions about a company or brand. You can propose a value offering (special discounts) to your existing customers to get the word out about your cooking classes.

• Build a Strong Network

Connect with local chefs and food bloggers to increase your visibility. You can host combined events with restaurants and catering services in your area to build credibility.

Managing Your Cooking Class Business

To keep things organized and ensure the smooth running of your cooking classes, here are a few things to bear in mind:

• Stay on Top of Your Schedule

Keep yourself on a schedule and do last-minute checks to ensure everything is set up before the class. Hire an assistant to help you oversee the logistics, if you can. It’ll save you time so you can focus on leading a professional cooking class.

• Manage Finances and Inventory

Understand the patterns of sales seasonality for cooking classes near you to help you manage your finances effectively. Identify the profit model of your business and keep an inventory of the associated costs.

• Evaluate and Improve Your Business Operations

Focus on the processes that need improvement and set objectives to optimize them. Assess the weak spots and see how you can improve them to save you time and money.

• Set Up Systems and Processes

Identify your core business activities and make a note of the steps taken to get them done. This will help you review critical business tasks and draft up ways to improve them. With proper systems in place, you can get things done more efficiently and keep everything organized.

• Focus on Customer Satisfaction

As a culinary professional, everything you do should be in the favor of your customers. Take requests for special diets, allergies, and recipes to learn what interests your audience. This approach will help you sell out your classes with ease.

• Hire and Train Staff

Don’t do it all on your own — hire assistants to help you throughout your classes. Brief them about their roles and take time out to train them on safety, hygiene, and their expected tasks.

• Maintain Equipment and Facilities

After every class, make sure all equipment used is properly cleaned, sterilized, and stored to ensure longevity.