Food is not only edible and inedible, it can be amazing. It’s good if grandmothers shared culinary secrets, but their abilities can also be far from perfect. Why don't you open a culinary school and teach people how to cook properly and tasty?

Cooking has become the new kind leisure, combining several useful moments - communication, learning and a delicious dinner.

Back in the late nineties, the idea of ​​a culinary school was brought to Russia by the famous chef Jamie Oliver. Now it has become fashionable to cook under the guidance of professional culinary specialists, and this concept continues to develop. Imperceptibly and quite naturally, cooking moved from the category of household chores to a form of leisure.

Cooking any dish in the company of friends under the supervision of a chef becomes a rewarding pastime. Such master classes allow not only to learn how to cook, but also to have a pleasant conversation. This explains the popularity of master classes in large companies that use them as one of the types of corporate recreation.

But if we digress from the entertaining nature of cooking courses and go down to earth, we need to recognize a simple truth - we all eat daily. I would like the food to be tasty, healthy and varied. The monotonous menu ceases to please as quickly as the constant listening to the same, even the most pleasant, melody. Quite infrequently, such a sad constancy is caused by financial difficulties, much more often people simply do not know how to cook. A true culinary talent is as rare as a musical talent. But everyone can learn how to cook tasty and healthy food.

To everyone's joy, recently, especially in big cities, the situation has changed dramatically, thanks to the emergence of culinary arts schools, in which experienced chefs teach those who wish this eternal art.

Many people have attended some kind of training course at least once in their lives. Cooking courses work the same way. Teachers represented by experienced chefs share their experience and share their knowledge.

Building a culinary business

It is important that a cook teaching at a culinary school not only knows his craft perfectly, but also knows how to find an approach to each student. Often, even the most experienced professional is not able to convey his knowledge, because he does not know how to formulate his thoughts in an easy-to-understand form. However, this is a problem of any educational institution. Thus, the selection of teaching staff can be considered the most difficult task in organizing a culinary school. If you managed to find a sociable and highly professional teacher, consider that half the work is done and you can move on to the next organizational stage.

It is necessary to draw up a schedule of classes and determine the cost of training. The schedule should be convenient for everyone, so consider both morning and evening classes.

The price can be set for the full course or for one lesson - decide for yourself. The price level directly depends on the qualifications and requests of the chefs who agreed to teach.

Typically, courses provide one-time and full training programs. One-time lasts about three hours, full - up to five days. The average cost of a one-time lesson is from 2.5 to 3 thousand rubles. 4-5-day programs cost from 25 to 50 thousand rubles. We give these figures only so that you can navigate the prices, you can set your own tariffs based on your own circumstances. There is only one general recommendation - do not try to save money on paying for the work of cooks-teachers, the success of your business depends on them.

The next stage is the formation of training groups of 8-10 people. The smaller the group, the more effective the training will be in it. It is advisable to organize individual training, possibly with home visits. The price of such services, of course, is higher.

Be sure to find a suitable room and purchase equipment. The classroom should be comfortable for classes, and the equipment should be modern. You will need:

• large tabletops;
• ovens;
• hobs;
• refrigerators and freezers for food storage;
• cutlery;
• tableware;
• kitchen utensils.

It is very important to find reliable suppliers of the highest quality products and organize advertising campaign. It is better to entrust public information about the newly opened culinary school to a well-established advertising agency, whose specialists will be able to create an attractive image for your establishment. Now you just need to wait for visits and calls from people who are interested in your services. Good luck.

Very few people have real culinary talent. That is why not everyone can cook delicious and exotic dishes.

Mostly culinary knowledge is drawn from books or from the advice of parents. However, learning culinary wisdom from books is a difficult task, and often uninteresting. Much more entertaining and effective training can be given by a private culinary school led by a competent professional teacher.

A private culinary school can be either an independent type of business or an additional type of business (in case the school is attached to a functioning cafe and restaurant). To promote the culinary school in world wide web you should definitely order your own site, especially since the cost of creating a site will be fully justified by new students who learn about the school from the Internet.

Directions in training can be different:

• General program. Learning the basics of culinary arts, getting acquainted with the peculiarities of cuisines different countries;
• A program aimed at improving the skills of specialists in the culinary business;
• Program for teaching children.

Classes usually last several hours and are held 2-3 times a week. For the maximum positive effect in the group should be no more than 10 people. After all, then the cook-teacher will have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and pay attention to each student.

Undoubtedly, the success of a culinary school depends on the skill and experience of the teacher, quality equipment and premises. By the way, organizing a good team of cooks-teachers is quite difficult. The room should be comfortable, spacious and comfortable, equipped with the necessary equipment.

The cost of classes is affected by the location of the school, the city. Before setting a fixed price for tuition, it is necessary to take into account all costs: for renting a room, purchasing food, paying salaries, etc.

After all the calculations and analysis carried out, you get a favorable cost-to-profit ratio, you can safely proceed to opening a culinary school.

A culinary school, like any type of business, will need advertising company. Placement of advertisements on the Internet, printed publications attract an interested audience. Additional sources of income can be weekend activities for children and their parents, as well as cooking and delivering food for corporate clients.

Culinary schools will be especially relevant in large cities with a large number of people who want to learn how to cook deliciously and professionally. Given all the nuances, the school of culinary arts can be a very profitable and quite interesting business.

* Calculations use average data for Russia

Business in the area educational services is becoming more and more popular: early development schools for children, language courses, drawing schools for children and adults, etc. The number of different training centers, courses and schools is increasing every year, and with increasing competition in each individual segment, more and more new and their new types. These include, for example, culinary schools.

This is a relatively new phenomenon. With the growth of people's well-being, their interest in high-quality nutrition increases. They visit restaurants, get acquainted with cuisines from around the world, and then want to learn how to cook them at home and master all the tricks of the culinary arts. In this case, they come to the aid of culinary schools. Often they are created on the basis of an already existing cafe or restaurant. Thus, the school owners save on renting space and the necessary equipment for conducting classes. However, a school can also be created from scratch. The costs in this case will, of course, be more, but, on the other hand, opening a culinary school is much easier and cheaper than an institution. Catering. So if you're dreaming of doing restaurant business, but do not have the necessary capital and / or knowledge for this, then a culinary school will be the best option to start.

Literally twenty years ago it was difficult to imagine the existence of special schools where people are taught to cook. Of course, there are a huge number of cookbooks on the shelves of bookstores. They are bright and beautiful, with detailed illustrations and descriptions of each stage of cooking a particular dish. In addition to books, there are a large number of television programs and video instructions for cooking any dish - from ordinary to the most exotic. Despite this, people attend cooking classes with great pleasure. Among the advantages of the latter are visibility, the ability to get the help of a specialist and ask questions to an expert (neither books nor programs will help in this), the availability of all the necessary ingredients and products (components for cooking exotic dishes are quite difficult to find on sale). Finally, the courses involve active communication, which is especially important for their main target audience - women housewives. In addition to women, culinary courses are also enjoyed by children of both preschool and school age.

So, what does it take to open your own culinary school. First of all, you will need a room. In the absence of your own cafe or restaurant, there are two options for solving the problem with the area - rent a suitable room and equip it yourself, or agree with the owner of an already functioning cafe to hold classes in his kitchen on certain days. Classes are usually held in the evening weekdays and on weekends. The option of renting a cafe is less expensive, because if you rent a separate room, then you will have to bring the necessary communications, make repairs, and install special equipment. Accordingly, the costs will be higher. On the other hand, culinary school classes usually take place at least two or three times a week. The duration of one lesson is, on average, 3-4 hours, and the number of people in the group should not be more than ten people (and best of all - 5-7). Only in this way the leader will be able to pay attention to all the “students”. At the same time, classes can be held in two shifts - morning / afternoon and evening. Thus, it will be quite difficult to find a cafe whose management will agree to rent out their kitchen so often and for such a long time.

The room where your culinary school classes will be held should be located closer to the city center or at least within reach of it. After all, many of your students will come to classes for public transport. If you open courses in a large city, then you can consider renting a room in a densely populated residential area. In addition to the location, the second criterion for choosing an area is the availability of all necessary communications. With this, most likely, there will be no problems. However, repairs still need to be done. You can get by with a more budget option or order a design project from specialists. The interior design of your “classroom” can be either neutral or themed (if your school specializes in a certain cuisine of the world). For example, now people are most interested in Italian or French cuisine, respectively, the interior of your room can be made in the Provence style. Although it is not necessary to spend money on designers. You can tile the floors and part of the walls (1-1.5 meters from the floor) with ceramic tiles in order to make it easier to wash them after class. And separate decorative elements (chopping boards with decor, pots, dishes, bunches herbs etc.) will set the necessary “mood” for the entire interior.

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Furniture (desktops, chairs, racks, shelves for food storage), equipment (refrigerators, stoves, hoods, splits), utensils, cutlery, crockery, etc. can be purchased at regular stores. For convenience of work and economy of the place the stove can be "mounted" on one side of the table. Thus, a large desktop, on which food is cut, dough is rolled out and the necessary ingredients are mixed, will have three work surfaces, and on the fourth side (from the side of the teacher) a stove with an extractor hood is installed. Of course, such furniture will have to be made to order. When planning a room, look at photos of the interiors of other culinary schools. Consider all the nuances. For example, if you plan to conduct classes for both children and adults, then you should not make the tables lower (then it will be inconvenient for adult students to work at them), but you will need to purchase high enough chairs so that the children are comfortable. Children usually work at the table while sitting, and adults, as a rule, standing (not counting theoretical classes). The table should be strong enough and have a smooth, easy-to-clean surface. Metal tables meet all these requirements. However, they may not "fit" into the interior of your kitchen. In this case, tables made of natural wood with a polished surface are suitable, but they will cost much more. Buy necessary equipment worth it when you already find chefs for classes. Specialists will tell you exactly what they need and where to buy it.

But finding good teachers is perhaps the most difficult task. On the one hand, these people must be masters in their field, know all the nuances of cooking various dishes, have an idea about the cuisine of different countries of the world, and be talented chefs with extensive experience. On the other hand, they must be able to communicate with people (and not only with adults, but also with children and adolescents), have charisma, be sociable, courteous and be able to attract the attention of listeners and present any, even the most boring material in an interesting way. Unlike other courses (for example, courses foreign languages) people come to a culinary school not only to learn how to do something well (in our case, to cook), but also to communicate with like-minded people, learn something new for themselves, have fun and interesting to spend their free time. Thus, your teachers must be passionate about their work. Talented chefs who teach classes in such schools not only explain what and how to do, but also tell the history of dishes in the process, acquaint students with the peculiarities of cuisine in different countries and even in different regions of the same country, share their experience ... Man, for whom cooking is just a job, will not be able to interest other people and, most likely, will even discourage them from all desire to learn something.

Where to find such cooks? In a small town, you don’t really have to choose, so school owners prefer to “grow” such specialists on their own. They hire graduates of secondary educational institutions - culinary technical schools and colleges, train them, send them to various courses and seminars. This requires considerable investments, time costs and is fraught with risks: a specialist trained by you can at any time leave for another place and you will have to take a new person and start all over again. If you live in a city with a population of over one million people, then in this case there are chances to find a suitable chef in one of the city's cafes or restaurants. But wage your teachers will be significantly higher.

Develop a curriculum with the help of your school's teachers. There are a large number of different culinary programs: national cuisine (Italian, Russian, French, Spanish, Oriental, etc.), vegetarian cuisine, dietary cuisine, dishes for children, decoration of dishes (including with the help of carving - cutting flowers and figurines from fruits and vegetables), etc. A separate training program is for children. Keep in mind that children's groups will be larger, since the cost of education for them should be higher than for adult students. If you increase the number of people in the group, this difference will not affect your profit. In addition to practical exercises, the program should also include a theoretical part (about 30% of the total time). Among the theoretical "subjects" in culinary schools are: holiday table, food compatibility, caloric content of foods and dishes, culinary secrets, table etiquette, etc. Although many schools prefer to combine practical and theoretical parts: while students are busy preparing food and cooking, the teacher tells them the theory. You can take existing training programs as a basis, but it is still desirable that your programs be copyrighted. After all, even if there is no culinary school in your city yet, then it is likely that after the opening of your courses, competitors will not keep you waiting. Don't forget to take pictures of activities at your school (with the permission of the students). These photographs, subsequently placed on your website or in booklets, may become the best advertisement and attract new listeners. In addition, you can purchase or rent a professional video camera and film your classes. Then they can be mounted and laid out in an abbreviated form (without unnecessary details, secrets and details) on YouTube channel. It may not help you find new clients, but it will certainly increase the visibility of your school. Some schools even sell their video lessons, but this option is hardly suitable for a young company. First you have to "make" a name for yourself and win good reputation. In addition to the general curriculum, your school may also provide training and development sessions for professional professionals working in cafes and restaurants. An additional source of income for cooking courses is the organization of food preparation and delivery to corporate clients (catering).

Ready-made ideas for your business

Before opening culinary courses, it is necessary to complete all the documents and, most importantly, obtain permission to carry out teaching activities (since the word “school” or “courses” will appear in the name of your center).

The cost of organizing your own culinary school will be from 70 to 300 thousand rubles (depending on the format - courses at a restaurant or "autonomous"). True, this amount does not include advertising costs, but you can’t do without them. Main the target audience such courses are women and children. Recently, however, more and more men are attending culinary schools. Therefore, take this into account when developing a training program and compiling advertisements. You can advertise the services of your school through advertisements in local newspapers and magazines, using leaflets distributed in mailboxes, outdoor advertising(the most expensive way), advertising on the radio and on the Internet. Even if your school is located far from the city center, you should not be limited to one area. Cooking courses are still a relatively new phenomenon in our country. Many people prefer to learn from their own mistakes from cookbooks and recipes online. Therefore, in order to pay off your expenses for organizing a culinary school as soon as possible, try to cover the entire city with your advertising. Create a website for your school, social media groups, advertise on local websites and forums (especially those where your target audience is women with children, such as forums for mothers). The simplest business card site can be made in a web studio for 3-5 thousand rubles or on your own. True, you still have to spend money on promoting your site, but if the competition in your region for the query "culinary school" is low, then the cost of site promotion will be lower.

Ready-made ideas for your business

Decide in advance on the prices for schooling. The cost depends on various factors: city, location, course, etc. Minimum price for one lesson at the initial level in a large city is from one thousand rubles. Thematic (for example, in national cuisine) and vocational training is more expensive - from three thousand rubles. Many schools offer their clients to purchase a subscription to attend several classes at once. When you purchase a subscription, the cost of each individual lesson is reduced. Cooking classes with children will cost less - about two to three thousand rubles a month. For master classes with invited chefs, prices will, of course, be higher. When determining the cost of training, take into account several factors at once: your expenses (rent, salaries for teachers, purchase and delivery of products, etc.), your profit and the average cost of similar services in your region (or in the nearest city with the same population ).

As in the case of other general education courses, the demand for culinary school services directly depends on the season. It is obvious that in the summer there will be less people because many of them leave the city on vacation. Thus, the "culinary" season falls on the period from autumn to spring (not counting new year holidays). If your school is in resort town, then the situation with the demand for its services will be opposite. Abroad, many hotels and guest houses open such schools for the entertainment of vacationers. They offer an abbreviated training program dedicated to the preparation of national cuisine. In our country, such schools on the coast have not yet become widespread, which is explained, among other things, by a small number of foreigners who come to rest in Russia.

There are culinary schools (and part-time specialized travel agencies), which not only conduct classes themselves, but also offer their clients the so-called "culinary tours" for 7-10 days. They negotiate with the same schools abroad (mainly in Italy, Greece and France) and act as a travel agency that sends clients on vacation and study abroad. In this case, the so-called "introductory" training program is used. For vacationers, gastronomic excursions, tastings of different varieties of wines, cheeses, master classes on the use of olive oils, various spices, etc. are arranged.

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Before getting carried away with cooking, Russian Alexander Blank and Italian Giulio D'Erme managed to work as managers in large international companies. Thoughts about creating a culinary studio appeared when they were choosing a place to relax with their friends. The attempt was successful: the service was in great demand. Then the friends sold the company and opened a bigger school. There are no long courses at Culinaryon: the focus is on master classes that can entertain a company of clerks after work. Having invested money from the sale of houses in the studio, the partners did not fail: after six months they had to rent additional space. Last year, the company's turnover reached 160 million rubles. Entrepreneurs say their school holds 60% of the cooking course market and is the largest in Europe. Now they are planning to open a studio in Singapore, London and New York. The Village found out how they did it.

From office to kitchen

Alexander Blank: We met Giulio 15 years ago when he was the Marketing Director of Indesit Company in Spain. I studied management consulting, our company advised them.

Giulio D'Erme: After that, we began to work together: Alexander came to Indesit as a sales director. So we worked for four years. In general, each of us has extensive experience in leadership positions. Alexander specialized in finance (Value Partners, UBS, Finaport), and I specialized in marketing (Philip Morris, Nike, Rosinter Restaurants, Triumph International).

Alexander: The idea to open a culinary school came to us in 2006. It was born from the fact that we were looking for a place where you can have fun with friends. But our climate does not allow walking in the park and spending time outdoors all year round. Therefore, rest is somehow connected with food. But we didn't want to just sit in a restaurant. The culinary school seemed to us just the same format of leisure. In addition, among our friends there were many chefs. Not only from Russia, but from Australia, USA, Italy and France.

Julio: So, in 2006, in parallel with the main work, we launched the Italian culinary school Accademia del Gusto. It was a small room measuring 150 square meters, in which invited chefs held master classes. The business gradually began to grow: at first there were 70 events a year, then 250. But still it was not what we would like: we dreamed of a big studio that would not be limited to one kitchen. And in 2012 we went out of business to start a new one.

Giulio D'Erme

Alexander: But Accademia del Gusto became a good school for us. In the beginning, we even bought the ingredients ourselves. I remember well how after work we went to the Metro for groceries. It was late and the supermarket was empty. Giulio and I shared a shopping list and agreed to meet in half an hour at the fruit and vegetable section. There was one last ingredient left to buy. In the list, it was written in Italian - porro. Neither I nor Giulio knew what it was. I had an old HTC, through which I tried to go online and find out the translation of this word. But the Internet did not catch, no matter how hard I tried. I ended up calling the chef around 1:00 a.m. and found out it was a leek. But a new problem arose: we knew what it looked like in soup, but we didn’t quite imagine it uncooked. Then we went to look for this mysterious greenery in the vegetable department. With grief in half, we managed to find a seller who brought us leeks.

The adventure didn't end there. There was a technical failure at the checkout, so it was only possible to pay in cash. We turned out all our pockets, but there were still 800 rubles missing. Then Giulio remembered that he had a small amount in his passport "just in case." And when we arrived from the Metro, it turned out that the elevator in the building of the culinary studio did not work and the whole mountain of food had to be carried on foot to the 4th floor. On the flights, we periodically stopped to rest, and looked at each other and said: "It's good to be an entrepreneur, right?"

New project

Julio: Accademia del Gusto allowed us to test the market. We realized that there is a demand for culinary schools, and it is rather big. So, in November 2012, we launched the Culinaryon culinary studio in the Novinsky Passage business center. It took us about 1–1.3 million dollars to open it. To collect this amount, both me and Alexander had to sell their houses. Six months later, we expanded, rented additional space. Thus, the total investment amounted to about 2.5 million dollars, now we have 5 halls for master classes and 1 conference hall, with a total area of ​​850 square meters.

Prior to opening, we made many calls to potential clients. Our main goal was to attract as many companies as possible who would order a corporate master class from us. In addition to our old contacts, we tried to meet new people. LinkedIn is a great help here. In this social network it is immediately clear who CEO companies, and who is HR. As a result, we opened in November, and in 40 days we held 40 events.

Putting together a team was easy. Now we have 50 people on our staff, four of them are chefs and eight sous chefs. Giuseppe D'Angelo became the brand chef, we have been working with him for 7 years. Master classes are regularly held by invited chefs - there are about 50 of them - from different restaurants. We invite many foreigners who teach what they specialize in. Sometimes you come across such clients who want to cook only with a chef from a certain restaurant. In that case, we go and get to know him. But there are fewer of them, we know many. Chiefs refuse very rarely. But really, this format is not suitable for everyone: in order to conduct a master class, you need not only to be able to cook, but also to love people. And some chefs are misanthropes.

For clerks and billionaires

Alexander: In the new culinary studio, we have implemented a completely different concept. We wanted to convey to the visitors that at the master class you can not only cook delicious dishes, but also have fun. We expanded the menu to eight cuisines (Japanese, Spanish, Thai, French and others), and did not limit ourselves to only Italian.

All master classes of our studio are divided into two areas - private events and open ones. For the latter, you can sign up for a group of up to 20 people. The ticket price ranges from 2,900 to 4,900 rubles. Each lesson is dedicated to a specific topic. For example, a master class on cooking pasta, meat or fish dishes. On average, about 30 open master classes are held per month.

The scenario of the corporate master class depends on the client. Our customer-service-manager finds out which format is more suitable, the number of participants, taste preferences - everything that is needed for preparation.

Julio: The event usually lasts three to five hours. There is no limit on the number of people for this workshop. The largest once had 200 people, and the smallest was visited by only one. It was the director of the bank, who came for a month every week to learn how to cook some dishes with the chef.

Alexander: The whole room of our kitchen can be transformed by separating the zones with soundproof partitions. So, somehow in one part there was a bachelorette party, which ended with songs with Verka Serduchka, in parallel, an open master class of Spanish cuisine was going on next door. In another hall, an event was held for top managers of the Shell concern, and in the next part, friends of a well-known entrepreneur from the Forbes list were preparing dishes for a culinary evening in the back to USSR style. I also remember the master class that NASA astronaut Terry Wurts came to us two weeks before leaving for space. It was a private party where his friends were. During the evening, he showed videos he had recorded in zero gravity.

Each master class has a chef, sous chef, bartender, event manager, photographer and two cleaners. Unlike professional culinary schools, our focus is not on the chef, but on the client. We are not like a university where there is a professor and students who diligently write down valuable knowledge from the teacher in a notebook. The main goal is to have a good time, unite and cook delicious meals. Each participant is given an iPad containing a step-by-step recipe with photos and explanations. In addition, if one of the guests did not understand or was not sufficiently involved in the process, then the staff takes care to interest the guest as much as possible.

Julio: As a rule, three or four dishes are prepared at one event. Before proceeding to the kitchen business, at the request of the client, we arrange a buffet table. Many come to us hungry, after work, and you have to wait at least an hour for the first dish. As soon as something is ready, portions are immediately served and eaten. Sometimes guests make common portions and individual ones, then there is an opportunity to compare who did better.

Alexander: If you look at the restaurant market as a whole, then in Moscow 30% is occupied by beer restaurants and Russian cuisine. Master classes of Russian cuisine are not very popular with us. “I already know how to cook dumplings, and my mother makes the best borscht” - apparently, many people think so. Therefore, the absolute bestseller, which occupies half of the master classes, is Italian cuisine.

In open master classes, all dishes related to meat are in the lead. Vegetarians are in the minority. Last year, for example, only 50 people expressed a desire to cook "green" dishes.

Most often, women come to master classes: 75% of them. Men - 25%. The average age of participants is from 25 to 35 years.

Julio: Ingredients for master classes are brought to us by suppliers. In the studio, we do not store anything in large refrigerators, the products are delivered in the morning for an evening or afternoon event.

We have many suppliers, it all depends on the category of products. For example, we buy Italian delicacies from Dolce&Salato, vegetables and herbs from Belaya Dacha, fish is supplied by La Marée. We used to buy Australian meat, but after the sanctions we switched to the Russian Miratorg brand. Before the embargo, they managed to buy 2 tons of different cheeses, and there are still purchases from last year.

By fault we work with different companies, with the same Simple. And starting this year, we even produce our own wine, which is made for us by order at the Pierazzuoli winery in Tuscany.

Alexandre Blanc and Giulio D'Erme

The biggest

Alexander: Last year, culinary master classes in Moscow were attended by about 55,000 people, of which 25,000 came to us. We are the largest culinary studio not only in Moscow, but throughout Europe. Our turnover last year reached 160 million rubles. At the beginning of this year, everyone panicked: the euro - 100 rubles, what to do? But the fears were not justified, and we managed to grow by 41% in the first half of the year. In April, for example, we held 180 events. In the summer, of course, we expect a lull. In Moscow, as soon as the greenery appears and the snow melts, this is the reason why you should never be indoors. Urgently in the fresh air to enjoy these two weeks of summer. But here we offer an alternative - a barbecue master class, for example.

There are about eight more studios on the Moscow market that hold large culinary master classes. But each of them has chosen a different format of clients they are reaching out to. According to our own assessment, we occupy 60% of the market, the closest competitor is the school of Yulia Vysotskaya with 23%. Their clients are readers of the culinary portal edimdoma.ru. They are focused on learning how to cook. Basically, all schools practice an academic approach. We want to instill a passion for cooking so that after our visitors come to Culinaryon, they would want to cook at home with their family.

Julio: In September, we will open culinary studios in Singapore, and a little later - in New York and London. Plus, we will expand in Moscow in parallel.

We want to open in those places that are the center for each region. If you look at the United States, then everyone looks back at New York: if the concept went there, then they want to use it in other places. And Singapore is the gateway to all the countries of Southeast Asia. In addition, it is easier to open there, there is a large concentration of corporate clients, and everyone speaks English.

But we do not claim that we will open strictly according to our plan. For example, we met an entrepreneur from Houston. And he wants to buy our franchise so he can open it in his city. He says his city is second only to New York in terms of the concentration of head offices of large companies. And it's much cheaper to open there. And he is indeed right. That is, if we meet people who have the same passion for cooking, we can easily change our plans.

Everyone can find a recipe on the World Wide Web, watch a video tutorial and follow the recommendations exactly, but there is no guarantee that it will be possible to cook a really tasty and beautiful delicacy, because it is impossible to become a chef remotely. In almost every city there are many people of different ages and professions who want to learn how to cook professionally. If you are dreaming of opening a cooking class for beginners, be sure you will find people willing to come and learn.

Cooking is not just a cooking process, but also a useful hobby, a unique opportunity to chat with friends or like-minded people, an area that develops along with programming, so you may not have time to learn all its subtleties even in a lifetime.

It is kinesthetic sensations, interactivity and variety in cooking that attract many people. Cooking courses certainly meet all the expectations of such enthusiasts.

In the West, they became popular entertainment and a way to organize leisure in the middle of the 20th century. Television shows, live master classes from world-famous chefs, a series of books with recipes for every taste and budget, schools teaching cooking skills from different countries - all this was familiar to Americans and Europeans long before anything something similar arose in the post-Soviet space.

pioneers

For the first time in Russia, culinary courses appeared in the 90s of the last century, when the famous English chef and restaurateur Jamie Oliver once again came to Moscow in order to popularize healthy lifestyle life and homemade food.

After that, he visited the capital more than once, organized master classes, gave interviews, presented his books with recipes, and even opened a restaurant. His original idea picked up by Russian entrepreneurs and chefs, thanks to which in large and small cities of the country you can easily find cooking courses and learn how to cook.

Demand creates supply

First of all, you should decide on the profile of culinary courses, because this is what the target audience will depend on, the specifics of which directly affect your income and risks. Naturally, in big cities, the demand for this type of education and leisure is greater; there you can think about unique and extraordinary courses that none of the competitors have yet offered to anyone.

In small towns, it is unlikely that the idea of ​​​​opening courses in Brazilian or Indian cuisine will pay off, at the level of small settlements creativity in this regard is reduced to a minimum. In megacities, such exotics will be perceived with enthusiasm and interest.

Men and children are also involved

Cooking has long ceased to be a primordially female household chore. Now men are also showing great interest in cooking, who, as a rule, become the most famous chefs in the world. Some believe that even with fine work on confectionery they do better.

Cooking courses can just be designed for a specific group of people. For example, it is now fashionable to involve children in cooking, and to introduce older people to products and combinations of flavors that are unusual for them. The most popular modern trends are vegetarian dishes, cuisines of the world, food for weight loss and proper nutrition.

Legal nuances

Decor required documents and obtaining a license to open culinary courses is an important step that should not be shelved. If you want to sole legally own such a business, you first need to register an individual entrepreneurship.

If the idea of ​​culinary courses belongs to more than one person, or you cannot do without the experience and support of partners, then the business is formalized as an LLC.

According to the documents, culinary courses will be listed as non-state educational institution. In this case, taxes are deducted according to a simplified system in the amount of 6% of profit.

You can obtain a license that officially allows you to conduct culinary courses at the Department of Education, where you need to come with the following documents:

• statement from the owner;
• statements about the founders, their documents and charter;
• certificate of registration in off-budget funds;
• a certified copy of the certificate of registration of the LLC;
• OKVED and certificate of tax registration;
• documents confirming the qualifications of teachers;
• Plan of the education;
• information about the room where the hens will be held;
• work permit from SES and fire protection;
• availability of the necessary literature corresponding to the training program.

Within a month, the request and the provided package of documents will be considered by the relevant commission. After this period, you will receive official permission or a refusal to conduct cooking courses. Documentation is necessary if you plan to provide paid continuing professional education for many people and issue them with genuine certificates.

If an individual entrepreneur draws up courses as a development center, then a license is not needed. This form of business corresponds to 2 types of OKVED code: 93.05 - personal services and 92.51 - institution club type. Taxation will be calculated according to the following scheme: 7% of net and 15% of total profit. This greatly reduces bookkeeping costs, but opening a bank account is mandatory. In addition, you need to conclude a contract for the removal of garbage.

Important! The only way to test such a business idea is through a preferential patent taxation system. She does not require accounting, but it will not work to make a significant profit within its framework.

Room selection

An ideal place for conducting cooking classes would be an institution already equipped for cooking, for example, a cafe or restaurant. Most often, it is the owners of institutions who develop such business ideas. If you are not one, you can agree with the owner of the establishment on cooperation, but in this case you will have to adapt to the schedule and workload of the restaurant or cafe.

You can also rent an abandoned buffet or dining room, but this is a more costly option in terms of finances, since most likely the premises will still have to be renovated. A powerful electrical network, ventilation and sewerage - this is what must be in the place chosen for the courses.

Important! It is best to be located in the city center, where, as a rule, a lot of people live and where it is convenient to get from other areas. Renting in a metropolis and a small town differs significantly in cost. Therefore, opening courses, for example, in a residential area of ​​Moscow, may turn out to be more profitable than in its center.

Crockery and appliances

A professional kitchen requires a large investment in equipment for storing, cutting and preparing food. The minimum set of furniture for cooking classes includes tables and chairs, racks and shelves for a variety of ingredients. From dishes and other appliances it will be impossible to do without cutting boards, knives, bowls, pans, several types of pans, whisk, forks and spoons, spatulas, baking sheets.

From clothing, a professional chef and his students need aprons, caps or other headgear, fireproof mittens or potholders. The most expensive will be the acquisition of equipment, the basis of which in the kitchen is a refrigerator, freezer, stove and hood. For in-depth training, one cannot do without an oven and microwave oven, mixer, blender, food processor, ice cream maker.

The types and complexity of the equipment you will need will directly depend on the chosen direction of the culinary courses. For example, it is not advisable for children to be trusted to work on dangerous electrical appliances and a gas stove.

Attention! If you expect to train people with high quality and issue certificates to them, purchase only professional furniture, utensils and appliances in specialized stores. Respected chefs-teachers will not agree to work with equipment for home use, which can also lower your credibility in the eyes of competitors and customers.

People are the key to success

Find interesting person who would be both a good teacher and an experienced cook is difficult. It depends on him whether people will come to you for courses, whether they will recommend them to their friends, whether they will be glad to come to other culinary training programs.

The chef-teacher must not only pay attention to each student, but also present a boring theory in such a way that the lesson seems like a fascinating performance that one would definitely like to see more. Not every certified culinary specialist is able to present knowledge vividly, express his own thoughts, attract the attention of students and find an approach to them.

As a rule, in megacities, where there are many well-known chefs and qualified personnel, there are no problems with the selection of personnel. It is more difficult to do this in small towns. If you want to open a Mexican cuisine course, you may not find a specialist and abandon this idea. You may have to prepare cooks for teaching courses yourself.

Promotion is a delicate matter

In the modern world, there are dozens of ways to popularize your business. Which one to use is your choice. The fastest and most effective is now considered to be promotion through social networks, because not even a single newspaper in the world can boast of such a number of views as posts on Instagram or Facebook.

No less effective is contextual advertising, which often attracts the attention of a search engine user. For a detailed acquaintance of those wishing with culinary courses, you can create a website where you can permanently and in the future free of charge post any information. Large banners, leaflets and flyers are the easiest and cheapest way to promote.

A more costly but less troublesome option is to sign a contract with advertising agency who will develop and implement a scheme to promote your business.

Long way to a millionaire

It is difficult to say how soon the investments will pay off and multiply, without having accurate calculations and not having decided on all the components of the business idea. Profits are influenced by the specifics of the courses, the location, the professionalism of teachers, and marketing moves. After all the preparations, plan a clear lesson plan.

There should be no more than 10 people in the group so that the chef has time to pay attention to everyone and answer their questions. Make the class schedule as convenient as possible for the students. Lessons are held both in the morning and in the evening. The duration of one lesson for mastering new material and practice is on average 3 hours.

Such meetings can be 3-4 per week. You determine their cost yourself, taking into account the costs and solvency of students. VIP clients can be offered individual lessons, and for an additional fee, a cook-teacher can visit the house.

Important! If you clearly and competently plan the costs and attract as many people as possible, then ideally, in 3-4 months the first stable income. For a larger city, this amount is at least 100,000 rubles, for a small city - 40,000 rubles.

Prospects and pitfalls

It is quite difficult to guarantee the profitability of a certain business, because there are too many factors that affect it. Like any type of activity, the idea of ​​​​opening a cooking class has its advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages include:

• demand for mastering the basics of professional cooking;
• interest potential clients to communicate with famous chefs;
• a wide range of specific courses;
• high profitability;
• quick payback;
• the opportunity to take a leading position in the educational business.

Among the disadvantages that can interfere with your plans and significantly affect the level of income and the success of the idea are:

• the presence of a large initial capital;
• lack of qualified chefs who are talented teachers;
• the scale of the city in which the courses will be held.

This is the story of a cute little business. Compote studio has two directors - two equal partners, Oksana Kim-Flayosk and Zauzamira Abisheva. They hatched the idea independently of each other: one - in Nice (Oksana's husband is French), the other - in Almaty. When the idea matured, with a difference of several days, they came with their business plans to Askar Baitasov, the managing director of AB Restaurants (the largest restaurant company in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the group includes more than 20 establishments, including the Del Papa restaurant chain, Bochonok ”, Augustin, Coffeemania coffee houses, Cafeteria). Mr. Baitasov suggested that the girls get to know each other and look at each other, “sniff”, as Zauzamira and Oksana themselves say. They "sniffed" and decided to work on the implementation of the idea together. So it's also a story of compromise.

Share of luck

Cooking is one of the trends of our time. The creators of the culinary studio say that they felt it intuitively, and then, while developing the idea, they realized that they were in the stream. “At first, the idea came, and when you go to Google and see that this is a huge trend, everyone is crazy about cooking, you understand that cooking, gathering around the table is fashionable,” Zauzamira recalls. The appearance of an idea does not mean its implementation; but here, as the directors of Compote repeat, “our idea was lucky”: not only they noticed the trend, but also Askar Baitasov, who acted as an investor in a new business.

The two business plans were combined, and the creators of the studio do not focus on the fact that something had to be abandoned. On the contrary, they indicate that the best has been taken from each business plan. Zauzamira Abisheva laughs: “Oksana paid more attention to the professional side, the technical one, while my focus was on the social component: drinking wine, communicating, cooking together. There were funny moments when we calculated each lesson, as the investor demanded from us not only ideas, but also numbers. And when we calculated, Oksana and Askar said: “Why wine, it makes the class more expensive.” I said: “No, you need wine. It's a social lubricant."

From jokes to business they quickly moved on: already three or four weeks after Askar Baitasov saw the business plans for creating a culinary studio, he found a place for it. In the very center of Almaty. “When we saw the premises, at first we thought that it was very, very small, 2 times smaller than we wanted - we counted on at least 80 square meters. Askar did not insist, it was possible to look for something else, but we decided: so be it. And it turned out to be good. The fact that the studio became a chamber studio influenced the format. That is, if it were large, the format would be different: we initially assumed that there would be two tables - we cook at one, we eat at the other, we rest. But this divides people: someone can move away, sit on the sidelines, and so on. And here we have one center, behind which all people sit - this unites, ”says Oksana.

The opening of the culinary studio took six months and about eighty thousand dollars (with an estimated sixty). In addition, this amount does not take into account the internal resources of AB Restaurants used to create Compote: for example, the help of lawyers who know all the requirements of the authorities regulating this market, advice from chefs who are well aware of the technical part - from what refrigerators and dishes to buy , before where to put the combi steamer. “Some processes took place automatically, we, in fact, did not even take part in them, and if it were not for the investor and the well-established system of work in AB Restaurants, it would be much more difficult for us,” the directors of the company admit.

Culinary Studio Compote opened in September last year. “It was possible to drag it out for a couple more months - it’s always like this with construction. But we set strict limits for ourselves: we invited the famous Russian chef Alexei Zimin to the opening. And he clearly named the date when he could come. By the way, we remember him with gratitude - it is clear that he is a star, he has a crazy fee. Zimin and I arrived at the studio the evening before the opening. And everything seems to be in order with us, but it still smells a little of paint, the clock is on the windowsill - they haven’t hung it; it is not clear where which frying pan is - now we know it by heart, with our eyes closed, but then there was no system yet. In the back room - a bunch of products for tomorrow's opening: meat, vegetables, seasonings. Oksana and I are running around, we don’t know what to grab onto, and at some point I go into the back room, I see Zimin: he calmly chooses products for himself, without saying a word, knowing perfectly well what it’s like for us before the opening, ”Zauzamira Abisheva shares emotional memories and adds that the first three months of the studio were very intense.

Food as entertainment

The culinary studio Compote focuses on those who are interested in food as a topic, and not as a physiological need, and who are ready to spend money to make everyday life brighter. The cost of classical master classes lasting 3 hours is about 10-14 thousand tenge, events of the "Open Kitchen" format - a little cheaper, 7-8 thousand. How do classical master classes differ from open social cooking? Oksana explains: “The classic master class is led by a practicing chef who explains everything, and each of the participants has their own set of products, and everyone cooks their own. As for the "open kitchen" format, this means: a group of people prepares one dinner for everyone. One of the sub-formats of the "open kitchen", when specially invited people cook famous people, athletes or musicians, and you can easily communicate with them in the process. Zauzamira adds: "Open Kitchen" - it can be both lunch and dinner, and is more informal. Operations are divided as if it were your kitchen, you are cooking with friends: one peels carrots, the other cuts. That is, operations are divided into all. And in the classroom, the goal is to teach a person so that he fully masters the process of preparing this dish.

The culinary studio has a lot of activities. In addition to master classes and "open kitchen" classes for children, private master classes and closed culinary holidays, corporate events with a culinary theme. It can be said that the culinary studio offers not so much the opportunity to acquire cooking skills (although they, of course, too), but the atmosphere and mood created by the stylish interior, hospitable hostesses, a couple of glasses of wine, and, of course, delicious food. Compote directors say that their expectations were justified: the culinary studio receives most of its income from those who come there for entertainment - corporate and just parties, birthdays, family holidays, presentations.

The audience that Compote is betting on is people aged twenty-five and older. However, the main backbone of visitors is still in the age range of thirty to forty. For the most part, these are already established and fairly wealthy people. When asked whether a kind of price filter is specifically set for the audience, Ms. Abisheva notes that “it is not overpriced on purpose, but we could slightly reduce prices for regular open classes- because it is not the main source of income for us. The main source is still corporate customers with events, but we deliberately do not do this. Because at the beginning of our activity, when the classes were 5-6 thousand tenge, different people came in and asked for vodka. And what is happening here - they were not interested in it all. Compote is now seeing a trend that people who can't go to fairly expensive cooking classes all the time are using these events to mark some significant event for them: "For example, inviting a girl to celebrate the anniversary of the start of a relationship here."

amateur cook

Zauzamira Abisheva draws attention to another point why the culinary studio attracts clients: “People who work in offices often do not see such a result of their work that you can feel, touch with your hands. And when they come to us, it shows! A man is frying a steak - he is already flying over him like a kite - no one comes near, I will fry this steak! Or a young guy makes some kind of cheesecake - and sees that he is in perfect shape, the cream is good. People have a certain sense of completion - that they do everything with their hands. This is very important indeed. Not to mention, it's really delicious."

At one time, the culinary studio can take 13, in a rare case 14 people, if this is a classic master class, and 16 people - if the event is in the "open kitchen" format. Registration for events in Compote is not closed until the last moment, despite the fact that the purchase of products is done in a day or two. “We know that if the class is meat, then there is an 80% chance that it will all gather, even at the last moment. Therefore, we buy 13 servings for 13 people, in the worst case, two sets of products will remain. If there are other classes, then we buy 2-3 portions there plus those who signed up. And if people apply at the last moment, we always have the opportunity to add 2-3 more people,” explains Zauzamira, and Oksana adds: “We are now working according to the scheme - an advance payment of 50% at least a day in advance. Previously, there was payment after the fact, but practice has shown that there are people who sign up and do not come. We hold a place for them, bear losses. I had to switch to another scheme.

If at first the studio was busy with master classes and meetings in the “open kitchen” format for almost the entire week, now there are fewer classes, and the rest of the days, as they say in Compote, are “busy with parties”. If we estimate the total number of participants in both master classes and corporate events, it turns out that since the opening of the culinary studio, about 3 thousand people have visited it. 20–30% of them became regular customers. “They have passed each of us more than 20 classes for sure. We are now thinking about some kind of loyalty system, it's time. These are people who are really loyal to our studio: if they sign up, we are 100% sure that they will come, and we do not require prepayment from them. And if we know - a person always goes to this cook, we ourselves call him and talk about it - maybe he did not have time to see our new schedule. By the way, parents also want something like club cards, because about half of our children return to children's culinary classes (the average age in these classes is 5–6 years old), ”say the directors of the studio.

Cooking with kitchen stars

At first, Compote was strongly supported by the brand chefs of AB Restaurants: “These are strong chefs, mostly foreigners, but we had to start somewhere. Because if we immediately started paying some big fees, it would be difficult to put the commercial side of things on stream. And so we had a head start of several months. Plus, we also agreed with other chefs, not from AB Restaurants, for example, with Giorgio Palazzi, the founder and chef of Pomodoro restaurants. And it should be noted that Askar Baitasov took this as completely normal,” says Ms. Abisheva.

There are no problems with inviting chefs to public master classes in the studio: “we are already known,” Compote states. Despite the fact that in such classes the fees for cooks are either purely symbolic or completely absent. Public master classes carry mainly an image load, they are promotions for restaurants where chefs work. But if the chef is invited to a private event (and the scheme usually looks like this: the client came to an open master class, he liked it, he brought his company or department to the team building. And, as a rule, he says: “I was with such a chef, I want exactly him”), then here the fee will be quite tangible - up to 150-200 thousand tenge.

Heading for internal reserves

The Compote culinary studio has already become quite a fashionable place in Almaty - which, of course, was what its creators wanted. Using their experience in advertising, they actively use social networks - carefully considering which photos to post so that customers want to return to them. “And here we have a symbiosis: Oksana is responsible for the photo, and I write texts well,” says Zauzamira. Compote did not advertise at all for money: “In AB Restaurants, we exhibited table talkers about what a culinary studio is. And now we lay out our schedule there. Otherwise, the main advertising tool is social networks, where we do everything ourselves.” In addition to the two directors, there are 5 other employees in the studio: an executive manager, two master class assistants and two technical worker who clean the premises.

According to Oksana Kim-Flayosk and Zauzamira Abisheva, they have chosen a successful business model: they do not need a permanent staff of waiters, they do not need a food warehouse: they made a schedule - they bought it. Of course have fixed costs- such as rent, communal payments, staff, but the studio has not only reached self-sufficiency, but also generates income. And yet, Oksana and Zauzamira are not going to expand their presence in the Almaty market by opening another studio - they are sure that their project now covers almost all the needs of the southern capital. “Perhaps we will expand operationally, we have all sorts of ideas to expand the business itself - these can be gastronomic tours, and some offsite events, picnics, and so on…” Oksana shares her ideas. “Of course, we would like to invite some stars - Jimi Oliver, Belonika, Vysotskaya - not because we ourselves are ambitious in this regard. We just know that our audience needs it,” Zauzamira adds.

Even at the stage of discussion when creating a culinary studio, Askar Baitasov said to two future directors: "Calculate the business plan in the usual scenario and in the optimistic one." Then it seemed to Oksana and Zauzamira that an optimistic scenario was the ultimate dream. The real Compote turned out to be better than the dreams about it - the optimistic scenario has already been overfulfilled by 50%.