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How to open a culinary school. Cooking business plan. Cooking with kitchen stars




Alena Manakina began her career as a pastry chef in her own kitchen - like other creators of homemade cakes and cupcakes, but unlike many, she did not stop at posting her masterpieces on Instagram, but opened her own studio, Zefirka. Today Alena is 20, behind her is a diploma from the American Culinary Academy, everyday life in the kitchen of a Samara restaurant and a St. Petersburg coffee shop, a personal crisis in a foreign city and the path to success. We talked about careers, working on holidays, love for sweets and faith in a dream that moves mountains.

First desserts and first orders

I started getting interested in making desserts at the age of 14: through an acquaintance, I got a job as a waitress for the summer at the Varenye restaurant and by chance ended up in a confectionery shop - they needed employees, and they offered to help me. I had no experience at all, but while I was making my first truffles, an interest appeared: I liked making sweets and cakes.

After the summer holidays, school started, and I forgot about my new hobby for a while. I returned to desserts only a year later - and already in my home kitchen. At first, I read the blogs of Nina Tarasova and Andy Chef, who was just gaining popularity at that time, and just cooked a lot. It didn’t always work out well, but despite this, my mother bought groceries time after time and always supported me.

At the same time, I started Instagram and called myself “Zefirka”, because at the initial stage marshmallows were my signature dish. I began posting the results of my experiments on social networks and participating in culinary marathons: I had to prepare a dessert and photograph it beautifully. I won one of these and received a decorative spoon as a prize - I still keep it as a memory.

I brought my desserts to school, and my first customers appeared there - the father of a classmate opened an account and ordered a cake from me for March 8th. It turned out quite good, but I still didn’t know how to cook without a recipe and put something of my own into each dessert. I once decided to make blueberry meringues without any advice from professionals, so they didn’t even dry out in the oven. From that moment I realized that it is important to be able to deviate from standards - and this also needs to be learned. This is how my slogan “Experiment with taste” appeared.

I never worried about orders - I just made cupcakes, sponge cakes, macarons, and over time people started buying them. Then I purchased new equipment and learned how to make mousse cakes with glossy glaze, which were at the peak of popularity four years ago. I came up with all the flavor combinations myself, so the desserts turned out to be exclusive and, I think, that’s why they were loved.

Finding yourself and your own studio

After 11th grade, I decided that I would go to study in St. Petersburg - I was inspired by the magical atmosphere of this city. Everyone tried to dissuade me, and my mother even offered to open a confectionery shop in Samara, but I didn’t want to stay here because I had been dreaming about moving for two years and was firmly heading for the northern capital. Despite the fact that in the last year I often missed school due to inundated orders and prepared mediocrely for the Unified State Exam, I still managed to enroll on a budget. I chose the specialty “Product Technology and Organization Catering"at the St. Petersburg Polytechnic, but quickly became disillusioned.

The situation was depressing - the university was more like an entrance hall than an educational institution. My knowledge also left much to be desired: I was studying higher mathematics, which I didn’t need, and there were almost no practical tasks that would give me any skills. As a result, after three months I left the university and decided to enter the Swissam business school, where practice with foreign chefs prevails, and the cuisine meets modern standards.

My parents supported me, helped me pay for my studies, and I went to the Culinary Arts faculty because I dreamed of learning from the famous pastry chef Yulia Bakova. The wish did not come true, because Yulia had just gone on maternity leave at that time, but on the other hand, I gained a huge amount of practical skills and met chefs from Austria and Germany. At the end of my studies, I was given an American Culinary Federation diploma, so now I definitely won’t die in poverty and will always find a job.

In parallel with my studies at business school, I got a job at a small coffee shop, My Sweet Bar. It was cool there: they allowed me to experiment and highly appreciated my desserts, and after a while they even appointed me as pastry chef. I really liked to cook, so almost the entire showcase was filled with my original works. A year later, the guys moved, expanded, the storefront became twice as large, but I still managed. And at some point I just realized that I had outgrown working in a coffee shop.

I didn’t know what to do next, so I decided to return to Samara for a while and take a breath. To be honest, I thought that I would soon go somewhere again, but suddenly I came across a post on Instagram about the online conference “Concentrate”, which is being held by a young entrepreneur Ayaz Shabutdinov. Reviews about it turned out to be extremely positive, and the cost was only 3,000 rubles. I was inspired and decided that this was a very small amount of money for the amount of knowledge that I would take away.

In three days they told me how to organize my business and attract investment. It was so helpful that I purchased further training, which has now lasted six weeks. All this time, there were aspiring businessmen around me who were interested in what I was doing, paid attention to me and tried to establish contact. After training, I realized what I wanted from life and firmly decided to open my own studio. I realized that confectionery art is my mission.

Popularity and brand development

I wanted to bring real benefits to people - and I started by releasing online collections of recipes. After that, I went to Moscow to take a master class with the best French pastry chef Cédric Grolet, and when I returned, in just a month I attracted investments, found premises for Alexei Tolstoy and opened my own studio. I moved the refrigerator, freezer, oven, mixer and baking dishes from home, so I didn’t have to spend a lot on equipment. Now I’m thinking about how to diversify the interior, and I’m already accepting orders - work is in full swing.

I am helped by a full-fledged team - content managers, targetologists and confectioners who interact with the audience and prepare desserts. Soon it will be possible to place an order via Telegram - choose from what is already in stock, or create your own dessert from individual ingredients.

I thought that during the time I lived in St. Petersburg, everyone in Samara forgot about me. But a few weeks ago, on the embankment, some tipsy guy stopped me, took out his phone and asked: “What are you, Zephyrka, or what?” I nodded, and he responded by offering to take a photo. I was stunned because I didn’t understand how a person could know me, and then it turned out that many in Samara were still subscribed to my Instagram.

Now I don’t have bosses, so I don’t feel like I’m working at all. Even a bunch of orders on holidays and weekends don’t scare me, because for me this is a common thing. There are no boundaries in working as a pastry chef, including financial ones. You can earn from 40,000 rubles a month or more if you have the time and desire. The main costs go to products. I purchase most of the ingredients from Metro, and some from individual suppliers. For example, I order bean paste from St. Petersburg, but I only take Belgian chocolate.

I have already outgrown the moment when I stood in the kitchen completely alone and did everything for my own pleasure. Now I like to share knowledge and teach so that as many people as possible can try desserts using my recipes. For the same purpose, I create collections, conduct webinars and organize an online school. I would like the Zephyrka brand to spread beyond Samara, so now I am looking for guys from Russia who will be interested in working with me and learning the confectionery business.

If a child offers his help, be patient and try to accept this “help” with joy, even if sugar gets into the soup and butter lazily washes the shores of your kitchen.

And in order to reduce grocery costs as much as possible, turn to professionals by giving your child to. There, your child will not only learn how to cook their favorite dishes, but also learn about safety rules in the kitchen and, perhaps, discover a real talent.

On a note! Information posted at the time of writing.

Moscow

“Let the children into the kitchen!” – This is the name of the children's course in the culinary studio of Yulia Vysotskaya.

Here, in the kingdom of taste, young gourmets learn the secrets of culinary skills, and parents look with pride at their future helpers. Actually, the culinary holiday itself begins when chef’s hats appear on the heads of future chefs. And then a fascinating story awaits the children and an equally fascinating action, where everyone plays the main role.

The young creator is given a special place here workplace, and upon completion of the classes, cooks are given a certificate.

NOTE TO PARENTS: the course includes from 4 to 10 lessons and is designed for children from 6 to 12 years old. The cost is calculated for one child and one adult.

For parents who also want to get a dose of culinary inspiration, and children who are eager to fight, the studio offers family master classes “Cooking with Children.” Here, each lesson is devoted to a separate topic, be it rosy pies or the favorite delicacy of cartoon characters (ratatouille). It’s convenient that the classes are designed for the whole family. You can take your mom, dad, and grandparents with you for culinary exploits. After all, learning together is much more fun!

NOTE TO PARENTS: One ticket is purchased per family. The price is based on a family contract.

Theater of taste

It’s definitely worth visiting the theater of taste. After all, this is the first and only culinary theater in the capital - a creative tandem of cooking and theatrical art. There are no spectators in this theater, because once you cross the threshold, you automatically become its actor - a participant in the culinary performance.

“Delicious School” is one of the popular directions of the theater, where children learn culinary wisdom. Classes are usually held within the framework of a thematic week. For example, weeks of homemade bread or mind-blowing Italian desserts. In just a couple of hours, young chefs will be able to master the secret of preparing one of the dishes, be it real Italian pizza, homemade ice cream or French truffle.

In addition to the intricacies of preparing culinary masterpieces, young cooks will also learn about the culinary traditions of different countries.

NOTE TO PARENTS: this delicious school opens its doors to students aged 4 years and older. In order to attend a lesson, you must submit an electronic application. Tickets can be purchased at the box office of the theater "Workshop".

Kids Club – Ribambell

In the Ribambell cafe, a child will learn the secrets of preparing his favorite dishes, as well as which products will help him grow up strong and healthy.

All classes are conducted in a playful way. In such a culinary class, studying becomes an unusual game and entertainment. The result is a happy child, and you will have a real helper in household chores.

NOTE TO PARENTS: participants' ages range from 3 to 12 years. The duration of one master class is 40–50 minutes.

Saint Petersburg

Lavrushka, culinary school

Here you can choose delicious and simple recipes for classes. At the same time, the inspiration and creative impulses of students are welcome! Your child will not only learn how to roll out dough and make ideally shaped dumplings and dumplings, but will also learn a lot about national dishes of different countries and interesting facts associated with them.

NOTE TO PARENTS: the age of young cooks is from 5 years. The duration of the lesson is 1.5 hours.

St. Petersburg restaurant school

The Golden Spoon culinary studio operates at the St. Petersburg Restaurant School. Surprisingly, in this atmosphere of creativity, even a slight interest in cooking is ready to grow into something more. After all, the “Golden Spoon” is prestige.

The teachers here are real professionals who work as chefs in the best restaurants in the city. And school students regularly take part in the “Golden Kulina” - a culinary arts competition. By the way, it is quite successful: the little chefs with enviable consistency accept awards from the hands of the governor himself.

In the “Golden Spoon” your child will be able to learn many culinary secrets: master the technique of painting with colored chocolate, graceful sculpting from marzipan and masterful work with dough.

NOTE TO PARENTS: classes are held for children from 3 to 15 years old. Training can take place in a group or individually.

“Beautifully Served”, culinary school

Here lessons are held exclusively in the form of master classes. The city's best chefs, who, by the way, have an amazing gift of storytelling and are able to interest even the smallest participants in the action, talk and demonstrate how to make a culinary masterpiece out of ordinary products. At the end of the master class, your favorite dish must be tasted.

NOTE TO PARENTS: one lesson lasts from 1.5 to 3 hours. A group lesson can involve 4 to 6 people.

Ekaterinburg

“Kulina-yummy”, children's culinary school

The school itself is geographically located in the Culinary College, where on Saturdays and Sundays future chefs learn all the intricacies of culinary art.

Topics of classes, as usual, are chosen at will. This could be an exquisite cutting of vegetables, a sandwich show, learning the tea ceremony, or modeling from salt dough.

In addition, the school hosts thematic classes where children learn a lot of interesting things about Russian, Italian, French, Japanese and Oriental cuisine.

NOTE TO PARENTS: children are admitted to school in 4 subgroups - 7–10 years old, 10–13 years old, 13–15 and 15–18 years old.

International culinary school at USUE-SINH

The Ural Economic University opens its doors not only to students, but also to young cooks. This is where the International Culinary School opens its arms to gourmets.

A culinary master class lasting 10 days will teach your child how to cook, knead dough, cook soups and, of course, masterfully prepare sandwiches. However, there is a chance that the child will also learn to make candy from candy wrappers and chocolate from thin air.

At this school, everything is possible, since the topic of one of the classes is chosen by the children themselves. Actually, the topics of weekly classes are no secret and are available on the school website.

NOTE TO PARENTS: enrollment in the school is conducted weekly. The duration of one lesson is about 3 hours, during which your young child will learn how to prepare their favorite snacks, delicious breakfasts and soulful lunches. With such zeal, you can safely take a week's break to take a break from the kitchen.

"Cook", culinary studio

At the Darina family center culinary skills are honed every Sunday. In one lesson, children manage to master the secrets of preparing two dishes and the basics of serving.

The culinary course itself includes 10 lessons, during which the intricacies of preparing everyday and holiday dishes, including fluffy desserts, are studied. Children who already know how to cook can take the “Chef” and “Confectioner” courses.

NOTE TO PARENTS: Children from 6 years old study in the Povarenok studio. The groups are divided by age: 6–8 years, 8–10 years and older. Duration of classes - 1 hour 20 minutes.

Krasnoyarsk

"Entourage", culinary studio

Curd mousse with candied fruits, fragrant apple pie or fluffy cheesecakes... How do you like this menu? By the way, this is only a small part of what children who have completed the “I’ll Cook!” course can cook. in the culinary studio "Entourage".

In addition to preparing gourmet dishes, chef Alexander Laevsky will teach the children important culinary wisdom: how to protect your fingers from the knife, how to use kitchen utensils and where to find inspiration to boldly juggle ingredients, creating something new. By the way, the author of the dish can try the next masterpiece right there, on the spot, sitting at a perfectly set table.

NOTE TO PARENTS: cooking classes in the studio are held once a week. Pre-registration is required for all classes.

Krasnodar

This school also has a children's class, where a lot of gastronomic adventures await little cooks. It can be anything: an Italian lunch with lasagna and tiramisu or a rough cowboy breakfast with burgers and grilled corn... One thing is constant: the perfection of taste and the general fun with which young dreamers cook, improvise and taste their masterpieces.

NOTE TO PARENTS: The current lesson schedule can be viewed on the Mandarin Gourmet website. Pre-registration for the group is required.

Kazan

"Ratatouille", culinary studio

On Saturdays there is a hooligan mood in the studio. Of course, the kids are kicking ass! Either they go with the whole team in search of John Silver's pirate recipe, or they rush to Italy, wanting to learn the secret of making ravioli or pizza. As you can imagine, Saturdays are full of adventures here.

By the way, for true connoisseurs of the Italian language, there is an opportunity to combine business with pleasure - learn the language directly during culinary battles. Why not an option?

NOTE TO PARENTS: culinary master classes are held every Saturday, starting at 12.00. For children 4–9 years old, the presence of one parent is required. Older children can safely cook alone.

Ufa

School of young cooks

Well, I must say that for parents this school of young culinary specialists is a real find. Mainly because classes here are completely free and take place every Sunday at the Moroshka restaurant.

It is also convenient that such a trip to a restaurant will be interesting for both children and their parents, who can calmly chat while the children learn how to prepare the next sandwich for a picnic.

Little masters, under the guidance of the Chef, enthusiastically chop and knead, cook and bake, create signature dishes from different cuisines of the world and treat their parents to them. And then, together with animators and fairy-tale characters, they set off on adventures! This Sunday they will have to learn how to make Potato cake for the Mad Tea Party with the Cheshire Cat.

NOTE TO PARENTS: culinary battles begin every Sunday at 14.00.

Chelyabinsk

Young restaurateur school

This culinary project took place with the support of the Golden Fork national restaurant award and the Higher School of Service of the Russian-British Institute.

The curriculum at the Young Restaurateur School is completely unusual: here the future generation of restaurateurs will learn not only the secrets and intricacies of preparing their favorite dishes, but will also learn impeccable service and etiquette. In total, the culinary course includes 5 practical lessons.

NOTE TO PARENTS: the school enrolls children in 3 groups of 10 people. Groups of different ages - 10–12 and 13–15 years. Upon completion of training, the cooks will receive a surprise - a certificate, as well as a chef's hat and apron as a gift.

Novosibirsk

"Culinary Club", master class studio

According to one parent, after an evening at the Culinary Club, her son spoiled his family with Italian pizza for three days. The result, as they say, is obvious. Actually, the club itself sees its mission precisely in this: to easily and unobtrusively introduce children to the process of cooking.

Now the club has programs for children 6–10 years old, where young talents make dumplings or even assemble pizza piece by piece. For older children (10–14 years old), the culinary school is open in the summer. Upon completion, your child will be able to prepare even those dishes that require considerable courage from experienced cooks.

NOTE TO PARENTS: for children's master classes, the duration of the lesson is no more than an hour. For children from 6 to 10 years old, the presence of an adult is required.

Anyone can find a recipe on the World Wide Web, watch a video tutorial and follow the recommendations exactly, but there is no guarantee that you will be able to prepare a truly 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 dream of opening cooking courses for beginners, rest assured, you will find people willing to come and learn.

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

It is the 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 of organizing leisure time in the middle of the twentieth century. Television shows, live master classes from world-famous chefs, series of books with recipes for every taste and budget, schools teaching the skills of cooking dishes from different countries - all this was familiar to Americans and Europeans long before anything... something similar arose in the post-Soviet space.

Discoverers

Cooking courses first appeared in Russia in the 90s of the last century, when the famous English chef and restaurateur Jamie Oliver once again came to Moscow with the goal of popularizing a healthy lifestyle and home-cooked 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 Russian entrepreneurs and chefs picked it up, thanks to which in big and small cities of the country you can easily find culinary courses and learn how to cook.

Demand creates supply

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

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

Men and children are in on it too

Cooking has long ceased to be a traditional female household responsibility. Now men are also showing great interest in cooking, and, as a rule, they become the most famous chefs in the world. Some people think that they can handle even the delicate work on pastries better.

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

Legal nuances

Decor necessary documents and obtaining a license to open culinary courses is an important step that should not be postponed. If you want to solely 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 registered as an LLC.

According to the documents, culinary courses will be listed as a 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 from 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 with extra-budgetary funds;
  • a certified copy of the LLC registration certificate;
  • OKVED and certificate of registration with the tax authorities;
  • documents confirming the qualifications of teachers;
  • Plan of the education;
  • information about the premises where the hens will be held;
  • work permit from the SES and fire department;
  • availability of 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 culinary courses. Documentation is necessary if you plan to provide paid permanent professional education for many people and issue them authentic certificates.

If an individual entrepreneur registers 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 - club-type institution. Taxation will be calculated according to the following scheme: 7% of net and 15% of total profit. This significantly reduces accounting costs, but opening a bank account is mandatory. In addition, you need to enter into a waste removal agreement.

Important! The only way to test such a business idea is through the preferential patent tax system. She doesn't demand accounting, but it will not be possible to make a significant profit within its framework.

Selecting a room

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

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

Important! It is best to locate in the city center, where, as a rule, many people live and where it is convenient to get to from other areas. Rent 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.

Dishes and appliances

A professional kitchen requires large investments in equipment for storing, cutting and preparing food. The minimum set of furniture for culinary courses includes tables and chairs, counters and shelves for a variety of ingredients. As for dishes and other utensils, it will be impossible to do without cutting boards, knives, bowls, saucepans, several types of frying pans, whisks, forks and spoons, spatulas, and baking sheets.

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

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

Attention! If you expect to train people efficiently and issue them certificates, purchase only professional furniture, dishes and equipment in specialized stores. Reputable chef teachers will not agree to work with equipment for home use, which can also reduce your credibility in the eyes of competitors and clients.

People are the key to success

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

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

As a rule, in megacities, where there are many famous chefs and qualified personnel, there are no problems with recruiting personnel. This is more difficult to do in small towns. If you want to open Mexican cuisine courses, you may not find a specialist and abandon this idea. You may have to train chefs to teach 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. Promotion through social networks is now considered the fastest and most effective, because not even a single newspaper in the world can boast as many views as posts on Instagram or Facebook.

No less effective is contextual advertising, which often attracts the attention of search engine users. To familiarize those interested in culinary courses in detail, you can create a website where you can permanently and freely post any information in the future. Large banners, leaflets and flyers are the easiest and most cost-effective way to promote.

A more expensive, but less troublesome option is to sign an agreement with an advertising agency that will develop and implement a scheme to popularize your business.

The Millionaire's Long Journey

It is difficult to say how soon the investment will pay off and increase without having accurate calculations and deciding on all the components of the business idea. Profits are influenced by the specifics of the courses, location, 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 cook has time to pay attention to everyone and answer their questions. Create a class schedule that is as convenient as possible for your students. Lessons are held in both morning and evening sessions. The duration of one lesson for learning new material and practice is on average 3 hours.

There may be 3-4 such meetings per week. You determine their cost yourself, taking into account the costs and solvency of the students. Individual lessons can be offered to VIP clients, and for an additional fee, a chef-teacher can be sent to your home.

Important! If you clearly and competently plan costs and attract as many people as possible, then ideally in 3-4 months the first one will appear 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 influence it. Like any type of activity, the idea of ​​opening cooking courses has its advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages include:

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

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

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

27.10.2017

Women's business. About how to create a culinary studio and teach adults and children to cook

Aliya Makhambetova, 36 years old, hometown - Astana, entrepreneur, owner and director of a culinary studio

How did the culinary studio begin?


The studio appeared in 2015. I am an information technology specialist by education and have worked in this specialty since 2001. But over the years I realized that it does not bring pleasure. At that time, the children had already grown up, and I wanted to realize my potential, do what was interesting to me. And, of course, for it to generate income. Just then there was a wave that everyone started baking cakes to order. I thought about this too, but didn’t come to it. Then everyone who bakes to order rented restaurants and kitchens and held master classes with the chefs there. And each time it was different cuisines. I myself saw it several times and heard reviews, sometimes negative, because the event did not always meet the wishes of those who attended it. Restaurant kitchens have their own life, and then this group bursts in, wanting to teach housewives how to cook and also earn money.

Therefore, it was not always clean, and not always in good conditions. At that moment, I had an idea - to create a space that could be rented out. That is, a kitchen where you can come, see the equipment, bring your chef and organize a master class.

At that time, I didn’t even know that there was something similar in Kazakhstan, but I knew that there was the famous cuisine of Yulia Vysotskaya in Russia. At that time, my goal was to simply rent it out. Then I started working closely in the kitchen, studying what, where and how. This is how everything was born, ideas appeared that it was possible to teach both children and adults, and hold culinary parties.

That is, a kitchen where you can come, see the equipment, bring your chef and organize a master class


What is Jam At first we were simply called “Culinary Workshop”.


It was a space where you could do anything related to cooking, but then the culinary workshop became more marketed as a culinary studio, and there was no name. It had to be concise, so that it was quickly remembered and easy to pronounce. I searched for a long time and found the name - Jam. It can be different, with different additives, from different berries and fruits. We are sincere, we care about the service, about each client.

I hear a lot of gratitude after every master class, large course, which is attended by people from different cities of Kazakhstan: Almaty, Aktau, Karaganda, Pavlodar, Uralsk. We have a fairly vast geography; people even came to us from Turkmenistan. Many do not want to leave, some are crying. It’s interesting that then in groups the girls begin to make friends and communicate. We carefully select the masters who come to us. We bring professionals in their field. Before people come to us, we need to do a tremendous amount of work with them. I worked alone for about a year, then I couldn’t stand it and decided to hire someone to help. Now I have two girls working for me. And another one who does the cleaning, washes the dishes. Our clients have nothing to worry about: they come and relax, are filled with energy and inspiration, leave inspired and bake cakes, delighting their customers or just their relatives.

We conduct master classes and courses for both adults and children, organize culinary parties, birthdays, hen parties in the format of a culinary master class

We conduct master classes and courses for both adults and children, organize culinary parties, birthdays, hen parties in the format of a culinary master class.

It's such a relaxed atmosphere where guests cook with the chef. They enjoy it, eat delicious food, learn to cook and will be able to repeat it at home. The shortest master class lasts about three hours. Mostly they are attended by housewives or simply women who want to learn how to cook deliciously. The minimum price for a master class is 6000 tenge.


Often girls come to us before getting married. They literally have two months to do everything and they need to learn how to cook.

We have teenage groups from 10 to 17 years old, this is a five-day course, classes last 3-4 hours a day so that it is not difficult for the child.


They learn to cook breakfasts, hot meals, soups and baked goods. We try to hold such master classes during the holidays, because children are not always able to do this during school. We have already trained about 40 children. In the summer, one girl said that she didn’t like okroshka when everyone was making it. And then she said that she had simply never tried it in her life and it turned out that she loved okroshka. There have been many cases when, for example, a child does not eat porridge. And then he looks at what everyone is eating, and he cooked it with his own hands, and he also wants to try it and starts eating. The most important thing is that they cook at home, we give them confidence that they will be able to prepare this dish themselves.


Girls often come to us before getting married The complexities of modern business

All the difficulties I encountered were minor.

For example, the contractors failed and did not deliver the table on time. There are no problems with products in the city; now there is a wide range. We need to offer people something new, to be different from our competitors in some way. Everything is on my fragile female shoulders, but everything is feasible and solvable, you just need to work hard. You won't be able to open a studio and let it work on its own. I put a lot of work, effort, time and money. We’ll hang new curtains somewhere to make it look nice, or the equipment breaks down and we have to buy something extra.

About plans


This holiday we want to do a special course for girls, it will be more dedicated to baking. These will be pies, buns, sponge cake, so that the girl already has some skills when she gets married.


We also plan to hire a nanny for daytime master classes, so that those mothers who stay at home with their children can leave them with us and calmly learn to cook.

We think that we will take children aged four to seven years, because you can’t keep very young children.

We also plan to hire a nanny for daytime master classes, so that those mothers who stay at home with their children can leave them with us and calmly learn to cook Starting next month, we want to launch pastry courses with a qualification as a pastry chef.

Now I am negotiating with one of the leading confectioners in Kazakhstan so that she can come to us and conduct six-week courses, from the basics to modern confectionery skills. The courses will be developed in accordance with the curriculum of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Students will receive theory, practice, homework, take an exam at the end of the course and become pastry chefs. This is created for those who want to change their activity, or who have no education, but like to cook and are ready to become a pastry chef, get a specialty and get a job. I want to open a pastry shop.

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* The calculations use average data for Russia

Business in the field educational services is becoming increasingly 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 new types of them. These include, for example, culinary schools

This is a relatively new phenomenon. As people's well-being grows, their interest in quality nutrition increases. They visit restaurants, get acquainted with cuisines from different countries of the world, and then want to learn how to cook them at home and master all the intricacies of culinary art. In this case, culinary schools come to their aid. They are often created on the basis of an already existing cafe or restaurant. Thus, 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 higher, but, on the other hand, opening a culinary school is much easier and cheaper than opening a catering establishment. So if you dream 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.

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

So, what do you need to open your own culinary school? First of all, you will need a room. If you don’t have your own cafe or restaurant, there are two options for solving the space problem: rent a suitable room and equip it yourself, or negotiate with the owner of an already operating cafe to hold classes in his kitchen on certain days. Classes usually take place in the evening on weekdays and on weekends. The option of renting a cafe is less expensive, because if you rent a separate room, you will have to install the necessary communications, make repairs, and install special equipment. Accordingly, the costs will be higher. On the other hand, culinary school classes usually meet at least two to 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). This is the only way the presenter will be able to pay attention to all the “students”. In this case, classes can be conducted in two shifts - morning/afternoon and evening. Thus, it will be quite difficult to find a cafe whose management will agree to rent out its kitchen so often and for such a long time.

The premises where classes will be held at your culinary school 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 by public transport. If you are opening courses in a large city, then you can consider renting premises in a densely populated residential area. In addition to location, the second criterion for choosing an area is the presence of all necessary communications. Most likely, there will be no problems with this. However, repairs will still have to be made. 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 thematic (if your school specializes in a certain world cuisine). For example, now people are most interested in Italian or French cuisine, so the interior of your room can be made in Provence style. Although it is not at all 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 to make it easier to clean them after classes. And individual decorative elements (decorated cutting boards, pots, dishes, bunches of herbs, etc.) will set the necessary “mood” for the entire interior.

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Furniture (desks, chairs, counters, shelves for storing food), equipment (refrigerators, stoves, hoods, splits), utensils, cutlery, dishes, etc. can be purchased in regular stores. For ease of use and saving space, the stove can be “mounted” on one side of the table. Thus, a large work table 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 (on the teacher’s side) a stove with an exhaust hood is installed. Of course, such furniture will have to be made to order. When planning your space, look at photos of the interiors of other culinary schools. Take into account 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 adult students will be uncomfortable working at them), but you will need to purchase chairs high enough to make the children comfortable. Children usually work at a 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. It is worth buying the necessary equipment when you have already found chefs to conduct classes. Experts will tell you exactly what they need and where it’s best 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 preparing various dishes, have an understanding of 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 (not only with adults, but also with children and teenagers), have charisma, be sociable, courteous and be able to attract the attention of listeners and present any material, even the most boring, in an interesting way. Unlike other courses (for example, foreign language courses), people come to culinary school not only to learn how to do something well (in our case, to cook), but also to communicate with like-minded people and learn something new for yourself, fun and interesting to spend your free time. Therefore, 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 stories of dishes in the process, introduce students to the peculiarities of the cuisine in different countries and even in different regions of the same country, they share their experiences... A person for whom cooking is just a job will not be able to interest other people and, most likely, will even discourage them from learning anything.

Where to look for such chefs? In a small town you don’t have much choice, 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 investment, time, and is fraught with risks: the specialist you trained can leave for another place at any time and you will have to hire a new person and start all over again. If you live in a city with a population of over one million people, then there is a chance of finding a suitable chef in one of the city cafes or restaurants. But wage your teachers will be significantly higher.

With the help of your school's teachers, develop a curriculum. There are a large number of different culinary programs: national cuisine (Italian, Russian, French, Spanish, oriental, etc.), vegetarian cuisine, dietary cuisine, dishes for children, decorating dishes (including using carving - cutting out flowers and figurines made of fruits and vegetables), etc. A separate lesson program is for children. Keep in mind that children's groups will be larger, since the cost of training 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 classes, the program should also include a theoretical part (about 30% of the total time). Among the theoretical “subjects” in culinary schools there are the following: decoration of the festive table, compatibility of products, calorie content of foods and dishes, culinary secrets, etiquette at the table, etc. Although many schools prefer to combine practical and theoretical parts: while students are busy preparing food and cooking dishes, the teacher tells them the theory. You can take existing training programs as a basis, but it is still desirable that your programs be original. After all, even if there is no culinary school in your city yet, there is a high probability that after the opening of your courses, competitors will not keep you waiting. Don't forget to take photos of activities at your school (with the students' permission). These photographs, later posted on your website or in booklets, can become the best advertising and attract new listeners. In addition, you can purchase or rent a professional video camera and film your activities. Then they can be assembled and posted in a shortened form (without unnecessary details, secrets and details) on the YouTube channel. It may not help you find new clients, but it will certainly increase your school's visibility. Some schools even sell their video lessons, but this option is unlikely to be suitable for a young company. First you have to “make” a name for yourself and gain a good reputation. In addition to the general program, your school may also conduct classes to train and improve the skills of professional specialists working in cafes and restaurants. An additional source of income for culinary courses is organizing the preparation and delivery of food to corporative clients(catering).

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Before opening culinary courses, you must 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 costs of organizing your own culinary school will range from 70 to 300 thousand rubles (depending on the format - courses at a restaurant or “stand-alone”). True, this amount does not include advertising costs, but we cannot do without them. The main target audience of such courses are women and children. However, recently more and more men are attending culinary schools. Therefore, take this into account when developing your training program and composing advertisements. You can advertise your school's services through advertisements in local newspapers and magazines, through leaflets distributed through mailboxes, outdoor advertising (the most expensive method), radio advertising and online advertising. Even if your school is located far from the city center, you should not limit yourself to one area. Cooking courses are still a relatively new phenomenon in our country. Many people prefer to learn from their own mistakes by cookbooks and recipes on the Internet. Therefore, to ensure that your expenses for organizing a culinary school are recouped as soon as possible, try to cover the entire city with your advertising. Create a website for your school, thematic groups in in social networks, place advertisements on local websites and forums (especially those where your target audience gathers - women with children, for example, forums for mothers). The simplest business card website can be made in a web studio for 3-5 thousand rubles or on your own. True, you will still have to spend money on promoting your website, but if the competition in your region for the query “cooking school” is low, then the cost of website promotion will be lower.

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Decide in advance on school fees. The cost depends on various factors: city, location, course, etc. The minimum price for one lesson at the entry level in a large city is from one thousand rubles. Thematic (for example, in national cuisine) and vocational training costs more - from three thousand rubles. Many schools offer their clients to purchase a subscription to attend several classes at once. When purchasing a subscription, the cost of each individual lesson is lower. Cooking classes with children will cost less - about two to three thousand rubles per 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, teachers’ salaries, 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 with other general education courses, demand for culinary school services directly depends on the season. Obviously, in the summer there will be fewer people in classes, because many of them leave the city on vacation. Thus, the “culinary” season occurs from autumn to spring (not counting the New Year holidays). If your school is located in a resort town, then the situation with the demand for its services will be the opposite. Abroad, many hotels and guest houses open such schools to entertain vacationers. They offer an abbreviated training program dedicated to preparing national cuisine. In our country, such schools on the coast have not yet become widespread, which is also explained by the small number of foreigners who come to Russia on vacation.

There are culinary schools (and also specialized travel agencies) that not only conduct classes themselves, but also offer their clients so-called “culinary tours” for 7-10 days. They negotiate with similar schools abroad (mainly in Italy, Greece and France) and act as a travel agency sending clients on vacation and study abroad. In this case, a so-called “introductory” training program is used. Gastronomic excursions, tastings of different types of wines, cheeses, master classes on the use of olive oils, various seasonings, etc. are organized for vacationers.

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