Team Building Cooking Class: Making a meal together is the time-tested way to bond

Now that organizations are working their way through the pandemic, re-establishing team cohesion and corporate culture are more important than ever. More than good pay, demonstrating that your organization is vibrant and has purpose is key to retaining employees, as well as attracting new ones. A great way to do that is with a team building cooking class.

Cooking and eating together are time tested ways for humans to bond. Kitchens are traditionally warm and nurturing places. Most people have fond memories of them. The data backs this up. According to the Harvard Business Review, research shows that eating together enhances group performance. Cooking AND eating together takes it one step further.

If you want more proof of how a cooking class might help your team, look to firefighters. Few groups of collaborators have developed the esprit de corps you see in a firehouse. How do they do it? For one thing, many firefighters are excellent cooks. They celebrate food and work together in well-appointed kitchens to develop delicious communal culinary experiences. That bonding comes in handy when duty calls.

A Team Building Cooking Class That Mirrors the Realities of Today’s Workplace

Many chefs, restaurants and resorts have recently gotten into culinary team building. But unlike these opportunistic efforts, at Team Building with Taste it’s built into our DNA. We’ve developed a proven structure for our cooking class that is designed specifically to enhance organizational effectiveness.

Some of the benefits of our team building cooking classes are:

• They mirror today’s post-COVID environment. They can be held in-person, virtually or in a single event that is a hybrid of both.
• They promote diversity. Our pantries are full of spices, herbs and other items from Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. When visitors from different cultures arrive, they are thrilled to see and use these ingredients.
• Unlike golf or ropes courses, you don’t have to be an athlete to participate in our corporate team building programs.
• We accommodate all skill levels, not just good cooks. Often the “MVP” of a corporate team building event will be someone who can barely chop an onion but has contributed in other areas.
• We stress objectives and deadlines. That slight pressure is always needed in our team building cooking class to give it urgency and relevance.
• The creation of a tasty meal and a beautiful presentation plate engenders a sense of pride and accomplishment. By comparison, what happens when you do team building at an “Escape Room” and you don’t escape? Does that mean you have failed at team building?

By the way, did we mention you get to have a great meal? Not only does it taste good because you have made it with your own hands, but you don’t have to go out for a separate meal, like you do with other team building options.