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Do It Yourself is a big buzzword these days. In fact, there's even an entire cable network program devoted to the subject of DIY. Starting this month, The Gourmet Retailer Magazine will begin a series entitled How to . . . DIY, a nuts-and-bolts "How To" on different topics ranging from the Gift Basket Department and Gift Registry, to Employee Handbook and Employee Benefit Programs. This series is designed to be a primer of sorts on how to successfully build these programs, get the job done, and deal with issues that may arise in the process. We're tackling the subject of Cooking Schools in this first edition — it's filled with first-hand advice from successful retailers with established cooking schools to help aid you in whipping up a profitable cooking school program of your own. Your first step: continue reading.

Do Your Homework
Even if you're an experienced retailer who already has a gourmet foods or kitchenware store and you're thinking of adding a cooking school program, or you're just starting from scratch, according to retailers we spoke with, the first and most important step in the process is doing your homework. Check out the competition. The cooking market is definitely a hot one, so see what classes your local competitors are offering, how they are conducted, and determine how you can differentiate your services. When doing your research, you might find out that you're in a little more crowded place than you thought, so it's important to determine the market need.

"Visit as many cooking schools as possible, and make lists of the things you like about the classes and the things you don't like, as a consumer. Try to formulate your concept based on the positives," commented Lisa Lavagetto, general manager of Ramekins, a Sonoma, Calif.-based cooking and culinary school.

Michael Sackett, owner of gourmet kitchen shop Kitchen Affairs, believes you need to clarify your purpose for starting a cooking school. "You need to ask yourself why you want to open a school. Is your goal for the classes to be profitable? Are you doing it as a means to sell merchandise? Is it to promote one or more teachers, or cookbooks?"

He explained, "Then you need to determine your ability to operate a school. Have you run successful 'non-product' businesses before? Do you have sufficient financing? Can you manage personnel, including prima donna chefs?"

According to Sackett, once you've clarified your purpose, determined that there is a market need, and that you have the ability to operate a school, the next step is finding a location. "As with any retail business, the first three things to consider are location, location and, finally, location. If your school is in the wrong location (wrong town, wrong neighborhood, wrong street, wrong type of building, wrong neighboring businesses), it may be your downfall."

And he should know. The successful Evansville, Ind.-based store has been in business since 1986, offering not only high-quality kitchenware and specialty foods, but a wide selection of cooking classes, taught by cookbook authors, chefs and professional teachers, in various techniques, cuisines, and menus. "We're sort of new at this," he laughed. "We've only been doing it for over 20 years . . . we've helped at least four other stores start cooking schools as well."

Renée Behnke, of Seattle-based Sur La Table, offered some words of wisdom to retailers who already have an existing store, but are considering adding a cooking school program. Behnke, who developed the Sur La Table Culinary Program — the largest nationwide, avocational culinary program in the United States, with curricula teaching 50,000 cooking enthusiasts a year how and what to cook — said retailers should develop a list of questions that specify their reasons for wanting a cooking program. "Is the reason to help drive traffic to the store? Is it to entertain your customers? Is it to increase product sales? Is it empty space that you need to fill, or do you need to generate money from this square footage?"

Develop a Business Plan
"I think anybody who's in business already or is serious about starting a new business understands how important it is to have a business plan," explained KC Lapiana, owner of Wexford, Pa.-based In the Kitchen, an upscale kitchenware and specialty food store that also boasts a highly successful cooking school. "You can think, 'Oh, I've got it all upstairs in my mind,' but more often than not, the idea doesn't work and it's not a success."

Lapiana's solution: put it down on paper, especially when it comes to seeking outside funding. "Your business plan doesn't have to be 20 pages long, it can be as short as two, but it's something a bank, for example, can adhere to. It shows you've done your homework and research. It tells them you know what you want to do, why you want to do it, and why you think it's going to be successful."

She continued, "It's very expensive to put in a kitchen, so you don't want to go through the expense and then not have any use for it. Number one, you're spending money; number two, you're taking up valuable real estate within your store that you could have sold products from."

Figuring Out Space
Most retailers we spoke with agreed that determining how much space you need for a cooking school is subjective, with many factors ultimately playing a role in the size of the school.

According to Lavagetto, whose large cooking school houses two teaching kitchens — one, a fully-equipped, 36-seat culinary demonstration kitchen-theater with mirrors and television monitors for easy viewing; the other, a complete restaurant kitchen used for full-participation hands-on classes — factors to consider when determining space include: whether your classes will be demonstration-style or hands-on; how many guests are needed to pay overhead, staff and food; frequency; is this a stand-alone space or an adjunct to another business?; are you bringing in outside instructors or using in-house instructors?; do you plan to have any of The Food Network chefs, for example, who will command a larger audience and need space to defray costs?

Sackett, whose cooking school covers 300 square feet, offered up some exact numbers for retailers. "For demonstration classes, I'd recommend up to 400-500 square feet of space, with no less than 100 square feet. For theater-style with monitors, up to 2,000 square feet of space is best, with no less than 500 square feet of space." When it comes to hands-on classes, he thinks up to 1,000 square feet is adequate, with no less than 300 square feet of space.

When it comes to planning space size, Behnke says, "Determine whether or not you need to generate dollars from the square footage. In my experience, about 700 to 800 square feet of space is needed to make money. In this amount of space, you can seat up to 32 people for demonstration classes and 16 for hands-on classes." She added, "You need to remember that you have to manage the expenses and have the classes at least 75 percent full, four to five days a week most months in order to have the space contribute."

Sometimes, bigger doesn't mean better — or less successful. Take Out of the Blue owner Sarah Auman's tiny, 150-square-foot cooking space. "Yes, our space is small, but beautifully lit and intimate . . . it really works for us. In fact, everybody has found a new friend when they leave one of our classes," said Auman.

The Blue Ridge, Ga.-based wine, gourmet food, table linen and "all aspects of entertaining" store opened in 2004, and just over a year-and-a-half ago, launched the cooking school component of the business.

"When the idea of Out of the Blue came to me, I knew immediately it would have a full working kitchen in it. I was committed to the idea of having a heart to the shop, and to me, the heart of any home is the kitchen," explained Auman.
"Then I wondered how I was going to get the return on my investment since the shop was paid for out of pocket, without any backing or outside investors," she continued. "One day, one of our customers, noticing we had a full kitchen, asked if we did cooking classes in our shop, or filmed for TV. I said we were planning classes for the future and she said she owned the local TV station . . . well, it just grew from that moment on and grew quickly. We recently won two TV awards from our local station — one for set decoration, the other for lighting. I am very proud of that."

Finding Instructors
When considering a cooking school program, finding qualified instructors should be top priority. When Lapiana was in the process of seeking instructors to jump-start her cooking school program, she utilized local accredited school instructors in her town. "Restaurant head chefs, culinary graduates, and even home economists and nutritionists make good teachers," she commented.

Sackett recommends starting with chefs and caterers to teach classes. "Sometimes, it's even an off-the-wall find such as a school teacher who is passionate about baking, or a fireman who cooks at the firehouse. We've even had a representation of monks from a Buddhist temple in India jointly teaching a class," he explained. "Add in home economics teachers, cookbook authors — it doesn't take long. In fact, most of our instructors find us."

According to Lavagetto, several of her staff members teach the Ramekin's Foundation Classes and publishers will often send cookbook authors out on tours, which helps the cooking school with extra expenses. "Traveling teachers on their own will want travel expenses, rooms, plus their teaching fee. In most cases, it's just not cost-effective to fly people in as the cost of the class and the number of students will not yield a profit."

Behnke agreed. "When starting out, it's much more cost-effective to utilize local resources to teach the classes. Plus, it can be fun and exciting for the whole community," she said. "This way, you avoid the expense of paying for a talent's travel, hotel and food costs."

Cost Cutters
When starting any new business venture, figuring out strategic ways to keep costs down, while still delivering top notch products and customer service, is a challenge.

At Ramekins, some of the ways they've cut down on expenses is to offer sponsorships as well as advertising trades to vendors in return for equipment and products. "It's always helpful to partner with these people," said Lavagetto. "It's a win-win situation." She also advises retailers to consider a volunteer program for class helpers.

Kitchen Affairs cut costs by approaching local distributors for cabinets, countertops and appliances. "We asked what they could do for us," divulged Sackett. "Our cabinets and counters were purchased at or below distributor cost. Our appliances were free, but we paid to have them installed. If you can work something out with a grocery, bakery or wine store, even better. Occasionally, a major food or product supplier will underwrite a class. King Arthur Flour, for instance, will donate products to use in a baking class."

Lapiana suggests partnering with a local appliance dealer for free equipment, or vendors for small wares. "They can be very generous if you prove to them that you are dedicated to providing an area for school and/or demonstration," she said.

Lapiana also offers In The Kitchen staff a free class if they volunteer to work the class by doing dishes or a bit of prep work for the teaching chef.
She added, "Keep cooking teachers' costs down by letting them advertise their services such as catering, restaurant, etc. Try to keep ingredient costs low by not exceeding the cost of food in relation to the cost of one participant's enrollment fee. Buy staples in bulk and have the teacher call in with their ingredient list to avoid duplication."

For Auman, what's kept cost down is the outstanding relationship she has with many of her suppliers. "They have been generous with certain products, donating one each at either no charge or a large percentage off for our kitchen," she said. "It's a no-brainer to get your stuff into the hands of chefs who have a captive audience."

Auman explained that sometimes it's difficult for the smaller companies that are in start-up mode trying to recoup their investments, to provide product. "We deal with a lot of small niche companies, so they are willing to come in and do seminars or classes on their products. Whatever keeps it fresh and in front of the customers."

Create a Buzz
You've done your research, developed a business plan, recruited instructors, and even found ways to keep costs to a minimum. So what's next? Besides a whole lot of faith and finger-crossing, you've got to get the word out and create a buzz.

Advertising is extremely important, explained Lapiana. "You can do that by announcing your classes on your Web site. You can print them in newspapers and magazines, even hand out class schedules at local community centers and libraries."

Sur La Table has had a great deal of success by mailing and e-mailing its class offerings. "Your name is in front of the customer base more often this way," Behnke said.

Word of mouth is also critical. "You may want to offer a couple of free demonstrations, announcing something like 'I'm Breaking My Kitchen In' kind of a deal," commented Lapiana. "It's a really good way to try it out . . . then you can find out how many people are actually interested in taking a class. When we do a demonstration, we always tell people we offer classes too."

She also suggests holding a semi-grand opening for the kitchen to invite people to see your new digs. "We had a cake that was in the shape of our logo. We gave away pieces of cake, along with brochures for the cooking classes. You want to get people excited about it."

Bumps in the Road
While the retailers we spoke with have experienced tremendous success in their cooking school ventures, it hasn't come problem-free.

"The hardest problem is keeping the costs down and providing good customer service to our clients," explained Lavagetto. "These classes are not cheap to run if you consider the shopping list creation, the actual shopping, controlling the waste, helping the chef prepare, aiding the assistants during the class, the end of the class cleanup, etc. If you consider an average of $50–$60 for a demo class and $70–$90 for a hands-on class, it's not a lot of revenue by the time all of the above is taken into consideration."

Lapiana cites scheduling as one of the problems she's encountered. "You can't please all the people all the time," she said. She suggests scheduling the same class for two different time periods such as one day or one night, or conduct two classes in the same day at different times.

"It's also not easy to come up with innovative class ideas and recipes, it takes a lot of time and details and then the class may not sell. Be prepared for the time commitment and, again, do your homework and find out what classes do well versus those that sound interesting but are duds. Don't over-schedule classes, too many classes and you divide the pie too much while too few classes make it seem as though you're not really serious — find a happy middle ground," she said.

For Auman, it's the dirty work involved with running a cooking school in such a small space. "Cleanup is a problem — constantly washing dishes and mopping floors. Great cooks make huge messes."

Health issues with permits present Sackett with challenges, especially issues relating to alcohol. "Every state has a different set of rules for health permits and for using and/or serving alcohol."

Lapiana learned about alcohol issues the hard way, unfortunately. Just recently, she had to drop one of her most popular classes, "Dine and Dance," a two-hour cooking class followed by a 40-minute free dance lesson at the nearby Arthur Murray Dance Studio.

"The participants wanted to drink wine with their dinner. I never had a problem with that — I just couldn't open or pour it," she explained. "Plus, they could not leave the store with an open bottle of wine because of our state's Open Container Laws. They either had to finish all of the wine or leave it here. The very last group we had showed up at Arthur Murray totally drunk and disruptive, and I ended up losing my reciprocal with the dance studio. Great concept, great idea, but the drinking thing was a bad idea. That class generated over $1,000 a month in revenue that I've lost, and now I have to figure out a way to make it up each month."

She concluded, "I would not recommend allowing customers to drink. If you do, there has to be some set of guidelines or limitations set. I learned my lesson the hard way. Hopefully, I can save someone else from all that. It's sad because most people are responsible, but one bad apple spoiled the cider."

Sound Advice
While Lavagetto admits adding on a cooking school component can be a tough road, she said it's certainly doable with plenty of planning. "Be realistic about costs. Staffing needs to be knowledgeable and efficient. Really research your food purveyors to get the best prices. The most successful cooking schools I've seen have other components to their business."

Lapiana offers up the following suggestions. "Envision the palm of your hand as your retail store. Then you have all your fingers. You're opening another new business when you open up a cooking school. You need to have the staffing and you need to have done your homework. It's another business. It's not a service like knife sharpening or bridal registry. It's a business that has to be handled and executed by many people to do it successfully."

If you would like to comment or send us your feedback on this feature, please send e-mail to: kmontalvo@gourmetretailer.com.