Hosting a cooking class as a teambuilding activity is nothing new, but in an update to the tried-and-true group activity, artisanal food purveyors are now teaching corporate groups the methods of their crafts. Here’s how groups can make bread, chocolate, beer, and more.
Bread-Making Class
Sour Flour offers private workshops on the art of making sourdough flatbreads, pizzas, and bagels in San Francisco and Chicago. Instructors teach students about starting, kneading, and shaping dough, which they take with them to bake at home. Workshop sizes can range from eight to 12, and each class runs two hours. Pricing varies, but group discounts are available.
Photo: Ana V. Ramirez
Butchery Class
New York-based meat company Mosner Family Brands offers hands-on classes at its U.S.D.A.-inspected facility in the Bronx, during which master butchers teach participants basic butchery skills by taking them through the process of creating their favorite cuts of meat. Classes can accommodate as many as five people and typically last three hours. Participants get to take home the meat they cut in storage-ready packaging. Costs range from $1,500 to $2,000.
Photo: Courtesy of Mosner Family Brands
Chocolate-Making Class
With a boutique and studio located in the Chicago arts district, Chocolat Uzma Sharif offers private classes that can accommodate from four to 10 people. During the two-hour class, Sharif, a third-generation chocolatier, teaches participants how to hand roll, dip, and decorate chocolate truffles, which students can then take home. The cost is $65 per person.
Photo: Courtesy of Chocolat Uzma Sharif
Cheese-Making Class
SF Milkmaid teaches private classes in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area. With an average class size of 15 people, the one- to four-hour workshops revolve around a specific type of cheese (mozzarella, blue cheese, brie, and more), moving through the processes of culturing, cutting, and churning. Along the way, students learn about milk chemistry, tips for cheese-making at home, and how to correctly age cheeses. Private classes cost $50 per person.
Photo: Courtesy of SF Milkmaid
Beer-Making Class
Private groups of as many as 55 can learn to make their own craft beer during a Bitter & Esters workshop. Held at the Brooklyn, New York-based company’s Prospect Heights space, master brewers teach participants about the beer-making process before guests brew their own custom batches. Custom bottle labels are also an option. Prices range from $50 to $125 per person.
Photo: Courtesy of Bitter & Esters
Preserves-Making Class
Owned by master food preserver Delilah Snell and based in Southern California, Backyard in a Jar offers private classes throughout the U.S. teaching small-batch preservation techniques like pickling, pressure canning, and fermentation. Class sizes can range from six to 20 participants, and each class lasts three to four hours. Prices range from $25 to $150 per person depending on the ingredients used.
Photo: Courtesy of Backyard in a Jar
Charcuterie Demonstration
Hire ham purveyor Cinco Jotas's master cortador Francisco Carrasco to discuss the artisan craft of hand-carving the brand’s exclusive pure breed jamón ibérico de bellota. Carrasco guides guests through the history of ham producing, as well as a tasting and demonstration of how to slice the ham. Carrasco is based in Miami and is available for travel. His event fee is $2,500 (which includes the cost of the jamón), plus the cost of travel and accommodations.
Photo: Courtesy of Cinco Jotas
