Hospitality Focus

Date: Friday, December 10, 2010, 6:00am EST

Companies find that employees who cook together stay together

Sometimes it takes a kitchen to bring a company together. It helps if that kitchen is mimicking Iron Chef's Kitchen Stadium.

Whether it be "Iron Chef"-style competitions or making meals for charity, more corporate clients are turning to cooking-related activities for company bonding, client schmoozing and more. In turn, corporate business is becoming an essential part of the revenue model for cooking schools and commercial kitchens.

"We're thrilled - if we were only relying on cooking classes, we'd be out of business," said Susan Holt, co-founder of CulinAerie, a downtown D.C. cooking school. Since it opened two years ago, nearly 60 percent of CulinAerie's total revenue has come from corporate and public events.

The potential for attracting corporate business is what drew CulinAerie to choose Class A office space at 1131 14th St. NW when scouting for a location. The spot has made the school a draw for well-heeled downtown clients, including law firms, accounting firms and government agencies.

Falls Church's Open Kitchen, a hybrid bistro, classroom and commercial rental facility, has carved a similar niche catering to Fairfax and Tysons Corner corporate clients, drawing about 30 percent of its total business from the events.

Cooking as a corporate event can take on several formats. A company might decide to rent the facility to run a competition, with groups facing off to produce the best group of dishes under the guidance of expert chefs. Others offer theme nights, where a company will design a meal together based on a particular theme, such as Spanish tapas or autumn dishes.

Then there's the approach taken by Elizabeth Marcotte, who owns five Let's Dish! franchises across the Washington area. She draws a smaller percentage of revenue from corporate events - she estimates 10 percent - but because her company helps clients make frozen gourmet meals for their families, her corporate events take on a similar feel. A dentist's office might bring in its employees to make a number of meals for their own families together, or they may turn it into a philanthropic event where the fruits of employees' labors go to a shelter.

If you're an employer, you might want to think carefully about which type of event to book. "Employers often want it to be something good for the community, while employees would often be really happy to take something home for themselves," said Marcotte.

Open Kitchen founder Hue-Chan Karels came to cooking after leaving a career in organizational communications, so she has some expertise in employee relations. The key to a successful event, Karels said, is to find out what the client wants to accomplish, whether it be reassuring employees who survived a round of downsizing, or helping management and workers interact better. "In the middle of a menu-driven event, we might have people suddenly switch teams, sending the message of working together," she said.

Besides fattening bottom lines, the corporate event niche helps venues diversify revenue sources. Open Kitchen averages 15 events per month, and they're often held on the restaurant's slower Monday and Tuesday nights.

The holiday season should push the demand for cooking-related corporate events even higher. Many companies are electing to build their holiday parties around this type of activity, and Marcotte said she usually sees an increase in the charity-minded cook-offs.

ooking venue owners say several factors account for the surge in demand for corporate cooking events. Food-television's rising popularity and the growing culture of celebrity around chefs are two obvious factors. The all-inclusive package of activities also makes it a cost-effective approach to corporate events for some employers.

And some just chalk it up to the feel-good nature of food. "Ultimately, what we do is about breaking bread and camaraderie," CulinAerie's Holt said. "There's a competitive element, but not as much as perhaps rock climbing or Go Karts. It's very therapeutic and very communal."