Ideas for group, corporate & Team Building classes
(Terms & conditions – minimum charge 12 students, all prices exclusive of VAT)

Wickedfood® Cooking School is an ideal venue for group and corporate functions. The school lends itself to a variety of group activities, including:

• Customer entertaining and relationship building;
• Team Building;
• Staff assessment;
• Staff incentives;
• Competition cooking, where up to 4 groups can be pitted against each other in a fun, safe environment (2 groups in Boksburg);
• Private get togethers – book and wine clubs, birthday parties, kitchen teas , etc.

Wickedfood® Cooking School runs classes (subject to a minimum of 12 people) throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios, in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week. The venue is also available for corporate and private functions - birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference. Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups these classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Wickedfood® Cooking School is an ideal venue for group and corporate functions. The school lends itself to a variety of group activities, from customer entertaining and relationship building, to Team Building, staff assessment and incentives, or competition cooking, where up to 4 groups of a maximum of 12 per group (15 under special circumstances for large groups, contact the manager for details), each cooking the same 6 dishes, can be pitted against each other in a fun, safe environment. An added advantage is that due to the nature of our hands-on classes, participants never feel threatened, or moved outside their comfort zone as in many other Team Building activities. Key managers are easily able to assess staff members’ skills with regards to problem solving and team interaction. Hosts are able to spend substantial time communicating with customers, during the class, as opposed to other activities such as golf days where they are limited to an isolated group of people for the duration of the activity.

Class format
Classes run in the mornings from ±09h00, and in the evening, from latest 18h00 (or at earlier times convenient to clients), and run for approximately 3–3½ hours, including eating the meal prepared, at the end of the class. The format of each class is as follows:

• Introduction to the preparation of all the dishes to be cooked. We work on a minimum of 6 dishes per class. Each class is a separate module where a full menu is prepared.
• The class is divided into groups, and each student gets involved in preparing the various dishes (you get your hands dirty, but we provide aprons, so come in comfortable clothes and shoes, preferably non-slip gym shoes).
• At the end of the class, participants sit down together and enjoy the food that they have prepared.

What is included in the price?

• Extensive notes and recipes;
• All ingredients and full aprons to wear while cooking (we also have branded aprons for sale and with enough lead-in time can have these embroidered with company logos);
• Teas, coffees and soft drinks in the morning classes; limited white and red house wine by the glass, and soft drinks in the evening classes;
• The meal at the end. Bring only your enthusiasm and willingness to learn.

About Wickedfood Cooking Schools
Wickedfood® Cooking School is an educational facility, offering tuition in a wide range of culinary skills to the public and corporate world in a fun, safe environment.

Its first classes were run from restaurant premises in Illovo in October 2001. In May 2002, the school was moved to a purpose-built kitchen in Sunninghill, accommodating up to 16 students per class. Over the next 2 years the school developed a highly successful formula that is in great demand to both individual clients and the corporate environment.

The school moved to Sunninghill, in mid 2004. Our second franchise opened in Boksburg in 2006. In August 2007 and we opened our Sunninghill school. The schools can accommodate up to 48 (Sunninghill) and 24 students (Boksburg) respectively, in hands-on classes in a state-of-the-art, purpose-built, teaching kitchens and offer over 30 classes and courses specifically for the corporate and group market.

Past students’ comments:

“Thanks for the wonderful afternoon. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we will definitely be back.” Sharon Plint - Health Science Academy.

"Last night was a really memorable, spectacular occasion and one which will be remembered by us fondly for a long time. I know that I will definitely be making use of Wickedfood's services into the future. Thank you for your innovative approach to relationship building - I have no doubt that last night went a long way to further cementing our business friendship." Ed Grondel, CEO, FNB Homeloans (e-mail from FNB to Sablehomes in response to a series of corporate entertaining events that Sablehomes organised at Wickedfood® Cooking School).

"Thank you for your hospitality and company, and for a fantastic evening last night. I did not know that cooking exotic food could be such a satisfying experience."
Noel Brink, General Manager Sales, FNB Homeloans.

Competition Cooking
(Terms & conditions - minimum charge 2 teams, all prices exclusive of VAT)

Think ready-steady-cook with a fun twist. We supply an identical mystery basket of ingredients to each team and they come up with a 3-course meal, including 2 side dishes, making up 5 dishes in total. Apart from the fun aspect, this is also a novel way of entertaining clients , a great form of teambuilding , or ideal opportunity of assessing various staff members' abilities to work together and solve common problems.  

Format

• Participants are divided into 2 to 4 teams, each team consisting of between 6 and 12 participants;
• Each team is colour coded by apron and counter, and has its own cooking station with identical implements , a gas hob and oven ;
• On arrival, our instructor will run through the workings of the kitchen and judging criteria (see below) , talk about the ingredients chosen, and discuss recipes and ideas with participants;
• Participants will then separate into the various teams and be given 15 minutes to strategize, and then a maximum of 2 hours to prepare the meal;
• We will provide each team with a counter assistant who will oversee the working of the equipment as well as assist with basic cooking techniques, and judge the teams’ progress.
• Our head instructor will co-ordinate the cooking, and provide a preassure element to the teams;
• Once all the dishes are cooked, our judging panel, will choose the winning team - prizes are at the discretion of the client (we stock some great products, contact us for details);
• Participants are then able to sit down and enjoy the meal they have prepared.  

Judging criteria

The whole idea of Wickedfood Cooking School is for participants to have a fun outing . Although we would like to create a competitive edge, it is not the intention of the school to place undue pressure on participants. Counter assistants will progressively make observations and score the team throughout the cooking period. At the end of the cooking, they, together with the instructor, will do an overall appraisal of each counter where they will look at amongst other things:

• Ingredient and time usage;
• Neatest workers;
• Most creative dishes.  

Included in the price

• All ingredients and notes;
• Limited soft drinks, and house red and white wines (see point 6 of terms and conditions)