Tag corporate team building

Parties That Cook Introduces a New Corporate Event Format: Taste & Technique

Taste & Technique

It’s been an exciting few weeks at Parties That Cook, and the San Francisco office has been humming with activity. Ever since our super successful customer appreciation events in San Francisco and Chicago, we’ve been on a mission to create something similar — and spectacular! Now, we’re happy to introduce a BRAND NEW corporate event format called Taste and Technique! This event is unique in that it’s geared towards large groups and allows each individual guest to mold their own event experience. You may be asking how such independence is even possible for a corporate cooking party. Well, let us break it down for you.

Taste & TechniqueIt all begins with our lovely event managers and you! As the event host, you decide which food stations and recipes you want to work with. This means that rather than sticking with a particular themed menu, you can be as culturally diverse or technique driven as you want to be!Taste & Technique

Each cooking station will be prepped with all the necessary ingredients and manned by professional chef! No, our chefs won’t do all the work, of course, but they’ll be able to help your group create culinary masterpieces. In addition to cooking stations, you’ll also have your choice of our interactive exploration stations. Activities like food trivia, spice blending, or skills tests offer a break from the hands-on cooking. Oh yea, and if you want something a little more out-of-the-box like wine tasting (not boxed wine) or latte art, we’ll make it happen. Once the details have been determined, we take care of the rest!

Taste & TechniqueJump to the big day: your team is excited and ready to go. For the next 2.5 hours, the only thing you have to worry about is having fun. Upon arrival, we hand everyone a passport for collecting stamps at all the stations. Fun Fact: Those who collect a stamp from every station are eligible to enter to win a raffle prize!

Each guest designs their own route through the cooking and exploration stations – at their own pace. Participants are invited to taste the dish prepared at each cooking station before moving on to the next one. (Passersby are encouraged  to snag a bite, too!) Tastes are constantly being created by new groups, so there is plenty of food to enjoy. As the cooking draws to a close, guests are free to relax, chat with co-workers, and enjoy the remaining appetizers being passed, reception-style.

Taste & TechniqueSound like fun? Contact us and start planning your event today! Taste & Technique is perfect for large groups, networkers, early adopters, and groups looking to blaze their own trails!

Chicago Chefs Heat Up Corporate Kitchen Challenge

Silly faces loosen up this cooking competitionIt’s time for a recap from our much loved Chicago team! We’re giving you the inside scoop on Channel Prime Alliance‘s corporate team building event last month. Centered Chef, one of our favorite downtown Chicago venues, created the perfect scene for this Kitchen Challenge. Tense beginnings quickly transitioned to a friendly, though competitive, atmosphere. As usual, the group quickly warmed up as they signed their name tags with goofy, made-up names, and helped themselves to appetizers and drinks at the open bar. A great sign of things to come!

To get things started, the Lead Chef went over some basic cooking techniques and terminology. The group listened intently and mentally prepared for battle the meal they were about to cook. It was clear this group had a sense of humor — their favorite part of the demo was the protocol of yelling, “Hot behind!” when traveling with a hot object or opening the oven. And the jokes were just getting started!

Our guests were then split into teams, and the brainstorming and meal-planning began. Channel Prime’s event host, Abbie, later reported, “The appetizers were very tasty and the pantry was well stocked. I liked how the more difficult portion of the dessert recipe was already done, so we were set up for success!”

What they cooked:
Chicken Breast
Orzo Pasta
Asparagus
Mexican Chocolate Soufflé

Professional level plating!

Professional level plating!

Using the ingredients available, teams went in wildly different directions for their main courses, making for an exciting and delicious competition! Abbie added, “I loved how much all of our guests enjoyed it! The friendly competition went over great and everyone had an awesome time!” This breaking of boundaries illustrates why our corporate cooking parties are so successful. Removal of comfort zones, mixed with a bit of food, is the quickest way to find new ways to work together. BIG thanks to Abbie and her group from Channel Prime Alliance. We really enjoyed working partying cooking with you, and thought your group was energetic and made an awesome team for the event! Every guest is a chef, after all.