If you’re a chef or someone that loves to cook, you have a great opportunity to take advantage of the rising popularity of online classes, also known as virtual learning. Starting an online cooking class is the perfect opportunity for you to launch your side business and generate an income from your side hustle. The best part is that you can reach a much wider audience since you are not constrained by geographic limitations. Anyone who has an interest in your offerings or style of cooking can join your classes right from the convenience of their own kitchen, no matter where they are located in the world!
While all of this may seem overwhelming at first, it’s actually pretty easy to start an online cooking class. In this article, we’ll go over what you need to start an online cooking class.
Article Outline
The first thing you need to do is create a menu that you’ll cover in your cooking class. Knowing who your audience is key when creating menus for your online cooking class.
For instance, if your cooking class is for beginners, you might want to consider going with an easy-to-follow menu that requires only very basic cooking skills. However, if the people interested in your online cooking class are more familiar with the basics of cooking, you can cover more complex dishes.
After considering your viewers’ skill level, you can start creating menus for your online cooking class. This includes everything from the ingredients and recipe to the preparation techniques and tools used. Additionally, you can provide links to stores where people can order the ingredients from. This saves a lot of time for the viewer and makes it easier for them to follow along.
It’s not always about the dish, but the experience and learning to cook. So, choose a dish that teaches certain cooking skills and emphasize the type of dish and the skills to be learned in the title and or description of the event.
Step #2: Choose an online learning platform
The next step to start an online cooking class is to choose the platform you’ll use to host your cooking classes. This is the way that you will get in front of your learners to deliver your class online, such as a video chat platform.
Choosing to go live on any of your social media accounts is a great way to start hosting your online cooking classes. This is a great starting point for anyone that already has a huge following on their social media outlets and will allow you to promote your “paid classes” to grow your business
You can use video conferencing tools such as Zoom, Google Meet, or other video chat platforms to deliver your paid cooking class. You can use the built-in tools to interact with viewers and provide more intimate and engaging classes. Also, modern video chat systems like Zoom, allow you to control who gets to access your online cooking class. It’s perfect for anyone looking to sell registrations for their online cooking class to bring in revenue for sharing your skills.
Note: If video is not your thing, or if your audience doesn’t want video, you can prepare a carefully crafted guide with pictures and descriptions for them to follow.
Here are some things to consider once you’ve decided the platform you will host your online cooking classes on:
- Time. What’s the best time to host your cooking classes? You can ask your viewers by setting up a poll or decide what suits you best.
- Duration. How long will each class be? Do learners prefer a few longer classes or many short ones?
- Content. Decide how you’ll cover all of the material you’ve planned in each class. Start by jotting down the content of each class. This will include an introduction, ingredients, tools used, the recipe and preparation, and a presentation about what the learning goal is for the class.
Step #3: Set up registration
To charge for your online cooking class, you’ll need to set up a registration form. The easiest way to start an online cooking class with registration forms so that your attendees can sign up online is by using Event Espresso.
You can use it to set up an event registration page to collect names, emails and any other questions you’d like to ask. Aside from names and email addresses, you might consider asking them about their current cooking skills and which classes they’d like to enroll for.
Event Espresso also makes it easy for you to accept payments for registrations. It’s a good idea to offer different payment methods to make it easy for learners to complete their registration. Event Espresso offers popular payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net. Additionally, users looking to pay via credit cards will also have no problem registering for your online cooking class. Here is a great resource that explains more about how accepting payments online can easily be integrated with your registrations system.
If you provide multiple cooking classes, you can create multiple event pages. This way, it’ll be easier for learners to discover your cooking classes and register for the ones they’d like. Event Espresso helps you automate the entire registration and payment process.
Step #4: Promote your cooking classes
For anyone looking to start an online cooking class, the best place to start promoting it is your event website. You can share food recipes on your blog, showcase testimonials and reviews, and create galleries of the different dishes you teach people to cook.
Promoting your cooking classes on social media is also a great way to get the word out about your cooking classes. You can let people know what you’ll cover in your cooking classes by posting it on social media. You can also go live to offer a sneak peek of the full class.
If you’ve built an email list, you can promote your online cooking class to your subscribers. For example, you can offer limited-time discounts to people on your list to encourage them to register for your class.
To make sure your message reaches all of your viewers, promote your next scheduled cooking class during your current cooking class and in post-event emails.
Step #5: Create resources and downloadables
You can further enhance your cooking classes by providing additional downloadable resources that make it easier for beginners to follow along. You can create resources such as a list of ingredients and tools needed for each class. You may also create recipe cards the way Hello Fresh does on their website.
Once you’ve created the resources, you can share them with learners via email. And, when you’re ready to take things to the next level, you can set up a membership site and let members download them directly.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to start an online cooking class, you can use Event Espresso to set up registration, accept payments, and promote your class. It’s incredibly easy to get started with and offers tons of advanced options for when you’re ready to grow.