How to Start Kids Cooking Classes

If you enjoy teaching your own child how to cook, you should think about how to start kids cooking classes as a business. This is a great way to start a new career, or generate a bit of extra income for your family.

When you're setting up a new business, you'll need to have a clear mission statement in mind, a knowledge of any legal implications that will affect your business and the correct resources to get started.

Kids Cooking Activities Teaching Materials

Make teaching easier with our activities and recipes compiled in theme sets and books with an easy to read format

Perfect for teaching!

~This post may contain affiliate links and I'll earn a small commission if you shop through them. There is no extra cost to you. This is how we help support our family and continue to bring you amazing content. To learn more see the affiliates disclosure here.~

What is your Cooking School Mission Statement

When you're thinking about how to start kids cooking classes, you'll need to have a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve. Appropriate mission statements include:

1. To give children a lifelong love of working in the kitchen - If this is your aim, then you're likely to be thinking either one-to-one or small group tuition, possibly run from your own home. The recipes will be fairly simplistic.
   
2. To train a future generation of chefs - To do this, you may need to think about hiring premises. You'll need an extensive repertoire of high-quality recipes, and a good knowledge of tips and shortcuts for your pupils to learn.
   
3. To help children become healthy eaters - This idea is becoming more and more popular in recent years. Not only focus on why we should eat healthy but how and include appropriate recipes.

Whatever your mission statement, make sure that you stick to it when you're advertising and enrolling pupils.

You can take different angles to your business as well such as teaching lessons, hosting kids parties, theme units or a combination of the above keep this in mind when choosing your mission statement, creating a business name and advertising.

Legal Implications for Cooking Classes

You need to research the relevant legal information when you're finding out how to start kids cooking classes. Legal issues will change depending on where you live and the location of your classes. The amount of legal advice you'll need will increase as the number of pupils that you have on roll increases. If you do decide to engage the services of a lawyer, you need to ask them:

1. What is the maximum number of children I can have in my own home as part of my business?
   
   If you set yourself up as a cooking business for children, there will be legal limits on the number of children you can be responsible for at any one time. This number will also be affected by the size of your kitchen.
   
   
2. Who is responsible if a child hurts themselves?
   
   This is going to be your biggest concern when teaching kids how to cook. On the whole, if you go through the appropriate safety warnings first, and you get a waiver signed by the child's parents, then you should be safe from legal action from angry parents.
   
   Here is an example and help in creating a business waiver. (Please Note: This is a pdf document that you will need Adobe Reader to read and will open in a separate window.)
   

3. Are there any foods that I can't cook with?
   
   Foods such as chicken and eggs obviously need a lot of care when you're cooking, and you'll need to find out if there will be any legal backlash if you do use ingredients like these in your recipes. Include these questions on your information sheet or waiver with your enrollment. 


4. Starting a business laws.
   
   You need to check health laws, insurance liability and legal steps to starting a business in your community before starting classes. In some instances, you will need to use a commercial kitchen and a business license.

Kids Cooking School and Classes Supplies

The final step when you're thinking about how to start kids cooking classes is the supplies that you'll need. If you're teaching multiple children at once, you'll need to have a large initial outlay on multiple kids utensils for them to use.

You may also need to invest in new counter tops that will withstand a heavy usage, and a dishwasher to help you improve your turnaround times.

Help in Starting a Kids Cooking Business

You can use our Kids Cooking Lessons for teaching classes. They are designed for this purpose and I myself used them for afterschool classes and summer  classes.

We have more teaching help and tips for teaching kids to cook including what to cook and tips for teaching kids.

Do you already teach classes or kids lessons? Include it in our kids cooking class directory.

Worrying about how to start kids cooking classes shouldn't stop you from trying it out. It doesn't have to be an internationally recognized success, and you can start as small as you like. You'll need to get some help with the advertising, even if it's just getting some flyers ready for your local businesses.

You need to give the other parents confidence in your abilities, so you should think about what information and designs you would want if you were to enroll your child in a cooking business.

More Help and Resources for How to Teach Cooking

Include these pages in your teaching curriculum.
Kitchen Rules and Safety- the page includes downloads for Kitchen Safety chart and a Food Sanitation Chart.
How to start cooking classes
What do you learn in the kitchen?
Kids Cooking Lessons
Add lessons to your homeschooling
Teaching children or adults with disabilities
Teaching Life Skills
Getting Kids Interested in the Kitchen
Cooking Tips- tips and tricks for cooking with kids
6 Ideas to teach beyond the kitchen
10 Reasons for Kids To Learn to Cook
Getting Started Teaching Cooking

Kids Cooking Lesson Plans

Follow Kids Cooking Activities