Advice needed

[jenruth]

I am starting my a club with a few friends and family and I'm needing some advice. We haven't met yet and I think we should meet and talk about everything to see what everyone wants out of this cooking club. I am needing some advice on where is the best place to hold these meetings. Should it be at the homes of the members, is that enough space to have everyone cook together? Is one stove/oven and four burners enough? Should we try for a location where there might be more equipment. The problem with that, as I see it, you don't get a comfortable homey type feel. I thought we might come up with a menu and each person prepare a dish. If we have the meetings at the homes of the members, I thought perhaps the home that it's being held, that person prepare the main dish. Or, draw names to see who gets to bring what dish. Let me know what has worked for the rest of you. As of right now there are six people to start our group. Wish us luck...

jenruth

[djpacha]

Hi Jenruth,

A few years ago when my friend and I started a supper club, we had our initial meeting at a restaurant to do the "planning" part (meet the members, talk about how we wanted the dinners to go, etc.). Subsequent meetings were held in our members' homes (a different person would volunteer to be the host each month, or whenever we decided to meet). I think it's a good idea for the host to prepare the main dish, especially if it's a complicated dish. One thing that we did was come up with a theme for the dinner, and that way we could be assured that all the food was complementary, even though different people had prepared it. Once the host was decided, the rest of us would offer to make other dishes (salad, appetizer, soup, dessert, etc.), and we let each other know in advance to avoid duplications. Good luck!

[MNGirlTX]

When we started our group last year, we had an initial meeting at a Starbuck's one night after work, just so we could meet each other. We met again before our first dinner at a wine store for a tasting.

We rotate from house to house. We don't all cook together. Basically, the host chooses the theme and the main dish and the rest of us bring complimentary dishes and wine or other beverages that fit the theme. The kitchen is usually big enough to handle the warming up of a few dishes.

Good luck and have fun!!

Lori

[Yoga0829]

I'ev been involved in different supper clubs for 5 years now, and the one I like the best is the one where we all cook together. We rotate houses every month, and meet 1 Sat night each month. The hostess picks the theme, plans the menu, chooses recipes, does the grocery shopping, and prints recipes for everyone. When we arrive, we choose what recipe we want to make and cook together. It's so much fun, and you get to cook things you may not have attempted on your own. We have different "cooking levels" within our group, so the less-experienced cooks sometimes pair up with the "experts". Sometimes the hostess will prep or do things ahead of time (like a cheesecake), but during the actual supper club the hostess doesn't cook. At the end of the night the hostess divides the grocery bill, it usually works out to be $10 a person. We typically have 5-9 members at any given point, and we've never had an issue cooking together. I had 7 people cooking in a kitchen in a small 1 bedroom apartment once! Feel free to send me a PM if you have additional questions, and good luck!

[djpacha]

Wow, I'm impressed! I never would have thought that so many cooks could function successfully in such a small space, especially with time constraints. I've always been a "cook ahead" kind of gal, but that cooking together thing does sound kind of fun.

[marshcl]

I've been in a cooking club with some graduate school friends for a couple of years. What we do is, at the end of one event, we all write down two ideas on a piece of paper as to what the next theme will be. We then put them all in a hat and pick one out. We then vote on the two ideas on that piece of paper.

We rotate the host house. The person who hosts normally makes the main dish, and other volunteer to bring sides, salad, dessert, etc.

I'm trying to get a separate supper club started as a way of meeting new people. My initial thought for a place to meet is at a Whole Foods near where I live. They have wine classes and cooking classes there, so there are definitely enough tables to pull together to discuss cooking.

Good luck to you!
Cathryn

[jenruth]

I really like the idea of the different levels of cooking experience. There is one that is interested in joining us that doesn't know how to cook. She's fixing to move in with her boyfriend before the year is out. Infact, truth be known, that's something else I would like to get started. Several experienced cooks teaching people who want to learn. Cooking classes I suppose. I know of several that would like to learn and never had the parent/family to teach them or the opportunity. I really think it would be best having the group cook at our homes as you suggested. I also liked the idea of the hostess getting everything prepared such as the grocery shopping and just have everyone jump in when it gets started. I wish all of ya'll could be in our group. Thanks for all of your help. I let you know how it goes.

[kycookingmom]

How did you come across people who were interested in joining a supper club? Did you just post it on a website or did you know everyone already or perhaps a newspaper? I'm interested in starting a cooking club myself but I'm not exactly sure how to go about it. thanks for any tips.

[CaroleDrake]

What I did is start a Yahoo Group as a way of communicating with our members, then contacted people I know and asked if they were interested. I also emailed some of the other lists I am on. I got 4 in 2 days and we are off and running...
Carole