We come to you....to your hotel, conference or company campus
We make better use of your time and money because we come to you.
Because our program can be held in the same place where you hold your meeting, you don’t have to rush off to another location for your team building program. This allows you to get more done, as well as save on travel and insurance costs.
You can also be more creative with your meeting budget, using money allocated to catering and travel in conjunction with team building funds.
If your group needs a bit of "fresh air", we can adapt our program to less traditional locations: winery, museum, zoo, etc.
We ONLY work with organizations and businesses, not with brides.
Servicing the needs of a corporate client or organization are not the same as working with the parents of the bride or individual cooking afficionados.
The skills necessary for running successful cooking schools, restaurants, or catering companies are very different than those vital for delivering a first-class culinary team building program that achieves your outcomes.
Frequently, these culinary organizations will provide "cooking team buildings" to fill in the down time of their classrooms or banquet spaces, and therefore offer these programs at an inexpensive rate. It is not their core business, and they treat it (and you) appropriately.
Since 1994, we've specialized in ONLY culinary team buildings for corporate clients. Because of our targeted business focus, we've developed an unsurpassed expertise and an in-depth understanding of your needs in this arena (and have been very successful at filling those needs, too!)
We offer a refreshing break from your routine.
Perhaps you're not looking to transform your team. You only want a "time out" from your daily activities and to have some fun.
You've gone bowling and go-cart racing before, and although these events are entertaining and allow you to vent steam, they don't serve to bring your team together.
We believe in letting you "let your hair down" (well, maybe not around the food.... :-). Our programs give you a canvas for your creativity and freedom to express yourself in any way you want, while our program systems assure you'll come away with a fabulous culinary outcome.
Our trainers are, first and foremost, focused on YOU (not just the food.)
Chefs are trained to focus on the food their kitchens create – their chief concern is about the outcome of the meal and how they performed as a chef.
Our focus is on YOU – the participant. We believe with proper leadership and systems, anybody can be wildly successful – regardless of the impossibility of the objective (e.g., the creation of a gourmet banquet worthy of a five star restaurant) or the initial skills they bring with them to the job at hand. This belief is the essential lesson teams learn and take back to the workplace.
Our program leaders are therefore, first and foremost, trainers and facilitators.
This means..
...they have attained a high degree personal leadership over themselves first, which is the prerequisite for success for any individual, manager, group leader, executive or CEO.
...they have the personality, charisma, leadership, public speaking, and "CEO" skills vital for managing a large group, keeping its attention, and enabling its success – all with entertaining style and flair!
And, if fun is all you’re looking for, they can do that, too!
We don't need a kitchen
Most of our programs are conducted at the very venues that are convenient to you: your hotel meeting facility, on your company's campus – even at a winery, museum, or zoo!
Because we use conference rooms or event space, we work with conference staff to host your CEO Chef program appropriately — your group will not need to hunt for a cooking school or available kitchen.
Also, our staff has experience working in company conference rooms or cafeteria space. This gives you much more flexibility in your site options, making planning easier and leaving more time for fun!
We specialize in large team building groups up to 500+ participants
Years of experience have gone into creating vital program delivery and back office administration systems. These systems are essential in allowing us to provide you with a spectacularly successful culinary extravaganza that will easily handle many participants.
See "Large Groups" for more information.
We are flexible – we fit into your conference schedule.
We fit in with a meeting agenda no matter how little time you have for a team building activity, so you get to benefit without sacrificing valuable meeting time.
We use conference room facilities, not kitchens, so our program can be held virtually anywhere you want to hold them. We can adapt to specific dietary requirements, so no one gets left out or goes hungry!
Is your agenda running a bit late? No worries – we're able to adjust effortlessly so you can get all your work done completely before you play with us!
Say "Yes" and we do the rest.
Once you decide to use one of our programs, the only additional work you need to do is provide us with the objectives you wish to accomplish from your time with us.
We take over and work with catering, conference and event planning staff to coordinate your event. All that’s left for participants to do is to show up and be ready for a great team building experience.
We customize our programs to your needs
We are committed to matching your meeting message or theme to our activity. You co-create your program with a CEO Chef program designer whose only goal is to make your event the best experience possible.
We tailor each event to match the meeting message, participant needs and personalities, training objectives (if required), your time challenges, and the facilities physical requirements – a perfect union of form and function.
In fact, we have additional tools (some are even free!) that keep you in conversation with us and are invaluable to continuing the development of your team.
We have competitive "Iron Chef" type competitions, as well as non-competitive events.
Does your group thrive when in the heat of competition or are you looking for just a friendly get-together activity? See the selection of programs we offer.
100% participation: Everyone can (and does!) participate in a CEO Chef program.
Male and female, young and old, fit and couch potato, from Asia to Zimbabwe – everybody can and does enjoy taking part in a CEO Chef program. We know this is so – our participation rates always reach around the 100% mark. From time immemorial, cooking together has always encouraged involvement and brought people closer.
Even if participant’s cooking skills are limited to pushing a few buttons on a microwave, they will find a CEO Chef team building both fun and educational. Our clients are continually amazed at the quality and presentation of the gourmet meals their participants create without any previous cooking experience!
And, if there are any members with special physical challenges, they can fully participate in a CEO Chef program right along with the rest of the group.
Our programs are great for cross-cultural bonding, plus we have menus to suit the palate of participants from any culture.
Because you eat and enjoy the delicious food your teams creates, your team building program has a real purpose that impacts and motivates everyone to want to participate.
Here are links for answers to other questions you may have:
What does a CEO Chef program look like?
What competitive and non-competitive programs do you offer?
Who have you worked with before?
Easy Planning
Our bottom line is to make the whole experience more fun for all, including your event planner. Some important details needed by us to quickly help you include:
