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school Restaurants are fast adding cooking classes to their repertoire, opening up a new revenue stream and fostering community spirit in the process. By Annabelle Cloros.
Wasabi in Noosa
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enues hold a special place in society, not just as hubs to eat and drink, but places where consumers can further their understanding on a particular technique or cuisine. Venues are starting to see the value in holding dedicated cooking classes that reflect their offering, whether it’s pasta-making, pickling or utilising local and sustainable produce. Hospitality speaks to Cornersmith’s Alex Elliott-Howery and Wasabi’s Danielle Gjestland about why they decided to tackle the education route, what it really takes to run successful classes and whether they can be a financially beneficial addition for operators. Alex Elliott-Howery is behind two of Sydney’s most-loved cafés, Cornersmith in Marrickville and its vegetarian sibling in Annandale. After cheese-maker Kristen Allan taught some night classes at the Marrickville site, they decided to launch their own offering. “Education has been a big part of what we do, and I had it in the back of my head that it would be something we would expand on further,” says Elliott-Howery. “We ran a couple of pickling classes in the café, but quickly realised it’s not easy to use your space for something it hasn’t been set up for.” The team 34 Hospitality November 2018
went on to open the picklery, located just around the corner from the Marrickville café, which is where the team host classes and make pickles for their cafés, too. Like Elliott-Howery, starting an educational arm of the business was always in the back of restaurateur Danielle Gjestland’s mind. “We hosted a few classes here and there at Wasabi, but it always struck us as odd that Noosa didn’t have a dedicated cooking school of its own,” she says. “With such an abundance of great produce and a reputation for great food in the region, we saw the concept of The Cooking School Noosa as something the town needed.” Although launching cooking classes may appear to be a natural progression for a business, they’re not something operators should jump into. Running a successful program requires a significant amount of investment — both time- and staff-wise. Wasabi chefs run most of the classes at The Cooking School Noosa, and are responsible for prepping all the ingredients and hosting. “Most of the chefs at the school work at Wasabi with the exception of guest chefs we host from other restaurants, either out of state or in Queensland,” says Gjestland.
“With such an abundance of great produce and a reputation for great food in the region, we saw the concept of The Cooking School Noosa as something the town needed.” – Danielle Gjestland
