📣 Life Update (getting personal and vulnerable)…I started a kids cooking school on the side and am now going all in!!
Junior Chefs Kitchen provides hands-on cooking classes infused with nutrition education for ages 2-18.
Some of you know that I opened the JCK brick-and-mortar Studio in Lincoln Park, Chicago November 2023 while still working full time in tech sales (and trying to be a present mother to my 3 young kids). As of last week, I have decided to go for it and work full time at JCK!!! This is a nerve racking decision but the right one for me, my family and JCK. The demand has exceeded expectations and there are big growth plans so I want to be "all in" (a la Scott Galloway or the sharks on #sharktank).
And in the 9 months we’ve been open, we’ve done some incredible things:
📚 Doubled our after school partnerships - now in 16 north side programs, both CPS and private schools
🎉 Forged a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago
🥑 Created over 200 teaching recipes
👨🍳 Cooked, ate and taught over 150 kids per week in studio classes and after school programs
🌞 Summer camp was 90% sold out (our first summer!!) teaching over 1,250 kids!
🍽 Partnered with 15 restaurants for Field Trips
🍪 Helped a few Girl Scout Troops earn badges (more to come there!!)
🧁 Baked tens of thousands cupcakes for our Birthday Parties.
🥫 Donated over 400 pounds of food via our partnership with Nourishing Hope
🥦 Composted over 815 pounds with WasteNot, Inc.
Here’s why you should check us out - in person, on social or subscribe to our weekly newsletter:
💙 We give parents a break from battling with their kids to try new foods!!
💜 Our Junior Chefs learn life skills - like knife safety, cooperation, patience, teamwork, collaboration, math, and science.
❤️ We are the only kids cooking school in Chicagoland that cooks with meat, fish and poultry as young as 2 years old.
🧡 JCK works with a Registered Dietitian that ensures our recipes are nutrient dense and provides the curriculum for staff to share these factoids.
And if you’re still reading 🤣, here’s what’s next: scouting two (2) additional studios in Chicago (West Loop, South Loop, Wicker Park) with the goal to start franchising in late 2025. I want to give local entrepreneurs a way to tap their network with a proven, scalable business model that earns 30% + net margin with a powerful mission.
Please join me in this adventure:
✔️ Subscribe to our weekly Wednesday newsletter full of recipes, nutrition info and happenings around town.
✔️ Follow us on Instagram / Facebook for daily info & bts reels.
✔️ Join a class! Your first class is 40% off with code JCKFall2024
And there are SO many people that have helped along the way I’d like to thank: Jonathon Cordell Amy Hoffar Cheronis Genevieve Custer Weeks Abby Phelps Philip Rosenzweig Lena Eliopoulos Michael Wexler Michael Chin David Blitz LG Group & many more!
Happy Cooking!
https://lnkd.in/gN8e8peD
Supporting women to earn more but do less, to have it all without having to DO it all | Career & Leadership Coach | Trainer | Data Consultant
3moI did all of our family baking as a child and loved it. I think it also helps develop fine motor skills, it's a lot of fun, and there's something yummy to eat at the end.