How to sell baking and cooking classes online

Baking and cooking classes have a built-in pitch: guests go home with something they made, and the skill to make it again. They also have costs that other workshops don’t. Ingredients are bought for a number of people, kitchen space limits every session, and one guest who doesn’t turn up is a tray of ingredients you’ve already paid for.

This guide is for home bakers, chefs and cooking studios who want to fill classes without spending their evenings on messages.

Choose formats that fit your kitchen

Your kitchen, not demand, usually decides how many people a class can take. Pick formats around it:

• Hands-on classes. Each guest, or each pair, works at their own station. The most popular format, and the most limited by space.
• Demonstration classes. You cook, guests watch, taste and take notes. You can seat more people, and charge less per head.
• Themed one-offs. Festive sweets before Diwali, Christmas cakes and plum cakes in December, celebration cakes before Valentine’s Day. These sell themselves when announced a few weeks ahead.
• Kids’ baking. Cupcakes, cookies and pizza, often in school holidays.
• Multi-level series. Bread basics, then sourdough, then laminated doughs. Guests who enjoyed level one are your easiest sales for level two.

Hands-on and demonstration seats can be sold side by side. On Zittle, make them two ticket packages on the same event, such as Hands-on and Watch and taste, each with its own price. If the venue counts seats Per Package, each has its own number of tickets, so stations and chairs never get mixed up.

Price around ingredients

Ingredients are usually the biggest cost per guest in a cooking class, and they change with the menu. Work out the price for each class rather than using one price for everything:

1. Cost the ingredients per guest for that menu, plus a little for practice batches and spills.
2. Add packaging if guests take their bakes home.
3. Add your share of the kitchen, gas and electricity, and your time.
4. Add your margin.

How to price a workshop walks through the method with an example. If a class uses premium ingredients, such as couverture chocolate or saffron, say so in the description. It explains the price and sells the class.

Plan for final numbers

You need to know how many people are coming before you shop. Three things help:

• Take payment when guests book. Paid bookings are firm numbers. A spot held over WhatsApp isn’t.
• Take a deposit if the full price puts people off. On Zittle, set the package’s Payment Type to take part of the price online and the rest at the class. See Should you take a deposit for your workshop?
• Stop bookings when you shop. If you buy ingredients the day before, pause new bookings for that date with Pause Slot on the Products page, so nobody books after you’ve shopped. See Pause or cancel a session.

Set a cancellation rule too, and make it visible. See Add your policies.

Answer dietary questions before they’re asked

Cooking classes get more questions than any other workshop, and most are about food. Put the answers in the event’s Overview and FAQ’s:

• Eggless or vegetarian? Many guests ask about eggless baking. If your class is eggless, put it in the title, where it’s seen in searches and on your event cards.
• Allergens. Nuts, gluten, dairy. Say what the recipes contain, and whether you can adapt them.
• What to bring. Apron, containers for taking food home, a notebook.
• Recipes. Whether guests get printed or digital recipes afterwards.
• Age. Set Age From and Age To on the event. Kitchens have hot ovens and sharp knives, and parents will want to know.

How to write a workshop description that sells covers the rest.

Make your schedule easy to book

Regular classes are easier to fill than one-off dates, because regulars plan around them. On Zittle, set a repeating schedule once, such as every Saturday at 11, and your booking website always shows the next dates. See Add dates and times and Running a weekly workshop.

For festive classes, add the dates a few weeks ahead and promote them early. A seasonal class that sells out is the best kind of problem: when guests tap Notify Me on a full session, Zittle messages them on WhatsApp if a seat opens up. If the waitlist grows, add a second session. See Guests waiting for seats.

Sell where your guests are

Food sells on Instagram and WhatsApp. A short reel of dough coming together or a cake being cut does more than any poster.

• Share your booking link in your Instagram bio and in your WhatsApp groups and status. See How to promote a workshop on WhatsApp.
• Use campaign links to see which posts bring bookings.
• Ask guests for a review and a photo of what they made. Food photos from real guests are the most convincing thing on your page. See How to get more reviews for your workshops.

Companies also book cooking classes for team outings, often with their own menu. See Selling workshops to companies.