Interactive Culinary Experiences FAQs

What interactive culinary experiences do you offer?

Wine and cooking experiences with a focus on team building are among the fastest growing services offered by Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen. Several of our most popular are:

In Vino Veritas (Kitchen Facility Not Required During Delivery)

An interactive wine program and tasting game designed to get you and your colleagues working on communication skills while tasting some of the most unique and exciting wines of the year. Guaranteed to get your group thinking about how they get their point across in a market where being completely understood can mean the difference between success and failure. In addition, we will take your team through the intricacies and etiquette of tasting and appreciating wine, an invaluable skill in today’s social business culture.

Sushi Factory (Kitchen Facility Not Required During Delivery)

The Sushi Factory is an interactive culinary challenge that engages participants in a dynamic and enjoyable sushi making game that not only facilitates communication and networking, but also produces dinner. The objectives of Sushi Factory include: managing the effects of quantity on quality in production, improving problem solving skills in a fluid environment, building community and fostering camaraderie among a diverse corporate team, and having fun.

KTK’s Cook-Off (Kitchen Facility Required)

The hottest culinary concept on the market today. Your group will be divided into teams and put face-to-face (and skillet-to-skillet) in a timed Iron-Chef style culinary competition. Our Cook-Off is the ideal program to get your team’s competitive juices flowing. Following the heated and festive culinary duel, your guests sit down to enjoy the meal they have prepared while a panel of judges rates their creations.

“What’s Missing?” Culinary Challenge (Kitchen Facility Required)

Even a novice cook can make something delicious from a successful recipe. However, what if the recipe is incomplete or missing an ingredient? The “What’s Missing?” Culinary Challenge explores your team’s abilities to overcome obstacles in creating a menu from recipes where key ingredients have been omitted. The challenge is in determining the missing ingredient or working together to come up with an ingredient that fits even better. The “What’s Missing?” Culinary Challenge is the perfect culinary experience for a company looking to create a climate that nurtures creativity.

We are constantly growing and perfecting our program list, contact kirk@travelingkitchen.com or (636) 448-8721 to find out what exciting programs we’re currently featuring, to discuss your company’s needs or for pricing information. We are always open to retrofitting an existing culinary program to match your team’s developmental needs, as well as creating new programs designed specifically to reflect your company’s real world business challenges.

Where do you conduct your programs?

While Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen is based in St. Louis, Missouri, but we have facilitated our cooking and wine experiences in cooking schools, private residences and hotel/conference centers throughout the United States.

In general, how does one of your programs work?

Each Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen event is custom-designed to accommodate your goals and budget. We understand that everyone’s needs are different, which is why Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen works with each client to design the perfect culinary event. We work with groups from 10 to 200 or more, and can do events any time of day, any day of the week. Here’s how one of our culinary programs works:

Choose a Program & Set a Date:

We have a varied set of program options available to meet most business team’s action learning needs. Contact us to select the best experience for your group or allow us to develop a program specifically tailored to your requirements. For the best chance at availability, we recommend a 2-3 month lead-time in scheduling you event. However, should you not have that much time, don’t hesitate to contact us, as we’ll do everything we can to make your date work.

Book a Venue:

Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen has experience delivering their culinary programs just about anywhere. Choose from one of our programs designed for delivery in a kitchen environment, and we’ll find the perfect venue for your event, or select one of our events that we can recreate in your hotel or conference center’s ballroom.

Fine Tune the Details:

Each event has a unique flavor. Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen helps organize every detail—from party favors for your guests to wine pairing with your menu. We make the process easy for you and the event unforgettable for your guests.

Memorable Event (varies by program):

Your group is greeted with an hors d’oeuvres and nice glass of wine while you mingle. We will then stage a cooking demonstration and review the menu. The demo highlights useful cooking tips and tricks. Guests form teams, designated by you or picked by us, and begin to work on their recipes at designated stations. For each team, a cooking station is equipped with recipes, and the ingredients and tools you need to create and learn by doing. After cooking together, Iron-Chef style, for about one and a half hours, with our chefs on hand to coach you, sit down, relax, and eat.

We’ll act as judges to determine the winning group- and best of all, Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen takes care of all the clean up.

Event to Remember:

Each guest receives Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen recipes so they can show off their new skills to friends and family. In addition, we offer custom party favors in attractive packages, certificates and prizes for the winners and digital photos of the event so your group remembers the occasion.

For what occasions do your clients use one of your culinary events?

“A business cannot be more successful than the sum of the human relationships it has fostered and nurtured.” –Danny Meyer, author of Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business.

It’s unrealistic to think that the day-to-day performance of your business is anything other than a reflection of how motivated (or unmotivated) your managers make your employees feel. So while an entertaining and rewarding event for your team shouldn’t require an occasion, some of the popular ones are: celebrating achievements, office parties, client appreciation, employee recruiting, holiday events and networking.

Will Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen arrange for wine? Party rentals?

We are happy to arrange for wine pairings with all of our cooking events, as well as for the wine tasting challenge ‘In Vino Veritas’. We can provide wine pairing suggestions to accompany your selected menu, and can also recommend wines based on your preferences. We can arrange for the purchase and shipment of wine to your event location directly through our suppliers, or your preferred wine retailer. For an additional fee, we are happy to order and arrange for delivery of party rental equipment for your event (plates, stemware, tables, chairs, linens, etc.).

How much does one of your programs cost?

Final cost for a Kirk’s Traveling Kitchen team building program depends on a number of factors, including: cooking experience, location, number of participants, venue specifics, beverage choices, rentals and any travel costs. We’re happy to provide a detailed pricing proposal with any inquiry.