Planning Guide
How to Organise a Cooking Event: A Guide for Instructors & Hosts
Step-by-step guide to organising cooking events with exact headcount planning, dietary management, and kitchen logistics. Free RSVP tools included.
Organising a cooking event isn't like other events. You need exact headcounts before you shop for ingredients. You need to know dietary restrictions upfront. You need to plan kitchen stations around your capacity. This guide walks you through everything from choosing your format to managing the logistics that actually matter — with practical tools built specifically for cooking communities.
Your cooking event format directly determines your kitchen requirements, ingredient shopping, and how many people you can realistically accommodate. Start here before anything else.
Choose your event format
Are you running a hands-on cooking class (everyone cooks)? A demonstration-based event (you cook, they watch)? A supper club (people eat what's pre-prepared)? A bake-along (people bake at home alongside you)? A wine pairing or food tour? Each format has different headcount limits and ingredient needs.
Count your usable kitchen stations
If it's hands-on, how many cooking stations can you actually fit? How many hobs, ovens, and prep surfaces do you have access to? A typical home kitchen supports 4-6 people comfortably; a commercial kitchen might support 20-30. This number is your real capacity ceiling, not your venue's fire code.
Decide on prep vs. from-scratch
Full from-scratch classes require more time and station space. Pre-prepped ingredients reduce both. Be honest about what you can deliver — overambitious menus are the #1 reason cooking events run late or stress instructors.
Set your realistic headcount range
Minimum: where the event feels full enough to be worth doing. Maximum: where it stops being hands-on instruction and becomes crowd management. For most cooking classes, this is 8-16 people. For supper clubs, 12-24. For demonstrations, 30-50.
Frequently asked questions
How far in advance should I plan a cooking event?
For a regular monthly class: 3-4 weeks. For a special themed dinner or advanced class: 6-8 weeks. For a weekly recurring class: plan the first month fully, then plan subsequent months on a rolling 2-week basis. Your RSVP deadline should be 5-7 days before (to allow time for ingredient shopping), so set promotions accordingly.
What's the maximum number of people I can teach to cook at once?
This depends entirely on your kitchen capacity, not your venue size. Count your actual cooking stations (hobs, prep surfaces, ovens). A typical home kitchen: 4-6 people. A commercial kitchen: 20-30 people. A restaurant with multiple stations: 40-50. Each person needs actual space to chop, mix, and cook — you can't pack them in like a lecture. If you exceed this, switch to a demonstration format instead of hands-on.
How do I collect dietary information without it being complicated?
Use Who's In's custom fields on your RSVP form to ask three mandatory questions: (1) Any allergies we need to know about? (2) Any dietary preferences (vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian/etc.)? (3) Any other dietary restrictions? Keep it simple, make it required, and export your responses into a spreadsheet immediately after your RSVP deadline closes. This spreadsheet becomes your shopping list.
How much food should I prepare for different dietary groups?
Shop for exact headcount in each category. If 12 people RSVP and 3 are vegetarian: prepare 3 vegetarian portions and 9 meat portions (or substitute). Don't over-prep 'just in case' — this is how you waste money and ingredients. Use your dietary spreadsheet to portion everything precisely. Account for 20-30% weight loss in prep (peeling, trimming, etc.).
What's the ideal class size for beginner cooking?
6-10 people for hands-on instruction. This allows you to give personal feedback, assist with knife skills, and notice when someone's struggling without anyone feeling rushed. Anything larger requires either a co-instructor, a demonstration format, or significant prep work to reduce hands-on complexity. Start small and scale up as you get more confident.
How much prep work should I do before attendees arrive?
For a hands-on class: pre-measure all ingredients into labeled containers, prep any components that don't benefit from being fresh (stocks, dressings, pre-cooked grains), and set up all your stations. Attendees should spend 80% of their time cooking/learning, 20% on prep. For a demonstration or supper club: do all the cooking yourself in advance, then reheat/plate on the day. The format determines your prep load.
How do I handle last-minute cancellations without wasting food?
Always keep a waitlist on Who's In. When someone cancels, the first person on the waitlist gets notified automatically and can fill the spot (usually within hours). If you can't fill the slot, adjust your portions the morning-of based on your final headcount. This is why exact headcount tracking matters — you can scale down flexibly. For shelf-stable ingredients, return them. For fresh items bought too close to the date, offer them at cost to friends or donate them.
Should I charge for cooking events? If so, how much?
Charge when there are real costs: venue rental, premium ingredients, specialist instructor, or high-value skills. Typical pricing: beginner community class £15-25, intermediate 3-hour class £30-50, special supper club £40-80 per person depending on ingredients and venue. Free or pay-what-you-wish works for community building and recurring weekly events. Who's In supports both free and paid events. Always be transparent about pricing and what's included.
How do I prevent no-shows at cooking events?
Three touchpoints: (1) RSVP confirmation email immediately (include date, time, address, what to bring). (2) 7-day reminder asking them to confirm attendance. (3) Who's In's automatic 48-hour reminder. The 48-hour reminder is automatic and reduces no-shows by 30-40% on its own. For paid events, charge a small cancellation fee. For free events, a friendly reminder is usually enough.
What's the best tool for managing cooking event RSVPs?
Who's In is built specifically for community organisers and works perfectly for cooking events. It's free, requires no app download for attendees, supports custom dietary questions, shows you exact headcount before your RSVP deadline, sends automatic 48-hour reminders, and works on mobile. Used by cooking class instructors, supper club hosts, and food experience organisers worldwide. Create your event at whos-in.app/create.
Ready to collect RSVPs for your cooking events?
Who's In is free, takes 2 minutes to set up, and requires no app download for attendees.
