Becoming a Cooking Tutor

Becoming a Cooking Tutor Teaching Cooking at Your Students’ Homes ChaptersHow to Set Your Rates as a Cooking TutorHow Can You Find Students for Your Cooking Tutorials?Teaching a Cooking Course RemotelyTeaching Cooking Tutorials at a Student’s Home“In cooking, as in all the arts, simplicity is the sign of perfection. Make [food] simple and let things taste of what they are.” - CornoskyMore and more people are changing the way they eat. A lot of people want to learn to cook for themselves. However, attending a culinary school or culinary institute can be very costly and most home cooks can't afford it.That’s where you come in!Would you like to teach a cooking class or workshop but don’t know where to begin?In this guide, we’ll explain how you can help people to start cooking delicious meals. GiovanniCooking Teacher 4.83 (12) £25/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors HalimaCooking Teacher £12/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors HakimCooking Teacher 5.00 (5) £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors VincenzoCooking Teacher £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors GinellaCooking Teacher £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ArronCooking Teacher 5.00 (2) £9/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors JoshuaCooking Teacher 5.00 (5) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors FlickCooking Teacher 5.00 (1) £50/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsHow to Set Your Rates as a Cooking TutorIf you’re not doing this out of the kindness of your own heart, you’ll probably want to earn some money as you help others become better cooks. Make sure you factor the cost of the ingredients that you buy into your rates. (Source: peter-facebook)The problem is you need to decide on how much you should charge. You don’t want to charge too much and drive away potential students but you also need to earn enough to live on our make the whole endeavour worthwhile.Don’t worry! We’re going to help you work out how much you should charge by considering a few different factors. We can’t just say that a cooking tutorial should cost a certain amount as there are so many different factors to consider.Here are some things you should keep in mind:Competition: the first thing to consider when setting your rates is to think about how much everyone else is charging i.e. the other cooking tutors in town. Don’t compare yourself to a cooking school as you’re not offering the same thing.Location: the cost of cooking tutorials will vary from town to town. After all, the cost of living is much higher in London, for example. Specialisa tion: baking, Japanese cuisine, etc. The more specialised you are, the more your expertise will be worth.Student Level: beginners’ lessons tend to cost less than intermediate or advanced classes as they include simpler menu planning and less gourmet cooking.Materials: If you’re providing materials, you can also factor this into the cost of your lessons.Where the lessons take place: If you’re travelling to your students’ homes to teach, you need to factor transport costs into your rates. If you’re renting a room to teach in, you’ll also need to consider it.Experience: If you’re not very experienced, you’ll have to lower your rates. As you gain experience, you can increase your rates. Qualifications: If you’re highly qualified, you adjust your rates to reflect this.Student Feedback: Tutors with glowing reviews can charge more, especially if they can’t teach everyone who’s after lessons from them. Take the time to carefully think about the different criteria befor e setting your rates. You can’t decide your hourly rates at random. You need to think about your outgoings, too.Find out more about setting your rates as a private cooking tutor.How Can You Find Students for Your Cooking Tutorials?You'll need to make a name for yourself. Just like in any other job, you need to get your network to work for you. Start by talking about your new job to those around you. You friends and family need to know what you’re doing. They’ll be the first to start singing your praises to people they know. Make sure that everyone knows that you're looking for students for your cooking tutorials. (Source: Pexels)You can also try out your workshops or tutorials on them if you need feedback. Your friends and family can also spread the word for you. Word out mouth is a great way to make yourself known. People are more likely to go with a tutor that’s been recommended to them by somebody they know.Don’t hesitate to tell your neighbours, too, as they might be interested. If this isn’t the case, your name might come up if they’re having a conversation about cooking with some of their friends.Of course, this isn’t the only way to make yourself known. You need to make sure that you’re the first person anyone thinks of when they decide they want to learn how to cook.You can use the internet to network, too. Create a cooking blog, use social media (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc), publish videos on a YouTube channel, or offer your services on sites like Craigslist and Gumtree.Mak e an account on Superprof! It’s free and is a great way to find students looking for a tutor. The most important thing is to make sure that your profile has all the key details.If you live in a big city, have a look in local shops for community notice boards where you can post an ad or put up a poster: bakeries, butchers, grocers, supermarkets, etc.Make sure you have a presence on every channel so that potential customers can find you!Learn how to find students for your private cooking tutorials.Teaching a Cooking Course RemotelyHave you considered teaching students remotely via webcam?This requires a bit more organisation and planning since you won’t be by your student’s side but it is doable. To teach online cooking tutorials, you need to plan and be organised. (Source: StartupStockPhotos)Remote cooking classes can save students time as they don’t need to go anywhere and it’s a good idea for those that don’t have a huge kitchen.  This can also save you a lot of time because you don’t have to leave the house or spend money on travel. Similarly, you can work more flexible hours and schedule more lessons each week.You don’t have to worry about where you live, either. Your students can find you from anywhere in the world. This allows you to broaden your reach. You could offer plenty of different styles and types of cooking to anyone from anywhere.All you need is a computer, webcam, microphone, video conferencing software, an internet connection, and culinary skills!Before culinary classes online, you should send an email to your students to tell them what they’ll need. Explain the ingredients they’ll need to make today’s recipe. Before the very first lesson, y ou may want to schedule a call to test that all your equipment works and that a lesson is feasible, show them how you like to work, and explain what the lessons will be like.You should also cover the focus of the lesson: knife skills, baking and pastry arts, braising, kitchen cooking, chef training, cooking vegetables, basic cooking, culinary management, restaurant management, etc.  This means that the lesson will run much more smoothly.Things will take a little longer in online cooking classes than a face-to-face tutorial. Without you being there to stop them doing something wrong, they may have to repeat certain steps. Make sure you help them as much as you can. It’s difficult to cultivate a warm and friendly environment over a distance.While students might be interested in learning recipes and cooking techniques at culinary schools, online cooking courses can be an effective way to learn new cooking methods and online classes tend to be cheaper than cooking lessons at prestigio us cooking schools. Aspiring chefs will be enthusiastic about learning to cook but that doesn't mean they have the means to pay for expensive culinary training.Find out more about teaching cooking remotely.Teaching Cooking Tutorials at a Student’s HomeBeing a good cook is one thing, being a good teacher is another. Much like with cooking itself, make sure you're well prepared. (Source: StartupStockPhotos)You don’t need any qualifications to teach your students how to cook. However, it’s a good idea to practise your teaching techniques on your friends and family first so you know what to expect.Start by explaining what you offer:What are you going to teach? Traditional cooking, for example? You decide!How many people can attend a tutorial? You might want to start with one-on-one tutorials. You probably don’t want more than three students at a time unless you have a dedicated classroom.How long do the lessons last?What is the goal of the lesson?What equipment do they need?Once you’ve established all this, you’re ready to start teaching. Your first challenge will be to adjust to a new kitchen every lesson. Each kitchen is different and some of them won’t be necessarily spacious. The equipment is different in each one so you’ll need to be adaptable when cooking.As long as you carefull y plan every lesson on cooking before you get started, you’ll be fine!Find out more about teaching private cooking tutorials in a student's house.If you'd like to become a tutor on Superprof, remember that there are three main types of private tutorial you can offer: face-to-face tutorials, online tutorials, and group tutorials. There are pros and cons to each of these for both the student and the tutor so you'll need to decide which combination of them you'll offer.