Who moved my cheese? help rebuild cooking school
Donation protected
Local Cooking School Needs Help to Rebuild #SmallBusinessRelief
Dear Bay Area Community,
Like all of you, I never in a million years would have guessed that our world would have turned upside down. And now, I am reaching out to our San Carlos/Redwood City community for help.
Just four years ago, I risked it all and launched my own cooking school, Explore Culinary Arts where I funneled my passion for food to create an amazing experience for teams to learn to cook together. And like so many others, I was forced to close its doors in early March.
And now in these wild times, I’m redesigning my school to stay alive and offer even more to our community. I now realize that I can reach many more and I am taking this tumultuous opportunity to turn my business on its head, but I need help.
With the generosity of our community, I hope that Explore Culinary Arts will pivot to online cooking videos and a cookbook that I can share with all of you. Right now, I am raising funds for five things:
#1 Food Supplies - I need basic inventory of groceries for recipe creation and testing that will be used at my school and in my cookbook initiative. It is also possible that I might ultimately need to rent a commercial facility as I scale.
#2 Equipment - to create content for my new online cooking school. The list is endless, but to get started I need a camera, tripod, microphone, lighting and wireless headphones. My small home kitchen may need some ergonomic upgrades, as well.
#3 Permits, Licenses and Insurance - these will ensure that I am fully compliant with San Mateo County regulations. I might consider starting a Cottage Food Operation. This comes with associated costs, as well.
#4 Updated Website - I need a writer and programmer to merge my current sites (currysutra.com, exploreculinaryarts.com) into one new site with all of our new content.
#5 Cookbook - photography, recipe R&D + writing, publishing, and as mentioned above in #1 ingredient procurement.
Note: Initiatives #4 and #5 will also allow me to pay wages to current staff members interested in assisting with these specific projects. If we need to increase our goal, we will revise the campaign fund amount.
About Me:
My name is Teena and with every ounce of my being, I eat, sleep and breathe COOKING. I want to continue to share this passion with my community.
From the beginning, my life has revolved around food. I grew up in my immigrant parents’ restaurants in the Midwest and it was only natural that I would also turn food into my profession. I began teaching cooking in the late 1990s and brought my love of food to the Bay Area in 2003 with my brand, Currysutra. I have taught numerous individuals how to cook over the last 2 decades and now due to Covid19 circumstances with shelter in place and social distancing, I will need to find "new cheese", as a great wise friend recently suggested to me, so that I can still offer culinary experiences in a new segment via remote learning. So on that note, I appreciate your support and will teach you various cuisines, but just know my heart belongs to Indian fare with a soft spot for amazing vegetarian and vegan options. And oh yeah, my cinnamon rolls (buns) will rock your world!
Stay healthy and happy cooking,
Chef T.
#SmallBusinessRelief
Chef Teena
Corporate Team Building Culinary Events
My Kitchen
Dear Bay Area Community,
Like all of you, I never in a million years would have guessed that our world would have turned upside down. And now, I am reaching out to our San Carlos/Redwood City community for help.
Just four years ago, I risked it all and launched my own cooking school, Explore Culinary Arts where I funneled my passion for food to create an amazing experience for teams to learn to cook together. And like so many others, I was forced to close its doors in early March.
And now in these wild times, I’m redesigning my school to stay alive and offer even more to our community. I now realize that I can reach many more and I am taking this tumultuous opportunity to turn my business on its head, but I need help.
With the generosity of our community, I hope that Explore Culinary Arts will pivot to online cooking videos and a cookbook that I can share with all of you. Right now, I am raising funds for five things:
#1 Food Supplies - I need basic inventory of groceries for recipe creation and testing that will be used at my school and in my cookbook initiative. It is also possible that I might ultimately need to rent a commercial facility as I scale.
#2 Equipment - to create content for my new online cooking school. The list is endless, but to get started I need a camera, tripod, microphone, lighting and wireless headphones. My small home kitchen may need some ergonomic upgrades, as well.
#3 Permits, Licenses and Insurance - these will ensure that I am fully compliant with San Mateo County regulations. I might consider starting a Cottage Food Operation. This comes with associated costs, as well.
#4 Updated Website - I need a writer and programmer to merge my current sites (currysutra.com, exploreculinaryarts.com) into one new site with all of our new content.
#5 Cookbook - photography, recipe R&D + writing, publishing, and as mentioned above in #1 ingredient procurement.
Note: Initiatives #4 and #5 will also allow me to pay wages to current staff members interested in assisting with these specific projects. If we need to increase our goal, we will revise the campaign fund amount.
About Me:
My name is Teena and with every ounce of my being, I eat, sleep and breathe COOKING. I want to continue to share this passion with my community.
From the beginning, my life has revolved around food. I grew up in my immigrant parents’ restaurants in the Midwest and it was only natural that I would also turn food into my profession. I began teaching cooking in the late 1990s and brought my love of food to the Bay Area in 2003 with my brand, Currysutra. I have taught numerous individuals how to cook over the last 2 decades and now due to Covid19 circumstances with shelter in place and social distancing, I will need to find "new cheese", as a great wise friend recently suggested to me, so that I can still offer culinary experiences in a new segment via remote learning. So on that note, I appreciate your support and will teach you various cuisines, but just know my heart belongs to Indian fare with a soft spot for amazing vegetarian and vegan options. And oh yeah, my cinnamon rolls (buns) will rock your world!
Stay healthy and happy cooking,
Chef T.
#SmallBusinessRelief
Chef Teena
Corporate Team Building Culinary Events
My Kitchen
Organizer
Teena Arora
Organizer
Redwood City, CA
