| COMPARISON CHART | The Clandestine Chef | Regular Cooking Schools | Assembly Line Kitchens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per Student |
$84 to $135 Up to 6 students per class |
$55 to $95 Up to 40 Students Per Class |
NOT A SCHOOL See Below |
| Price per Diner |
$49 Students may invite others to eat the amazing food that they learn to make after the lesson. |
NOT ALLOWED No friends and family are allowed to eat with the students. |
$200 to $300 These kitchens allow you to “assemble” a bunch of meals at one time to eat,they don’t teach you how to cook. |
| Cooking Lesson Location |
YOUR OWN HOME Learning to use your own stove, oven, and other appliances helps you not only become a better cook but a more efficient one. Plus, what could be more comfortable than your own kitchen? |
THEIR BUSINESS Will you be cooking dinner for family and friends at this business? Why learn to use this kitchen and its appliances and not your own? |
THEIR BUSINESS You must spend time cooking at a business location and then haul your food home to put it into the freezer – and they don’t teach you how to make it. |
| Easy To Book Lesson |
YES You look at our beautiful food photographs, click the courses you want to learn, pick the date and time that works for you, and use a credit card to hold your spot. |
NO Every company is different but you usually just get food descriptions and no photographs. Also, paying for classes sometimes involves telephone calls and multiple emails. |
YES These companies usually make it fairly easy to schedule an “assembly time.” |
| Work around YOUR Schedule |
YES You choose the best time for you to learn to cook and the Clandestine Chef does the rest. |
NO The chef tells the students when they will be teaching their lesson and then you must adjust your schedule to fit their needs. |
YES They make it easy to schedule time for you to come in and cook food. |
| 1 on 1 Instruction |
YES We limit our classes to 6 students so that you get all the attention you need to learn to cook wonderful food in your home! |
NO A lone chef among a sea of students can only spend a few minutes with you personally. |
NO INSTRUCTION These places are not schools – we include them in this comparison because people think that they will learn to cook here. You won’t. |
| You Choose Each Course of your Lesson |
YES You choose the cuisine & each course of the lesson. |
NO You choose the cuisine, but the chef chooses the courses. |
YES Although not a lesson, you do get to choose what you will be making. |
| Tailor Lessons on the Spot to Individual Tastes |
YES Our chefs will tailor your lesson to you and your tastes. Like spicy food? We’ll incorporateyour spices! Want healthy food? We’ll cut the calories and fat from the lesson- on the spot! |
NO You are required to follow the recipe their given, no alterations allowed. |
NO Not a chance. Since they prepare all of your ingredients and you are away from your own kitchen, you can’t add anything that isn’t on the recipe card. What a shame. |
| Students Receive Cookbook & Recipe Cards during Lesson |
YES You will receive a beautiful Clandestine Chef Cookbook full of Recipe Cards for the dished you learned to make. |
NO You may receive a computer printed recipe which may get stained and crumpled during your lesson or in the car ride back home. Or you might even receive the recipes via email a few weeks after the class. |
NO You may receive a computer printed recipe which may get stained and crumpled during your lesson or in the car ride back home. |
| All Ingredients and Cookware Provided |
YES Not only do we provide all of the right cookware, we also sell our cookware on our website. If you like what you use during your lesson you can make sure it becomes part of your own kitchen. |
SOMETIMES While these schools do provide ingredients for the lessons they sometimes run out of cutting boards and knives and you must search for them among 40 other students. |
YES You are provided everything you need to assemble your meal by yourself. |
| Discounts on Cookware for your home |
YES You may purchase CIA Cookware at the Clandestine Chef Online store and all students receive student-only discounts. |
NO If you want high quality, lifetime warranty cookware you will need to come back to the Clandestine Chef. |
NO If you want high quality, lifetime warranty cookware you will need to come back to the Clandestine Chef. |
| Great for Parents |
YES Since our Chefs come to you, you don’t need to worry about the kids and getting a babysitter – they can even participate! This is a great family event. |
NO You better keep your babysitter’s telephone number handy, you will need it. Kids are not allowed at these classes and care is not provided. |
NO You better keep your babysitter’s telephone number handy, you will need it. |
| Offer Gift Cards that can be used for Cooking Lessons & Cookware |
YES Our gift cards are amazing gifts for friends, family, and associates. What makes them even more amazing is that you can use them to buy cookware too. That means if the recipient doesn’t feel like taking a lesson, they can still enjoy your gift! |
NO Their gift cards are only good for cooking lessons and this may be a terrible gift for people that don’t want to learn to cook or who already know how. Too bad they can’t be used for cookware, too! |
NO Their gift cards are only good for cooking food in their kitchens. You better know your recipient well enough to know they want to spend time like this. |
| More than Just a Cooking School |
YES We love food, wine, fun, and our community! Visit our blogto learn more about local food events, great restaurants, places to avoid, and the daily lives of our wonderful chefs. We are planning on offering some amazing events in the future – check our website often. |
NO This company teaches classes and that is about it. |
NOT A SCHOOL The company hosts a kitchen and prepares ingredients, that isall you should expect. |
| Students Have Fun |
YES Since the lesson is at your home with your friends and family you are guaranteed a good time.* *Guaranteed only if you like your friends and family. |
DEPENDS It’s Russian Roulette – you might be with a great group of people or you might be caught in the middle of a crowd that scares or annoys the bejabbers out of you. Good luck! |
NO What could be more fun that standing in someone else’s kitchen, hunched over the stove, while you cook 12 meals and pay them for the privilege! |
| Offers More Value |
WE DO! Our chefs come to your home, on your schedule, to teach you the food you want to learn how to make in your own kitchen. We give you personalized attention, teach you how to “make it your own” and provide cookbooks and recipe cards at no additional cost. You don’t need to find parking, a baby sitter, or even shop for high quality cookware – we take care of all of that! How much is personalization and convenience worth to you? We think it means a great deal. |
THEY DON’T Sure, their classes may cost you $20 less but what are you losing? How much is your time worth? Where are the kids? What if you are only learning one dish you really want to make and are forced to watch 3 other dishes being prepared you can’t stand? The Clandestine Chef values your time and makes life as simple for you as possible. |
THEY DON’T If you already know how to cook great food then you might not need the services that the Clandestine Chef offers. Then again, if you know how to cook, you don’t need these assembly line kitchens either! These kitchens profit by making you think cooking is a difficult chore and that food should be “assembled.” Our school teaches you to “make life simply delicious” and we believe that food is made and not put together… wouldn’t you agree? We sell you skills so that you won’t have to keep “assembling” food. Our best student is one that no longer needs us. |