🍪 Anatomy of a Cookie Class.
🤑 Simply put - cookie classes are high margin offerings - and we love 'em.
Plus - let's be honest, if you're okay with talking in front of groups, cookie classes can be really fun. You get the date nighters, the girls-day-outters, the mom and her kiddos, the mom trying to get away from her kiddos, the bakers looking to expand their offerings, the bakers looking to hate royal icing consistencies - and just about everything in between.
💸 And at $75/ticket here in the nation's capital, it's not a bad way to spend 1.5 hours on a Saturday!
So let's bake down... I mean, breakdown, the anatomy of what one of our cookie classes looks like. Now - if you teach a cookie class, it could (and probably will) look different, but if you're new to cookie classes or it's been on your list of things to try - then you might learn a few things from our mistakes and the pro-tips list below!
- 🎟️ We use Eventbrite for tickets. It's not free, but it saves a lot of admin work. You can pass the fees along, but we absorb those.
- 📬 We send 2 reminder emails before class (in addition to Eventbrite's reminders), and one email after class with tips, shopping lists, recipes, and a link to social review sites.
- 💵 We have a full-refund policy that ends 7 days prior to class. After that, it's a class credit. No refunds on the day of class if you're a no-show.
- ⏰ Baking day starts the day before typically. We build out a spreadsheet to do the cookie math.
- 🍪 Each class has 6 - 7 cookies, 4 icings bags, and 1 sprinkle condiment cup.
- 👀 We create a PPT (PowerPoint) presentation before class to walk people through the steps.
- 🕐 Show up an hour early to set up. Worst case, someone shows up early and you're ready to go. Best case - they show up on time leaving you ample time to generate some marketing content (heyo Reels!).
- 📺 Corrie brings a 32 inch cheapy-cheap tv and HDMI connector for her computer so we can project the PPT for attendees.
- 👥 Use nametags and place groups towards the back and singles towards the front - it'll help with noise control.
- ️🎶 Snag a Google Home or a Bluetooth speaker for some ambient music (think: piano tracks). It'll help with the silence.
- 📍 We don't let them take the scribes home.
- 📃 Add a piping practice sheet! It eats up a ton of time and lets people practice a bit. We laminated them so we can reuse them each class.
- 📦 We do provide a take-home box + a ziplock baggy for them to snag their icing bags. Hey - less cleanup for us!
- 🗯️ We don't decorate live in front of them. Corrie walks around while I narrate (annoyingly), but people seem to like it!
- 📸 Bring a DSLR for photos - but tell everyone they have to check your Facebook Page to find them - heyo growth strategy!
- ❌ We only cancel classes that have 4 or fewer attendees. We offer them to be rolled into the next class or a full refund.
- 🗓 We call a class cancelation 5-days prior to class.
- 💰 We offer discounts for seats we can't fill or for last-minute class credits requests - these are offered to past attendees or Corrie's client list.
- 🎄 Holiday classes are the easiest to fill. Summer seems to be the slowest time for us.
Hope that helps some of you considering teaching classes. It's a blast. In fact, we give you everything we use in class in The Cookie College (a membership plan we offer as an addendum to everything you get for free in the Sugar Cookie Marketing Group. You can find out more about that here.
Got any more ideas to add to this list? Feel free to