Team Building Cooking Experiences
Specialty Challenges
Iron Chef Challenge – Hands-On
Our most popular Culinary Team Building Event, the “Iron Chef Challenge,” is a hands-on culinary event that your group will absolutely love. The Iron Chef Challenge is a celebratory team bonding experience in which guests work in teams to prepare delicious three to five course meals. Teams will be recreating what one may find on a five-star restaurant menu and will culminate in a wonderful gourmet meal. Your group will be divided into teams and face off in a timed cooking competition that will rely on creativity and teamwork. Each of the teams will be given their secret ingredients for their courses and will be responsible for prepping, cooking, and presenting one to two dishes to complete a three to five course meal. Our professional chefs provide hands-on instruction and support as your team works together to create their dishes. Each team will need to pick an Executive Chef of the team the rest of the team will be Sous Chefs.
Next, they will need to create a recipe name and come up with a list of ingredients based on the secret ingredients given. They will have a certain time frame to then prep, cook and come up with a beautiful presentation of their dishes. The Executive Chef of each team will stand in front of the group and talk about their experiences and how they overcame the challenges that they faced. They will also discuss the new skills that they learned and the fun that they had.
Now comes the best part, dining on the wonderful meal that each team created. Our chefs stay with each of the teams and guide the teams as they create their wonderful dishes sharing with them culinary tips along the way. The Stocked Pot & Company knows that the kitchen is an ideal venue to achieve your goals in team building. Our events will challenge your family and co-workers and are always fun.
Only one team will remain supreme!
Pizza Making Party – Hands-On
Making Pizza is a delicious and creative team building activity for your entire team.
The teams get warmed up with a fun icebreaker to help get their creative juices flowing. The team will prepare and cook a two-course meal. They will be creating a pizza, calzone or Stromboli based on the ingredients given. Our chef will guide the team as they create their wonderful creations, and we will end with sharing the meal together.
Having fun in our kitchen making pizza is an event as well as a culinary feast! The teams will prepare salad dressing paired with a freshly tossed garden salad. Next, they will make bread dough to make their very own personal pizza, calzones, or Stromboli. Finally, they will prepare tomato sauce from scratch. You will learn step by step the process of crafting the perfect pizza pie. We will put the most popular toppings together and add a few gourmet toppings too. Our chefs will guide the teams as they create their wonderful masterpiece. The team will divide into groups when making the pizza dough and will join back together to make the tomato sauce from scratch. We end the event with a wonderful pizza party, say goodbye to frozen and delivery pizza because now you can make the very best pizza!
You’ll be amazed by your own talent and your favorite pizza place will start wondering where you’ve been.
Sushi Making Party – Hands-On
Our Sushi Making Party is a hands-on culinary event that your group will surely enjoy. We will demonstrate the art of making sushi rice and cutting vegetables and seafood then use them to roll the perfect sushi. Everyone will be given their fresh vegetables, seafood, and many wonderful ingredients to fill their sushi rolls. We will divide into teams and each team will be responsible for prepping the vegetables, and rolling their own sushi rolls. We will end with the teams enjoying their freshly made Sushi rolls.
Your team will become one with the sushi mat to create the perfect sushi roll and can then be named Master Sushi Chefs.
Chili Cook-off Challenge – Hands-On
Our Chili Cook-off combines communication and innovation and turns it into a fun, exciting, and delicious team-building event. Your group will be divided into teams and face off in a timed cooking competition that will rely on creativity and teamwork. The teams get warmed up with a fun icebreaker to help get their creative juices flowing. Each of the teams will be given their base ingredients and will have full use of a variety of spices, dry goods, and a choice of protein. They will be responsible for prepping, cooking, and presenting their chili. Your group will work together as they prepare their own special creations. Our professional chefs provide hands-on instruction and support as your team works together to create their dishes. Our chefs stay with each of the teams and guide the teams as they create their wonderful chili. One team will emerge triumphant as the reigning Chili Cook-Off Champions! Judges can either be members of your company or our chefs.
Now comes the best part, dining on the wonderful Chili made by each team. Tossed garden salad and bread will be served with the meal. The Stocked Pot & Company knows that the kitchen is an ideal venue to achieve your goals in team building. This event will challenge your family and co-workers and are always fun.
Chopped Style Challenge – Hands-On
In this “Chopped Style Challenge” your group will be divided into teams and face off in a timed cooking competition that will rely on creativity and teamwork. The teams get warmed up with a fun icebreaker to help get their creative juices flowing. Each team will pick an Executive Chef of the team and the rest of the team will be Sous Chefs. Next the teams will need to create a recipe name and come up with a list of ingredients based on the secret ingredients given. All the teams will have the same secret ingredients and will have one and a half hours to then prep, cook and present the meal in front of preselected judges. No recipes here, it’s all up to the teams working together to complete this challenge. Teams are presented with a mystery basket of secret ingredients. Teams must incorporate their secret ingredient in a creative and delicious way. Each of the teams will have access to dry goods, spices for their use. The Stocked Pot & Company culinary team of Chefs will serve as team coaches. After the cooking is complete, each team is given time to give a verbal presentation to a chosen panel of judges and will be scored on taste, teamwork, presentation, creativity, and the use of the mystery basket ingredients. Each team will enjoy the delicious meal that they just created.
Charity Challenge
Cooking For A Cause – Hands On
Build A Team. Make An Impact.
This Charitable event is perfect for community service days or company retreats. And is the perfect morale booster to improve team spirit. Most importantly, this event makes a tangible and immediate impact on hunger in our local community. This event supports core values of community service while building collaboration and team communication.
This Team Building Event is all about donating to a local charity. The teams get warmed up with a fun icebreaker to help get their creative juices flowing. Teams must work together to design and produce a number of delicious dishes that will be donated and delivered to a worthy charity at the end of the program. Everyone is asked to bring a canned or boxed food item to add to the donation of food that will be made at the end of our bonding experience.
Your team’s creativity and teamwork will then be put to the test as they plan and cook an entire meal. Our professional chefs provide hands-on instruction and support as your team works together to create their dishes. This opportunity provides a dining experience for those less fortunate than ourselves. Food is one of the most basic needs of human beings, yet thousands of men, women and children in our community go to sleep hungry every night. Our Cooking For A Cause program allows corporate teams or families to bond while making a meaningful and worthwhile donation of food to people in need in our community. Your group will cook and eat food they prepared during the event.
What a great way to build your team and give back to our community!
Appetizer Challenge
Tapas / Small Plates Party – Hands-On
Making appetizers is a delicious and creative team building activity for your entire team.
Take your group event to the next level with a hands-on team event. Give everyone a chance to explore diverse menus with flavors from around the world. Our Sumptuous Tapas/Small Plates event is a great “get-to-know-everyone” format, as guests cook together and share their creations with the rest of the group. Members of each team will naturally develop stronger relationships and build trust and confidence in each other throughout this fun and tasty event. Food is the universal language, and nothing brings people together better!
The Tapas and Small Plates event is more than hors d’oeuvres on trays – it’s cooking together as a social event that takes you around the globe with family, friends, and colleagues. The teams get warmed up with a fun icebreaker to help get their creative juices flowing. The teams will prepare appetizers from scratch. Our chefs will guide the team as they create their wonderful creations. The team will divide into groups along with one of our chefs to assist in creating a fabulous tapas/small plate meal. We end the event with a wonderful cocktail party where everyone relishes in the fruits of their labor. The menu options include salads, appetizers, and desserts.
Dessert Challenges
Cake Makeovers Culinary Decorating Challenge – Hands-On
One of our most popular Dessert Challenges, “Cake Makeovers Decorating Challenge,” is a hands-on culinary event that your group will absolutely love. We will divide your group into teams, and they will compete in the Cake Makeover Decorating Competition. Each team will be given a pre-decorated sheet cake, readymade icings, sauces, candies, and much more. The fun part of this dessert challenge is that each of the teams will have to deconstruct a cake that has already been iced and decorated.
Teams of amateur decorators will attempt to re-create their own edible masterpieces for the Gold Medal prize. Competitors take part in two challenges over the course of one and a half hours. The First Challenge is a competition icebreaker called “Culinary Jeopardy”. Teams will have 10 minutes to finish this challenge. The winning team of this challenge gets a buzzer called “Freezer Burn” which forces the opponents on the other team to freeze in place for five minutes. (Cannot be the last five minutes of the competition)
In the Second Challenge, teams have 60 minutes to deconstruct a pre-decorated sheet cake. The teams must create their very own masterpiece. The teams will have to take the icing off the cake, cut and reshape the cake into a three-dimensional design, add filling and icing to each layer, and re-ice and decorate their entire cake creation.
Our chefs will pick out the winner of this challenge.
Nailed It! Competition - Hands-On
Our most popular Dessert Challenge, the “Nailed It! Competition,” is a hands-on culinary dessert event that your group will absolutely love. We will divide your group into teams, and they will compete in the Nailed It! Decorating Competition. Nailed It! was inspired by the craze of people trying and failing to make elaborate cakes they found on the Internet.
Teams of amateur decorators will attempt to re-create their own edible masterpieces for the Gold Medal prize. Competitors take part in two challenges over the course of the one and a half hours. The First Challenge is a competition icebreaker called “Culinary Jeopardy”. Teams will have 10 minutes to finish this challenge. The winning team of this challenge gets a buzzer called “Freezer Burn” which forces the opponents on the other team to freeze in place for five minutes. (Cannot be the last five minutes of the competition)
In the second challenge, “Nail It or Fail It,” contestants only have 60 minutes to recreate a showstopping cake. Each team will decorate a two-layer ten-inch prebaked cake. Each team receives a “Panic Button” which allows them to get three minutes of assistance from one of our chefs. The teams will have to add filling and icing to each layer and add final icing and decorate their cake creation.
Our chefs will pick out the winner of this challenge.
Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Challenge – Hands –On
Making Ice Cream using liquid nitrogen is the most fun you will ever have, so get your phone cameras ready!
The teams get warmed up with a fun icebreaker to help get their creative juices flowing. Each team will prepare their own ice cream creation enough to share with everyone attending. Each team will need to pick an Executive Chef of the team and the rest of the team will be Sous Chefs. Next, they will create a recipe name and come up with a list of ingredients based on their selection from a central table filled with traditional and exciting ingredients, such as sauces, candies, cookies, chocolates, fresh fruits, bacon, and so much more. An Executive Chef from The Stocked Pot will give instructions to the entire group on the basics of making ice cream. The teams will have a certain time frame to then prep and mix their creation with liquid nitrogen controlled by our trained chefs. The Executive Chef of each team will then stand in front of the group and explain the ice cream that just created. They will also discuss the new skills that they learned and the fun they had. Now comes the best part, everyone enjoying each of the wonderful ice cream concoctions that each team created!
Cupcake or Cake Sculpting Challenge – Hands-On
Creativity is the key to success as the teams work together to build confectionary masterpieces. Your group will be divided into teams to build a multi-layer themed cake. This challenge is great for groups of 10 to 300 or more. The event begins with an introduction to cake-building mechanics, frosting and piping techniques.
Every team will use cake and icing to create their team’s artistic cake sculpture. The teams get warmed up with a fun icebreaker to help get their creative juices flowing. Each team will come up with a theme and then they will design a three-dimensional theme on paper before sculpting the cake. Teams start with whole sheet cakes and start cutting the cakes and the decorating begins! There are no rules here; it’s a no holds barred competition. Icings, food coloring, an assortment of candy, cookies, sprinkles, popsicle sticks, and much more are provided to enhance this team building event.
When the masterpieces are complete, each team will take a Cake Tour and see all the wonderful cake creations. The Executive Chefs of each team will tell the theme and story of their cake sculpture. Now it’s up each person to vote for the winner. The team with the most votes wins! This team event is both delicious and fun. Cake sculpting is the perfect team building event for your small or large group.
It’s a wonderful way to establish camaraderie, improve team dynamics and foster team bonding.
Gingerbread House Decorating -November / December – Hands-On
The tradition returns each year with The Stocked Pot and Chef McMillan recreating a time honored and generation sharing holiday experience. The sweet and spicy blend of ginger and molasses is home for the holidays. Bond more than just walls of gingerbread when you and your guests spend time together building winter wonderland houses drizzled with sugar icing, lots and lots of candy and sweets are all included. You and your guests get their very own Gingerbread house to decorate. This special seasonal event takes one and a half hours from start to finish. Like the Nutcracker, holiday traditions abound this time of year.
Fabulous Chocolate Party – Hands-On
Our Fabulous Chocolate Party is a hands-on culinary event that your group will fall in love with. We will divide into teams that will rely on creativity and teamwork and taste. Each team will be responsible for prepping and creating their chocolate masterpieces. The teams get warmed up with a fun icebreaker to help get their creative juices flowing. Each of the teams will be given their two to three chocolate tasks to complete. Our professional chefs provide hands-on instruction and support as the teams work together to create their creative chocolate desserts.
Each team will need to pick an Executive Chef of the team the rest of the team will be known as Sous Chefs. At the end of the cooking process the Executive Chef of each team will stand in front of the group and talk about their experiences and how they overcame the challenges that they faced. They will also discuss the new skills that they learned and the fun that they had.
Now comes the best part, everyone sharing all the wonderful chocolate masterpieces each team created. The Stocked Pot & Company knows that the kitchen is an ideal venue to achieve your goals in team building. Our events will challenge your family and co-workers and are always fun and delicious.