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Organizing a team event? Look behind the scene

One would think you simply start with a date, venue, food menu and an activity of some sort! Done. Well, there’s much more that goes on behind the scene.While some organizers will have clear picture of what they want for their team, many will just start with a generic statement – let’s see what’s available in the market. (BTW, if you’re reading this you’re already at the right market place)Sadly, shopping for ideas is not as easy as general online shopping. You’ll want somethi...

How to build the perfect team

How do you build the perfect team? According to Google’s Project Aristotle, culture is key.This video from Tech Insider gives a succinct insight into how a perfect team is produced. Charles Duhigg, journalist and author of “Smarter Faster Better,” explains the insights he gathered while spending time with Google’s Project Aristotle, a research team assembled to analyze how teams work....

Why team building cooking challenges work

Food has always had a reputation for bringing people together. We celebrate over food, grieve over food, obsess over food! Food is at the centre of all the major events in our lives, weddings, funerals, Christmas, birthdays, you name it, we cook and eat with others. So what about our professional lives? Can team building cooking challenges bring our work people together?Why yes. Yes, they can. And very effectively too! Team building events with cooking at the centre can build creativity, encoura...

It's time to book your Christmas Party Auckland!

Have you booked your Christmas party, Auckland? We know it’s another odd year, it’s hard to plan too far ahead, but imagine if you missed out! Our advice would be to start planning your Christmas event now.We are ready and waiting to take bookings for your Christmas party. We’ve already received bookings for some key dates, so get in touch to see what we have available. Here’s what you need to know:We’re able to host three groups per day at our central Auckland venue.Event start times ...

Perfect Burgers – How to Make them

It seems simple to make perfect burgers. After all, how hard can it be? Anyone who eats burgers regularly knows there is a vast difference between good and bad. It’s often hard to put your finger on exactly why a burger works or doesn’t. Is it the burger patty? Is it the bun? Are there too many fillings or not enough? Too much sauce or not enough?Sometimes it pays to go back to the basics.The late, great chef, Anthony Bourdain (RIP), writes at length in his book Appetites – A Cookbook...

Corporate Team Events – Short & Sharp Challenges

The Event Format Your group will be split into teams vying for the champions title, competing in a culinary challenge that relies on teamwork and creativity. Pretty similar to our other challenges, but you're in and out in about 2 hours.Choose from the following themes:Burger ChallengePizza Challenge (available in Auckland only)Dumpling ChallengeRisotto ChallengeDessert ChallengeGuests are split into teams, who then choose their fresh ingredients from our pantry of high quality, locally sourced ...

Do team building challenges work?

It’s all very well for us to talk about the benefits of team building exercises. After all, it’s what we at Social Cooking do for a living! Do team building exercises actually work?The team at Huddle say:“..even strong teams can benefit from team building exercises. They’re a great way of improving communication, morale, motivation, productivity, helping employees or new teams to get to know each other better, and learning about one's strengths and weak...

8 Tips for Successful Team Building Activities

At Social Cooking, we know better than most the benefits of successful team building activities. How do you guarantee that your team building event will be the best it can be? That it will actually achieve the outcomes you need?From US News:“The truth is, while results vary, team-building events can help co-workers better understand one another and learn to be more effective at working together. Team-building exercises allow management and staff to forget about deadlines and corporate str...

Have you tried Social Cooking Team Building events?

With all the chat about team building events, we’d be remiss if we didn’t talk more about what we can do for you at Social Cooking. We’ve been hosting team building events and year end parties for corporate and private groups for over a decade, and have spent that time honing our craft to make sure our customers build effective teams, encouraging creativity and problem solving.Our events are fun, competitive, and entertaining. Our chefs all have the personalities to be the consummate hosts...

More from the Office Christmas Party at Social Cooking!

The drama just keeps on coming! In this week’s episode our heroes from The Social Shop take their office Christmas party to new heights! And the smoke levels to even greater heights…..Who will be the ultimate winner? Keep watching to find out.We still have a few spaces left for your team’s office Christmas party this December, but only a very few. We’re also now taking bookings for 2021, so you can avoid the Christmas rush!A team building event at Social Cooking ...

Fresh Staff Christmas Party Ideas with Social Cooking

In further Staff Christmas Party Adventures, the team from The Social Shop are cooking their hearts out in an effort to impress Chef Z, and win the day! Freshen up your staff Christmas party ideas with Social Cooking.In this week’s episode, there’s burnt pans, blaming of tools, and general mayhem as teams take on our Masterchef cooking challenge. Who will be triumphant?If you want to bring your team in for this year’s Staff Christmas Party, you’ll need to be fast. We only ...

A staff Christmas party at Social Cooking.

Ever wonder what a Social Cooking Christmas Masterchef Challenge looks like? The team from The Social Shop came to compete and filmed their experience for us to share with you. The perfect format for a staff Christmas party!Ok, so it wasn’t quite Christmas, but the challenge is pretty much the same. Our Christmas Masterchef will incorporate a few more seasonal ingredients, but the team building and competitive elements remain the same.We have a variety of formats available ...

Have you tried Social Cooking Christmas events?

With all the chat about Christmas events, we’d be remiss if we didn’t talk more about what we can do for you at Social Cooking. We’ve been hosting Christmas events and year end parties for corporate and private groups for over a decade, and have spent that time honing our craft to make sure our customers have the most fun they can legally have.Our events are fun, competitive and entertaining. Our chefs all have the personalities to be the consummate hosts, egging teams on, encouraging and ...

10 tips for great Christmas events

So you’ve been asked to plan your team Christmas events. I know what you’re thinking… where do I start?!You need it to be an event everyone will remember, but in a good way. No one needs a repeat of the bad buffet with the bad oysters that closed the business down for a month (and especially not this year). No pressure, right?Never fear, we at Social Cooking have trawled through our mental filing cabinet to come up with our 10 top tips to make your Christmas events the best they can b...

Have you thought about your team Christmas Events?

Crikey the year is just rocketing past, isn’t it?! All of a sudden it’s September, nearly October, and before you know it, Christmas will be here. Along with the horror that you haven’t managed to plan your team Christmas events!There’s no need to worry. Social Cooking is coming to the rescue with all the tips, tricks and our best suggestions to make your Christmas event the best it can be.Just keep an eye out here for our latest updates, because we’ll be posting weekly with recipes, c...