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, egging teams on, encouraging and joking, and providing a few tips and tricks along the way.
This is no Hell’s Kitchen – no Gordon Ramsay style theatrics, just a bit of gentle ribbing. We want our guests to work together for achieving common goals, not feel humiliated!
That said, time is of the essence, teams must work together, and competition and creativity is the key. How much is entirely up to you.
Team building events formats
Let’s start with the formats themselves. This year we’re running the following three hour events:
- Masterchef – This is our most popular format, and is fast paced, creative and fun. Teams compete to produce the best meal of the day, using their best problem solving skills to create a Masterchef worthy offering from a selection of fresh ingredients from our pantry.
- Mystery Box Challenge – This is our newest and most challenging format. Fast-paced and fully interactive, you'll be part of a team tasked with creating an amazing dish using a range of surprise ingredients. Creative problem solving at it’s most extreme!
- Recipe Challenge – Bring your team together to recreate a recipe from our contemporary and delicious library! No matter how experienced your team is at cooking, our recipes will guide them through the process, step by step. Time is of the essence, so team work is critical to deliver a fantastic meal and win!
Generally speaking, all our team building events follow a similar format, with slight tweaks depending on which you’ve chosen:
- Our events are approximately 3 hours long (although this is flexible)
- Guests arrive and enjoy some time to relax and possibly share a few drinks
- Our chef groups guests into teams and the fun begins!
- Depending upon the challenge set, teams will cook against each other for approximately 1 hour
- Guests will then retire to relax and dine on the fruits of their labours, while our chef determines which team reigned supreme on the day. We may even serve dessert, if this is part of the event format you have chosen.
- The chef will then announce the winning team, and the celebrations begin!
We should also mention that all 3 hour events include dessert. We are also fully licensed at all our venues.
Our team will take photos throughout the event, which we will send to you the following day. Nothing will be shared socially or on our website without your permission.
Optional Extras
While every guest at Social Cooking will produce their own breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you should be aware that there are approximately two hours from the start of the event before guests sit to eat (assuming a 3 hour format).
Canape Platters
Kick your night off with our delicious range of canapes. Our platters are made fresh to order and can accommodate all dietary requirements. These will be served as you arrive, prior to your event starting. Our sales team will ask you about whether canapes are of interest to you when you make your booking.
Choose any five of the following:
- Sushi
- Bruschetta
- Spinach and feta rolls
- Mini meatballs
- Sausage rolls
- Chicken Yakitori
- Salmon Blinis
If you want to get your event started with a bang, you could also consider adding a cocktail making element. Our chef will demonstrate how to make the cocktails, then guests will work in teams to create their most flamboyant, delicious interpretation. Tasting all the way, of course!
Make Our Place Your Own
Our Social Cooking philosophy is that our place is your home. We want to welcome you in, and take the stresses and strains of your workday away. Fun is our focus. Our challenges are exactly that – challenging but not too much so, just enough to keep the competitive levels high, and the teamwork at the forefront.
We encourage our guests to add their own personal touches to their team building events. You could consider:
- Prizes – awards can range from the obvious (Top Team, Messiest Station) to the obscure (Best Hair and Nails). Tailoring prizes to suit your own team adds a fun and competitive element to your team building events. Our only advice is to keep things light – no one wants to win the Wooden Spoon!
- Decorations – Our venue is a working kitchen space, so we welcome your personal additions. Whether it’s team or corporate signage, place names, bunting or projected displays, we’re there for it.
- Music – No event, formal or casual, is complete without a decent playlist. Our team will play music during your events, but we love our guests providing their own playlists. If you want us to play your favourite personalised Spotify playlist, please let our team know.
- Costumes – Have you considered theming your event? Encouraging your team to dress in costume for your team building events is a great way to get your team to relax and let their guard down.
Our Venues
Our team building events are hosted primarily at our home base in Auckland’s CBD, or at our pop-up venues in Wellington. Although depending upon the size of your group, and your budget, we can host events anywhere in New Zealand.
In Auckland, our home base is equipped with induction hobs and steam ovens, plus all the utensils and sundry cooking equipment you could need. We can accommodate up to 50 guests for cooking and dining.
In Wellington, our Christmas events can be hosted at either Miramar Bowling Club or Victoria Bowling Club, dependent upon availability. Both venues offer a uniquely old school, Kiwiana style vibe, and have stunning outlooks onto beautiful green spaces. We can provide all of the equipment required to ensure your cooking event is a true Social Cooking experience. Both venues can host up to 100 guests comfortably.
Should you require larger premises, we are happy to bring our team to a venue of your choice. In Auckland, we recommend the Auckland City Hotel for larger groups.
We have also hosted events at Eden Park, ASB Events Centre, Ellerslie Events Centre, Hampton Downs, and Villa Maria. Additional hire charges may be incurred for any offsite venue.
So what do I do now?
Give us a call to talk about your team building events, or drop us a line via our online inquiry form. You can find our contact details here.
Our team will be in touch as soon as possible (usually within hours) to discuss your requirements, the size of your team, and anything else we need to know to make your team building events the best they can be.
We’ll then provide a written quote with all the details you need so you can make a quick and easy decision. From there, we’ll take care of everything! Team building events made easy at Social Cooking.
