getcooking.ca

Platform Overview

Get Cooking is a culinary education platform based in Edmonton, Canada, primarily offering online and in-person cooking classes for Canadians. In addition to personal cooking skills training, the platform also provides services for corporate team building, private events, and gift cards. Its mission is to bring global culinary techniques into everyday homes through guidance from professional chefs.

Core Dimensions

• Course Areas: Covers an extremely wide range of international cuisines, including Thai food (such as Bangkok street food and Thai curries), Chinese food (such as potstickers, pan-fried buns, and bao), French cuisine, Greek food, Japanese cuisine (sushi, tonkatsu), Korean food, and Vietnamese dishes. It also includes specialized cooking techniques such as grilling and smoking.
• Teaching Formats: Offers three formats—in-person classes at its studio inside MacEwan University in downtown Edmonton, live online classes via Zoom, and on-demand recorded classes that can be watched anytime. Its live online classes use a distinctive “two-instructor model,” with one chef leading the lesson and another host answering questions and facilitating interaction, creating a stronger learning experience.
• Instructor/Organization Background: Founded and led by Chef Owner Kathryn Joel. The core team includes professional chefs such as Mai Nguyen, who specializes in pastry and Asian cuisine, with instructors offering clearly defined areas of expertise.

Pricing Strategy

The platform uses a pay-per-class model. Individual in-person classes are priced between CAD 155 and CAD 175, plus tax, with ingredients and a full meal included. Short-term replay access to recorded online classes is free for 7 days, while extended 30-day access costs CAD 5. Gift cards ranging from CAD 25 to CAD 500 are also available, making them suitable for gifting.

Pros and Cons

Pros: The cuisine selection is highly international and keeps up with seasonal themes, such as Father’s Day burgers and summer grilling; in-person classes include a meal and free parking, offering strong added value; the online two-instructor model effectively improves interaction; small class sizes, with some classes limited to just 12 spots, help ensure more personalized guidance.
Cons: In-person classes are highly geographically limited and are only practical for local Edmonton residents; live online classes are currently paused, with only recorded and in-person options available; there is no professional accreditation or certificate issued, making it unsuitable for users who need formal career credentials.

Suitable Users

Get Cooking is well suited to food lovers who want to improve their home cooking skills, corporate teams looking for a unique team-building experience, and anyone hoping to give an experiential gift. Since the courses emphasize being “relaxed and communal,” they are better suited to users seeking casual social enjoyment rather than rigorous professional training.

Access and Use in China

The accessibility status of the official website itself is unknown, but its live online classes rely heavily on Zoom. Given Zoom’s restrictions in mainland China, users in China who want to join future live online classes would need to resolve network proxy issues on their own. Access to recorded classes may also be affected, making the overall experience relatively unfriendly for users in China.