Cooking with Customers: Hands-On or Hands-Off?

[melaniepc]

do you hold? do you let the customers do alot of hands on while making the recipe? or do you do most of it? I am just curious what is the most popular and how you all find it goes over.

 

[Chefgirl2]

Interactive!! I let them do the recipe for the first 25-30 then move to another area and talk 15-20 about warranty, cookware, their loves...no more than 45 minutes total.

Keeping it short has picked up my bookings and sales at the show.

 

[cathyskitchen]

I've been doing interactive shows since January with mixed success, and I'm still "fine-tuning" my show. I'm thinking of going back to a more structured demonstration with elements of the interactive format mixed in, since I seem to be forgetting things. I also talk with the host first and see what type of show she wants - the standard "demo" or the new "interactive" format where everyone gets to "play" with the products.

That's the best part about this business - you can do your shows however you want, and do what works best for you and your personality. I'm more of a performer, so I think the demo was a better way for me to present the products, but for some, the interactive may work better. And like I said, a mixture of both may work, too!! Good luck!

 

[wadesgirl]

I tried the interactive and don't really like it. A lot of my guests don't really want to help. I do give my host a choice. I can either make the recipe before the show and focus on products or do an interactive.

 

[france59]

I love the interactive shows. In fact, the more I do, the better I like it. I feel like once they have their hands on the tools and are actually using them, the sales are so much easier! And where else can you actually work with kitchen products before you purchase them?? My hosts who have had the interactive shows keep saying (throughout the show and later) how much fun they had! And the guests say the same thing. Since I've been doing the interactive shows, my bookings have increased, too.

 

[melaniepc]

I had a pc party earlier this year and she didnt make anything. I was very disapointed and so were my guests. I have only done two shows and it didnt seem like those people wanted anything to do with being part of the recipe

 

[france59]

Melanie,
I think that it is definitely something the host has to "buy into". If she isn't enthusiastic about having everyone working on the recipes together, the guests probably won't be either. My most recent show had everyone in the kitchen in two groups, working on two separate recipes. It was awesome! No one sat out and they all had such a good time! It was actually my favorite party. Some of the guests were veteran guests and some had never been to a show before. I also use the time ahead of the show to pre-set the work stations with all the necessary ingredients and tools. I ask someone in each group to be the recipe reader and I run between the groups to make sure they are "on task". I've used this for the Power Cooking and for other theme shows. It makes the cooking demo fly by and they are eating and ordering before we even know what happened! It's cut my demo time down substantially.