Small Business Spotlight: COOK
Now, it is no secret that the Mike McCann Team loves to eat and to explore Philadelphia’s fabulous food scene. Fortunately for us, exploring Philly cuisine is not strictly limited to the dining out experience. This is where the ingenious company, COOK, comes into play. COOK is located in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse neighborhood and offers top of the line cooking classes that teach you how to make restaurant quality meals in your own home.
The brainchild of Audrey Claire Taichman, owner of Twenty Manning Grill and Audrey Claire, COOK promotes a sense of community amongst Philly chefs and food lovers, giving chefs a platform to engage with their admirers and patrons. They offer public food and drink classes from a wide range of talented chefs as well as private events. COOK also has a small retail store with a selection of quality food items, cookbooks and kitchen wares. We spoke with Lily Cope, Executive Director of COOK, about all of the amazing work that they do.
COOK offers a multitude of fascinating classes that focus on a variety of different cuisines ranging from fine dining meals to casual dishes. Each class provides one of Philadelphia’s remarkable Chefs to come and teach their specialty skills. Lily Cope states, “just about everyone in Philly has been through our doors, from Perrier to Solomonov to Vetri and countless others… we have also had Danny Meyer from NYC and Barabara Lynch from Boston, just to name a few. ”
Over the past 4 years, COOK has had the opportunity to see many local chefs grow into business and restaurant owners with loyal followings. Cope states that seeing people achieve their dreams in such a manner is one of the best parts of working at COOK. She loves seeing people make connections and become fans of one another’s work. Of course, the absolute best part of being a COOK employee, as Cope explains, includes, “THE FOOD! We have a different chef virtually every night so we eat incredibly well!” If you are looking to learn a new skill while enjoying delicious, freshly made cuisine, these classes are exactly what you need!
The COOK boutique has an amazing selection of quality goods. They offer a one-of-a-kind cookbook collection as well as a private label line of salts and spices. In addition, COOK provides a plethora of other foodie inspired products. The store is open from noon until five, Tuesday through Sunday. We strongly recommend stopping in to browse for the perfect gift to spoil your friends, family members, and even yourself!
Overall, the extremely busy COOK staff loves their work because, as Cope states, “they get to meet a lot of Philadelphians and be a part of the community in which we live and work.
”Their main goal as a business is “to keep bringing together Philadelphia’s diverse and dynamic group of food lovers, food makers and food eaters.”
COOK proudly sponsors FEASTIVAL — an annual benefit for FringeArts — as well as contributing to several local charities each year. The COOK staff is extremely dedicated and hardworking. They strive to keep all of their classes flawless and exciting. Lily Cope strongly recommendeds signing up for the COOK mailing list in order to stay up to date on their monthly class schedule. We appreciate this unique business model and COOK’s efforts to create a sense of community in the city of Philadelphia. Our team will certainly be stopping in and you all should do the same! Keep on cooking!
Written by Patrick Kaisinger (Mike McCann Team Blogger Extraordinaire)
