Why Culinary Team Building Works
Nothing brings people together like food, so when it comes to your next team-building event, we recommend inviting your team into the kitchen. Not only is culinary team-building fun, but it’s also a very effective way to bond your team, dissolve department silos, practice communication, challenge biases, and create space for sharing. Plus: you get to eat!
Hosting teams for culinary team-building events over the years, we’ve witnessed many moments of team togetherness that have shown us first-hand that food can be an essential ingredient when it comes to improving team culture. Also, who doesn’t want to see their CEO wearing a flour-dusted apron, kneading pasta dough, or attempting to delicately fold a dumpling wrapper?
Here are a few reasons why we believe culinary team building works (because we’ve seen it first-hand):
It helps to bond your team
Have you ever noticed at a party that people often end up gravitating toward the kitchen? There’s something about a culinary space that makes people feel comfortable, and almost everyone has a good memory related to food. Bringing your team into a culinary space is a great way to increase the opportunity for team bonding because it allows people to relax and open up.
It helps dissolve silos
Silos, silos, silos! Why not pair employees from different departments together at different culinary stations? You’d be amazed at how effective cooking can be as an icebreaker and a container for collaborative work. What starts as working together to create an herb pesto or a dumpling filling can lay a good foundation for interdepartmental collaboration back at the office – and it’s a fun memory to bring up next time you see your fellow employee at the coffee station or in a Zoom room while you’re waiting for the meeting to start.
It’s a great way to improve communication
We all know communication is key when it comes to tackling any project with your team at work. What’s amazing about culinary team-building is that it creates an opportunity to improve communication skills in a unique setting that often has nothing to do with the work your company does each day. By collaborating and problem-solving together in the kitchen, you might gain a better understanding of your colleagues’ communication styles, and therefore be able to approach conversations with them at work with more empathy and understanding.
It helps to challenge biases
There’s nothing like an activity outside of the office to teach you more about your team. You may be surprised by a colleague’s hidden talent or discover hidden biases about different team members you didn’t realize you held. Interacting with your team in a fun, instructor-led environment can be a great vehicle for self-reflection that can lead to improved workplace culture.
It creates space for sharing
While you’re stirring the sauce, picking herbs, or learning a specific knife cut from our chefs, you might also learn something about someone on your team. We’ve seen conversations spark about family recipes, favourite ingredients, and even hilarious home kitchen mishaps! While preparing food, often people feel safe to share more about themselves with their colleagues, and this leads back to improved team bonding!
So, why not get your team together and book one of our interactive culinary team-building offerings?
We look forward to inviting your team to one of our partner venues for your team event!
Get in touch: carley@theurbanelement.ca
P.S. – Don’t just take it from us, here are some kind words from a group we hosted when we engaged a guest chef to help us create culinary magic for an Indigenous-led team:
"On behalf of all of us, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for a beautiful event yesterday. Everything was seamless and amazing. Chef Chris was the perfect match for our group. Being an Indigenous-led organization, with many of us being First Nations, Inuit, or Metis, sharing experiences like yesterday's connects us even closer to each other and means that much more." – urban element client