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Cooking Demos

18 years ago

A rather large appliance supplier has asked me to do cooking demonstrations at their center and asked me what I would be looking for in compensation. I told them I obviously would expect the food to be paid for but I really didn't have any idea what to ask them for as far as compensation is concerned. I would be doing about a two hour demo.....my choice of what to cook and I would be using most of their appliances....ie Advantium, trivection, etc. as well as the various brands ie. Thermador, GE Monogram. Any idea what I should ask for? Thanks. Claire

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Comments (5)

obxgina
18 years ago
Claire, where do you live? I find that to be really important when pricing out things like this. I am a Personal Chef in Eastern NC and I know a lot of chefs that charge much more than I do and it has to do with demographics. Hope this helps. Gina
teresa_nc7
18 years ago
Gina is right - big city pay vs. small suburb pay. Also, do you have to drive more than 15 minutes to get there? Also, will you be using your pans, spatulas, etc. or will you be using their pans and utensils? But will you be expected to clean up all the pans used after you are finished?

Are you experienced at this? FWIW, I have 10+ years experience doing demos and public appearances and could maybe ask for more in compensation. How experienced a home cook are you? Very or novice?

I would start at $25.00 per hour and go up from there depending on your expertise, travel time and possible clean-up time.

JMO
Teresa
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debster0218
18 years ago
I do cooking demos for an appliance manufacturer in Southern California. I have a staff of 8 demonstrators and I pay them 150 per demo with a food budget of 50.00. They stay for 4 hours and their pay includes prep time.
cdauer
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks for all your information. I live in Hawaii (cha-ching) so everything is a little more expensive. The demo is about and hour and a half to two hours and I do the clean up. They have some equipment but I also use some of my own. So your answers helped me a lot. Thanks again.
azzalea
18 years ago
I was going to say that you probably want to start at about $50/hour (plus reimbursement for any foods/supplies/utensils you have to buy. I teach children's cooking classes in the summer program of the public school system and I'm paid over $30/hour, so in the private sector, you should be getting considerably more. And don't forget, you'll be putting in a number of hours (planning, shopping, cleaning up, etc) that you probably won't be compensated for, so the pay should be a decent amount for all the time you're putting in, as well as wear and tear on any of your own cooking utensils you might take to use in your demos, and your costs if you prepare any handouts of recipes.

Hey, have fun--it's always a pleasure to share cooking skills with an audience.

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