Corporate Team Building Events
at Blue Ribbon

Blue Ribbon Cooking & Culinary Center is Seattle's premier provider of corporate team building events.

How it Works

Themes from any of our classes can be transformed into corporate team activities for groups of up to 150. We provide an instructor for every 12 guests. Participants receive hands-on cooking instruction and then feast together on the incredibly delicious meal they've created. It's fun, educational, builds morale, and is designed to allow everyone from the novice cook to a master chef to participate comfortably.

Standard classes are 3 hours, offered in several different formats, and can be arranged to cover any topic or ethnic cuisine. Each class is custom-designed with your company's needs in mind. Classes are held at our 5,200-square-foot waterfront culinary center on Lake Union. For more information, to check date availability or to sign up for a corporate team activity give us a call at 206-328-2442.

Event Formats

Any of our events can be customized to meet your company or individual needs. We do have a couple of standard formats that we have found are very popular with most of our clients. While the time structure of the different events is usually the same, the hands-on cooking portion can vary.

Our standard cooking class events are three hours long. For the first half hour guests will enjoy the delectable array of appetizers, created by our international staff of chefs, in addition to a beverage bar. During the next hour and a half you’ll cook hands-on in our kitchens with our chef instructors. The last hour you’ll be seated at our lake view tables and enjoy the meal that you and your co-workers have created.

Collaborative

With the collaborative format, you determine the menu from our seasonal list of menu courses. Your group will then work with the chefs during the hands-on cooking portion to cook the predetermined recipes in order to create a spectacular meal. When the cooking is complete you can relax at your dining tables overlooking Lake Union while the chefs plate and serve your meal to you.

Classic Iron Chef

This format is for those that are more competitive in nature. It is also an effective vehicle to bring together employees that are not familiar with each other that you would like to integrate and/or work as a team. Guests are divided into teams of approximately 12 and a professional chef instructor is assigned to assist each team as much or as little as they would like. During the hands-on cooking portion of the event, each team has to design and execute a complete meal consisting of a protein, side dishes and a dessert. Different main ingredients for each group’s protein component and dessert are assigned and sample recipes utilizing those ingredients are provided. When the cooking is complete, each team’s creations are placed on a buffet and everybody enjoys the delicious food at our lakeside dining tables while the judging takes place behind the scenes. Teams are awarded certificates for different accomplishments. As many teams can be awarded as the coordinator would like to recognize – one team or all teams.

Other Formats

In addition to our Collaborative and Classic Iron Chef formats, we have other formats and add-on options available. Some of these include a Pike Place Market Shopping Excursion with your chef, wine tastings, cheese tastings, cocktail classes or cocktail competitions, an amuse bouche competition, or Restaurant Wars where each team “creates” a restaurant by choosing a name, designing table settings and creating full menus for their establishments, in addition to a three course meal. If you have other ideas or needs, we would be happy to accommodate them.

» Menu Suggestions for Private Events

Current Menu Favorites

Appetizers:
Marinated Shrimp with Champagne Buerre Blanc
Thai Grilled Chicken Skewers with Honey-Peanut Glaze
Parmesan, Rosemary and Walnut Shortbread
European Cheese and Fruit Platter with Artisan Breads

Soup or Salad:
Spring Greens with Sliced Grapes, Feta Cheese, Walnuts and Champagne Vinaigrette
Mixed Greens with Grapefruit, Fennel and Shaved Asiago
Wild Mushroom Soup with Chestnuts and Roasted Fennel

Entrees:
Traditional Steak au Poivre
Rosemary Blue Cheese Scalloped Potatoes
Roasted Fennel with Cherry Tomatoes, Olives, Garlic and Olive Oil

or

Cider Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Flambéed Apples and Walla Walla Sweet Onions
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter Sage Sauce
Sautéed Green Beans with White Wine and Shallots

Dessert:
Peaches 'n' Cream Éclairs with Bourbon Caramel Sauce
Liquid Chocolate Cake with Creamy Carmel Sauce and Cultured Cream Dessert Sauce
Apple Galettes with Rum Raisin Sauce

» Menu Suggestions for Private Events

Host Your Baking Party at Blue Ribbon

Invite your friends or co-workers to enjoy our waterfront holiday paradise as they make mouth-watering treats for gift giving. Our 3-hour holiday bakes include a buffet of homemade soups, artisan breads, gourmet cheeses, fresh salad, spiced apple cider and creamy hot chocolate. You’ll pre-select any 3 holiday treats from the list below for your holiday bake. Each guest leaves with 3 beautifully wrapped packages containing the sweet treasures they’ve created. Cost: $105 per guest with a 20-guest minimum. With wine and beer: $10 additional per guest.

Cookies:
Old Fashioned Gingerbread Men, Palmiers, Thumbprint Cookies, Gourmet Iced Sugar Cookies, Peppermint Pinwheels, Chocolate Meringues, Italian Biscotti, Springerle – German cookies, Amaretti, Russian Tea Cakes, Pistachio Christmas Ribbon Bars, Pizzelles - Italian waffle cookies, Lavender Shortbread, Irish Rum Balls.
* Gift packages include 1 dozen cookies, wrapped in cellophane and tied with a French ribbon.

Cakes & Tarts:
Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Roulade, True English Trifle, Pecan Pie, Pear-Almond Tart, Cranberry Upside-down Cake, Creole Fruit Cake.
*Cakes and tarts serve 4 to 6 and are packaged in decorative bakery boxes.

Candies & Chocolates:
Chocolate-Hazelnut Kisses, Peanut Brittle, Gourmet Chocolate Truffles, Peppermint Bark, White Chocolate Truffle Bar, Chocolate-Dipped Cherries, Hand-Painted Chocolate Lollipops, Chocolate Fudge.
*A half dozen gift chocolates are packed in decorative boxes tied with French ribbon. Cellophane bags filled with about 1 pound of candy are tied with French ribbon.

Breads & Other Savories:
Spiced Nuts, Cranberry Infused Vinegar, Pumpkin Bread, Morning Glory Banana Bread, Vanilla Extract, All-American Cinnamon Rolls.
*Breads and rolls serve 6 and are packed in decorative boxes. Vinegar is bottled in 8-ounce bottles; vanilla is bottled in 4-ounce bottles. Six-ounce bags of spiced nuts are packaged in cellophane bags tied with ribbon.

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Blue Ribbon Cancellation/Postponement Policy for Cooking Class Event
If necessary, given four weeks advanced notice, events maybe rescheduled for another available date within two years of your original event date. If an event is postponed or cancelled within four weeks from the original event date the deposit is forfeited. Blue Ribbon shall not be held liable due to unforeseeable circumstances or circumstances beyond their control. All deposits are non-refundable.

For liability purposes, any leftover food items that are not served to guests remain the property of Blue Ribbon Cooking School, and are donated to Seattle's food banks when appropriate.

Clients & Testimonials

Some of the companies that use Blue Ribbon Cooking are Abbott Laboratories, Accenture, Adobe Systems, Aetna U.S. Healthcare, Amgen, Apple Physical Therapy, AT&T Wireless, Ater Wynne LLP, Avanade, BD&A, Bayer Lab, Berk & Associates, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, Bowhead Holding Company, Bradlee Distributors, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Captura, Chicago Title, Chiron, Clarion Partners, Communication Matters, Inc., Construction Systems Management, Inc., Costco Wholesale, Cozen O’Connor Law Firm, CXO Media, Davis Wright Tremaine, Deloitte Consulting, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Eli Lilly, Expedia, First Tech Credit Union, First Union Securities, Forest Pharmaceuticals, Fostars, Foster, Pepper & Shefelman, PLCC, Genetech, GlaxoSmithKline, Goldman Sachs, Graham & Dunn, Grant Thorton LLP, Hackworth Architects, Hapag Lloyd, Hewlett Packard, Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson, Hines, HomeStone Mortgage, Horton Lantz & Low, icos, IDX Systems, KPMG, UW, Lighthouse Properties, Lumberman’s, Management Northwest, Inc., Merck Human Health, Merrill Corp, Microsoft, Microsoft Press, Monet Mobile Networks, New York Times, nbbj, O’Dea High School, Onyx Software, Organon Pharmaceutical, Overlake School, Paragon Real Estate Advisors Inc., Pemco, Perkins Coie, Pfizer, Pharmacia, Point B Solutions, Precious Little Ones Daycare, Premera Blue Cross, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle Primary Physicians, Radiant Research, Riddell Williams, Rockwell Automation, Schering-Plough, Soft Resources, St. Joseph School, Starbucks, The Ki Group, LLP, Time Inc, Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Travelocity.com, University Child Development School, University Prep, University of Washington, Voyager Capital, Washington Dental Service, Washington Mutual, Washington State Employees Credit Union, Washington State University, and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati.

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Reservations

Contact us via email info@blueribboncooking.com or call 206-328-2442 for class reservations.

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Driving Directions

Blue Ribbon is located in Seattle's beautiful Eastlake neighborhood.

» Click here for driving directions and maps

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