How to Succeed in Your Online Cooking Business in 10 Steps
This is a no-nonsense guide to getting started with your online cooking classes from nothing. How and where to sell, film, market, and everything in between.
You want to make money from your cooking class business? It’s not rocket science, but it’s not a cakewalk either. Online course selling platforms like BlurBay can help a lot. But there is still is a lot of noise out there about starting cooking business from home, so let’s cut to the chase. Here are 10 actionable steps. No fluff, just actionable steps.
Step #1
Your students do not care about you or your cooking class business. They care about themselves.
Be real: your students aren’t enrolling in for your cooking class business because they don’t know how to boil an egg. They want skills to impress on a date, be entertained, eat healthily, or whip up something for a stubborn five-year-old. They have a personal problem, and you’re the one holding a solution. Make them see why you’re worth their time.
Step #2
What’s your angle? Here’s how you pick your niche.
What’s your take on the culinary world? An art? A systematic process? Fuel? Therapy? Not sure? Personalize it: Reflect on why you fell in love with cooking in the first place? How has your love of cooking helped in you the rest of your life? You want to start a cooking business. Home cooking interests you most. You can go deep in a specific subject or you can combine multiple old ideas into a new idea.
Step #3
Without a marketing strategy your online courses will not sell.
Firstly: yes, you should be on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter when starting cooking business from home. Those are your marketing platforms where you expand your audience. You make free content there, so people would buy your courses. But “YouTube’s swamped with cooking content. Why would someone pay for lessons elsewhere?” Trust and genuine value. Also, people don’t make any money on YouTube… that’s why everybody is trying to push t-shirts and hats and VPNs in their videos.
Your marketing strategy is to consistently demonstrate your abilities in a culturally relevant way. Why culturally relevant? Because it allows you to ride a wave of attention and obtain relevance by association. Here is an example: “Christmas turkey for a vegan family? Here’s how you dodge that bullet.” Reaction videos are another great example of this: “What Obama did wrong when cooking that burger on MasterChef“.
Your marketing content needs to be easy and fast to produce. Pick a social media platform and start pumping out short and entertaining videos there. Instagram reels, YouTube shorts and TikToks daily – you won’t make any ad revenue, but the algorithm will start promoting you more if you’re consistent and can get “views,” “comments,” “likes,” and “shares.” That attention builds your credibility and reputation.
Here are some basic things you can do in your short clips:
- Ask people questions and answer those questions.
- React to good and bad cooking videos out there. Offer your opinion.
- Nominate “dish of the day.”
- Ask people to share their food photos. Offer your thoughts.
- Analyze different foods from different cultures.
- Analyze or talk about the history of different food components.
- Talk about different food related studies.
- Talk about the different social aspects around food culture.
- Talk about politics//music//art//whatever… while making food.
- Key takeaway? Commit to daily content.
Step #4
Your marketing content is going to be different from your online courses.
Your marketing content is basically a demonstration of your skills and expertise, but your sales content is where you teach people how to obtain skills for themselves. You could be a food critic on YouTube and a food educator on BlurBay (which is a very solid and easy-to-use online course selling platform).
Your classes should have a short introduction section that allows people to get a brief understanding of what to expect from that class and an ending that invites people to buy more of your classes if they enjoyed this particular one. The end of the video needs to always have a call-to-action.
Step #5
You need to have courage and put yourself out there with your cooking business – home or away.
Gordon Ramsey is not the best chef in the world and neither are you. But what allows Gordon to sell pots, pans, and online courses is that he is a well-recognized personality. You too can become well-recognized by putting yourself out there consistently when starting cooking business from home. Yes. Every. Single. Day.
You don’t even need a million followers. In order to make $10,000 dollars you need a hundred people who would give you 100 dollars or a thousand people to give you $10. It’s just that simple. If you keep your audience engaged then you can expect 10%-20% of them to make a purchase from you. These are the follower-to-buyer ratios we see on BlurBay today.
Step #6
What skills do you actually need to sell your courses?
Depending on your budget and ambition you can outsource some of the skills, but there are some parts of the process you should definitely do yourself. Here are the skills you need for your cooking class business:
1. You probably need to be able to cook food to some degree. (unless you’re making comedy)
2. Ability to communicate thoughts and ideas cohesively.
3. Script writing OR the ability to improvise commentary well on the fly.
4. Humor helps a lot.’
5. The ability to manage a camera or your phone’s camera.
6. Basic scene lighting and composition ability.
7. Ability to record audio (you can record audio while filming or you can add it separately later).
8. Ability to edit the footage you captured.
9. Discipline and mental fortitude to keep going.
You can find a cheap online editor pretty fast on popular freelancer platforms. There is a list of a few of the better ones attached to the bottom of this blog post.
Step #7
What technology do you need?
According to our analytics, there is an 80% chance you are reading this from a phone. That very same phone can be used to record video. Your phone can also record audio, but the quality of that recording is pretty low. So we recommend getting a small clip-on microphone that you can attach to your phone to capture better audio. You also need good natural light or at least one additional light to help. There are links at the bottom of this blog post for good enough cheap clip-on microphones you can buy and a fast tutorial for lighting a scene.
Step #8
Where should you sell your cooking class business courses?
Wherever it makes the most money obviously and lets you get started fast. Here is a small breakdown of your 5 best options for selling online cooking courses:
BlurBay
Link: https://blurbay.com/
What is BlurBay?
Online course selling platform. It’s designed to be easy to use and allow you to get high conversion rates from visitors for your courses. You can sell single videos or full-blown masterclasses. It has periodic discounts, coupons, and everything you need to get started.
How much does BlurBay charge?
BlurBay gets 5% of every transaction on the website making it pretty competitive when it comes to pricing.
How easy is it to use BlurBay?
It’s built to do one thing specifically and it does it very well. It is by far the easiest platform to use on this list.
Why is BlurBay good?
It’s super easy to use and doesn’t have a monthly subscription you would need to pay, so it’s cheap to get started and you can get going fast. It looks pretty and you don’t need to read tutorials in order to get started.
Why is BlurBay bad?
You cannot sell physical goods. You can only sell digital goods like videos, images, and online courses. If you want to sell t-shirts and mugs there, then you have to add your e-store by copy-pasting a link.
Udemy
Link: https://www.udemy.com/
What is Udemy?
“A course on demand platform.” Basically, you upload your content there and hope someone goes there to look for something that you specifically want to teach. You are reliant on their audience and if you direct your own audience there, there is a high chance that they will buy something… from someone else.
How much does Udemy charge?
Udemy has a revenue share model. In short, if Udemy is driving traffic to your cooking class business courses through their marketing/promotion events, then you receive 37% of the sale and if the customer comes to you from your own promotional efforts, you get 97% of the sale… but there are additional fees.
How easy is it to start using Udemy?
If you like filling government forms and doing tedious paperwork then Udemy might just be for you. It’s not complicated per say, but it definitely is an acquired taste. It’s simple, like a bowl of potato soup.
Why is Udemy good?
There is a lot of hand holding and it’s all very structured. If you have no audience or followers then you might just make a little something – if you make a super good course and you can market yourself on the platform properly.
Why is Udemy bad?
You are competing with all the other creators and in order to compete properly there is a certain format you should fit in. You are expected to put in a considerable amount of effort to stand out and make any money.
Coursera
Link: coursera.org
What is Coursera?
An online learning platform where you can get a totally-legit-and-useful online degree. As a creator you are expected to be pretty legit in order to have your courses there. We’re talking “I’m an actual online university” level of legit – whatever that means.
How much does Coursera charge?
If you can get in there to teach, then you can expect a powerful share of 6-15% of the total revenue and 20% of gross profits. Maybe. That information isn’t really publicly available.
How easy is it to use Coursera?
I would gladly tell you if I knew. For the purposes of testing their product I have yet to hear back from their team in order to get access.
Why is Coursera good?
As an actual college professor who signs up through their university you can potentially reach a whole lot more students and potentially inspire the next generation of college professors. Also, I hear it’s a way to get grants for your projects somehow – not sure. Might be a U.S. specific thing.
What is Coursera bad?
It’s not easily accessible for most of us. You as a teacher also make money for your university, but not for yourself. So you need to have a deal revenue share plan with your place of employment in order to make money, but from what I was able to gather on the internet, most universities aren’t profitable there.
Shopify
Link: https://www.shopify.com/
What is Shopify?
An online store and ecommerce platform. It’s one of the most powerful tools for that in the world. Its main purpose is to allow you to sell physical stuff, but you can also sell digital courses there.
How much does Shopify charge?
Shopify has a monthly subscription plan (cheapest one being $32 USD per month) and takes a percentage of your earnings based on your subscription plan. There are also themes you can buy for additional money.
How easy is it to use Shopify?
Not very easy. Shopify is a powerful tool, but its main purpose is to offer fast and efficient drop shipping solutions. Selling online courses there requires you to read through a considerable amount of online tutorials and familiarize yourself with the tools for some time. It’s not very easy to get into initially. You will never 80% of the features available there as a course creator.
Why is Shopify good?
It has a lot of flexibility once you learn how to use it and offers you almost an infinite amount of customizability. If I had to create an online store for selling physical goods like hats, t-shirts, and hoodies – then I would totally use Shopify. No doubt.
Why is Shopify bad?
It’s not meant for selling courses to help your cooking class business. You have to weave through the madness that is the platform’s user interface and figure out different tricks on how to get it to do what you need it to do. A lot of people hire professionals to set up their shops in Shopify and hire designers to design their pages. So it’s a considerable time investment to set it up.
Teachable
Link: https://teachable.com/
What is Teachable?
Teachable is a no-code platform for creators who want to build more impactful businesses through courses, coaching, and digital downloads. You get to build your own website and start selling courses there.
How much does Teachable charge?
Teachable has four different monthly subscription plans ranging from free to $199 USD per month. It also takes up to a 10% cut from your transactions.
How easy is it to use Teachable?
If you can build a website in WordPress, then you can also set up your own Teachable website. It’s a no-code website builder which means you don’t have to know how to code, but it is still dull and complicated when compared to something like creating an Instagram page or a Twitter page. No developer needed, but you might prefer getting one if you plan on using Teachable.
What’s good about Teachable?
It has a lot of features that course creators will find useful and has a solid amount of customization options. It can also set up live sessions with your audience which is great for 1-on-1 coaching. You can even link up your own domain name with Teachable.
What’s bad about Teachable?
Even with all the customization options, it’s still hard to make a page that looks great. The setup process takes a considerable amount of time and it’s not as easy as they say it’s going to be on their marketing materials. Their payment plan is accessible, but still a bit on the expensive side.
Step #9
Where do you make the most money selling your courses?
As of today, BlurBay charges the smallest service fee and does not have a paid subscription for creators. So your course has the largest earning potential on BlurBay right now. Keep in mind that this article was last updated in September 2023.
Step #10
So what are your chances for success?
Depends on what your measure of success is. Making enough money to sustain yourself is a good starting point.
Non-Sponsored Useful Links
Where to Outsource Video Editors
You don’t need anything super fancy. All you need is someone to put in an intro, an outro, and edit out all the embarrassing parts from your recording. This should a maximum of 250 EUR//USD.
Fiverr: https://www.fiverr.com/
Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/
Where to Get Free Background Music for Your Video
Do yourself a favor and try to be a bit original, but not enough that completely alienate your audience. You only need something low-key for the background to drown out some static noise.
Link: https://www.free-stock-music.com/
Best Background Music for Your Video, But It’s Not Free
If you have a little bit extra to spare, then we definitely recommend this one instead.
Link: https://artlist.io/
Best Clip-On Microphone for Android
Wires are pretty useful to make sure that you don’t get too much static. Just hide the wire in your shirt and clip it on your collar. As long as the recording bit of the microphone does not rub against anything you will be good to go.
Check it here on Amazon.
Best Clip-On Microphone for iPhone
iPhones don’t have a headphone jack so you’re forced to go wireless. This microphone is probably the best one out there. Having tested it personally myself I can say the results are solid.
Check it here on Amazon.
Quick and Simple Guide to Lighting Your Scene (Video Has Shopping List)
This guy is totally legit and gives you some no-nonsense tips. You don’t have to be as detailed as him, but watching this you will get a solid understanding of the simple principles of lighting.
Best Cheap Camera for Video Blogging (And Making Courses) With Rotating Screen
There are hundreds of options out there, but you ALWAYS pick the option that allows you to look at yourself while filming. A rotating built-in monitor is a must on a blogging camera. This helps you frame the scene alone without relying on someone else. Plus, you get used to seeing yourself on camera and that takes time getting used to. Trust me.
Check it here on Amazon.
Best Mobile Video Editing App
This is a premium app, but totally worth it. Both on iPhone and Android, don’t even bother looking at the other editing apps. Having gone through all of them at some point I can say that going with InShot saves you a lot of pain, suffering and money.
Was this article useful for your cooking business? Home cooking courses can be a challenge to sell, after all. If it gave you some ideas, bookmark it!
