Cook Stars Franchise

Is it possible to have full classes?

We get asked this a lot, so I want to address it.

There is absolutely NO reason not to have full classes! Plenty of the team do AND are oversubscribed and have waiting lists.

Guess what? They are the ones who action all the things we have taught them and they take consistent action (it’s not magic, it does take work)!

Not everyone has all classes at full capacity, but to be very clear that is NOT because it’s not possible. With the right effort in the right places, it’s entirely possible….and I’m pretty sure no one in the team would dispute that!

If a class isn’t full it’s not because there is a flaw in the system; or a weakness in a particular area, or a lack of potential customers or something external outside of someone’s control preventing someone achieving full classes. Even geographically there isn’t a barrier. The more affluent areas are great for private classes and parties and the more deprived areas are great for grant funded work and working with organisations and charities.

You’ll have over 20,000+ children in your area aged 2-14 (plus the 14-17 year olds too). Not everyone will want to come to your classes….but you only need 14 for a full class!

So why hasn’t everyone got full classes then I can almost hear you thinking? Because not everyone is as motivated as the next person and people have different priorities. This isn’t just a phenomenon at Cook Stars of course, this is just in life in general!

It’s a bit like losing weight or getting fit for example, we all know HOW…. but that doesn’t mean we WILL. If we took the right actions and followed the formula (less calories in, more calories out) we’d all be walking around in ‘perfect’ bodies…but we’re not! Not everyone will follow the ‘formula’ and this is no exception with the Cook Stars formula. I don’t really like this expression, but it kind of gets the point across…. ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’.

Your businesses success will be 100% down to you. We give you all the tools to run a profitable business and are there to help and support you throughout all stages, but we can’t do it for you (although we’ll be there the whole way!). It’s how you use those tools that will determine if you’ll have an oversubscribed business.

It is 100% possible to have full classes and in the majority of cases the team do. Take a look at Facebook pages, you’ll see for yourself. You’ll also see a very clear correlation between those that are very visible and market a lot and have a strong presence compared to those who are not so active.

Just to say, there is no judgement here. It is ENTIRELY up to every individual person in the team how they chose to run their business. There is no right or wrong! We are not your ‘boss’, no one is accountable to us or has targets they must hit. When you’re self-employed the motivation and determination to succeed comes from within and from the goals YOU have chosen to set yourself. Being in complete control is the best feeling!

Everyone in the team is a business owner in their own right and can run their business exactly as they wish. For some that is smaller scale. Some people actively chose some smaller venues where the capacity is less than 14 children because it’s a very convenient location for them for example. Some only want to run a few sessions a week. Others are the opposite and have teams of class leaders and can barely keep up with demand because they seek opportunities and opportunities find them because they are pro-active and visible.

I’ve thought about this a lot. I think (looking under the surface) what some people are perhaps really asking when they say ‘is it possible to have full classes’ is actually a different question. I wonder if really it is more a question of ‘is it possible for ME to have full classes…..is it possible that I can do it too’?

Logically people know it is possible to have full sessions – they can see if for themselves from our existing team on social media. But I think people may worry they are not as business minded, or as confident, or as likeable, or as savvy, or as creative, or as knowledgeable or as ‘good as’ other franchisees. That’s my suspicion anyway from conversations we have….

Just to reassure you NOBODY in our team has ever owned a business before. Not one single person at this point! Yet you can see we have a team of amazing business owners who all started off nervous too.

They also didn’t know how to market to people, how to get and keep customers, how to offer exceptional customer service, how to grow a great reputation, how to be the ‘go to’ cooking class. We’ll get you there too - don’t you worry about that! We’ve done it time and time again. You don’t need to know any of this stuff now so please don’t let that worry you.

It’s a long answer I know to a simple question – but I wanted to take time to try and explain it properly. I hope this helps answer the question.

Please get in touch if you’ve got any question, I’m always happy to help.

Cathy (Cook Stars founder)