Boston Cooking & Happy Hour In-Person Events

Both work, and the difference shows up in the rate: in-person events start at $150 per person in your own office, and a venue we arrange is quoted separately. Most Boston teams have us come to them, from downtown Boston to Cambridge and the surrounding area, because the chef arrives with the ingredients, supplies and equipment. A conference room or an open floor is the usual setup, and your planner goes over the space with you when you book. If your floor can't hold the group, they'll line up a venue nearby instead. Groups run from 3 people to 600-plus, with the largest teams split by department or across a few days.

A Rockoly chef or mixologist leads it start to finish, with an event helper on site and a dedicated planner who has settled the menu, timing and logistics with you beforehand. The crew sets up before your team walks in, then it's about two hours of hands-on cooking or mixing, with the chef demonstrating each step before your group tries it. Themed appetizers and non-alcoholic refreshments are included, and the same crew handles cleanup. Your side of it is picking a date, confirming headcount and flagging dietary needs.

Massachusetts has an unusually strong dessert résumé. The chocolate chip cookie was invented at the Toll House Inn in Whitman in the 1930s, when Ruth Wakefield stirred chopped-up chocolate into her cookie dough, and the state later adopted it as the official state cookie. Boston cream pie, credited to the Parker House hotel downtown, has been the official state dessert of Massachusetts since 1996 — and it isn't a pie at all, but a sponge cake with custard and chocolate glaze, named from an era when cooks baked cakes in pie tins. Our chefs enjoy this stuff, so ask them about it. If you want dessert on your own menu, tiramisu sits on the Cavatelli & Competition extras list and mini cheesecakes on the one for Charcuterie & Connection, and we run a festive baking menu in Boston through the holiday season. Your planner can add any of them.

That describes most groups we work with, and it's fine. Everything is pitched at beginners: the chef demonstrates each step, the tasks are small and shared, and nothing is graded. The formats help too — the Pesto Relay Race add-on to Cavatelli & Competition gives each person a specific task so nobody is stuck doing all of it, and Charcuterie & Connection is about building a good-looking board, not knife skills. Someone who would rather pour, taste and talk is still fully part of the event.

Boston in-person events start at $150 per person in your office; a venue Rockoly arranges is quoted on top of that, and your planner confirms the exact figure once headcount, menu and location are settled. Every in-person event includes live instruction, all ingredients, supplies and equipment, setup and cleanup by the Rockoly team, extra food and drinks so nobody leaves hungry, a dedicated event coordinator with free customizations, and event insurance. Optional add-ons are the only separate cost, like custom aprons with names or your logo at $40 per person, or a cocktail shaker set your team keeps after Mixology & Mingle at $40 per person.

Yes to both, and neither costs extra. Teams often pair a cooking workshop with mixology — cavatelli first, cocktails after — or swap dishes between menus to suit the group. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kosher and no-alcohol requests are handled the same way: tell your planner in advance and the chef shops for them, so those guests cook and eat the same dish as everyone else instead of getting a side plate. Customizations are included in what you're already paying.

Yes, and the Boston list is built for it. The year-round menus give you six genuinely different afternoons — cavatelli and pesto made from scratch, Japanese maki rolls, charcuterie boards, Spanish tapas, cocktails with a mixologist, or a guided wine tasting with a sommelier. Book a different one next quarter and the room feels new, because the skill being taught is new. The seasonal menus stretch it further. Through the holidays Boston adds Festive Spanish Tapas and the Holiday Baking Championship, where teams decorate three-layer sponge cakes and prizes go to the most creative, best-tasting and most festive. Half-hour festive activities like Gingerbread Co-Workers and Human Snowman Creations can be added to any menu in that season. There is also the Boston In-Office BBQ, where the chefs bring the grill, the ingredients and the equipment to your workplace. Tell your planner you are thinking in terms of a series rather than a single event and they can map the menus across your calendar.

Plan on about three weeks for a cooking workshop and four for a happy hour, though rush dates are sometimes possible depending on chef availability. Rockoly is headquartered in Boston, so if your date is tight, a phone call on (617) 939-9732 will usually get you a straight yes or no faster than email will. A deposit holds your date, by credit card, ACH bank transfer or check, and you are refunded in full if you cancel at least 48 hours before the event, or within 24 hours of booking. The inquiry form on this page and events@rockoly.com reach the same planners. Every event is backed by the Love Your Event Guarantee: if your Rockoly event doesn't live up to expectations, we'll make it right.