Frequently Asked Questions

Plan on about three weeks for a cooking workshop and four weeks for a happy hour. That window covers picking a menu, collecting participant addresses and dietary needs, and getting ingredient kits to every doorstep before the event. Rush dates are sometimes possible depending on chef availability, so it's always worth asking. The earlier you lock a date, the more chef and menu options stay open to you.

Any time that works for your team. Rockoly schedules around your calendar, which in practice means early mornings for teams anchored in Europe and evenings for the West Coast. Distributed teams usually pick the one window where the most people can join comfortably and run a single session. If the spread is too wide for that to be humane, your planner will suggest splitting it into two sittings rather than asking anyone to dice onions at 2 a.m.

Yes, and it usually does. Add or drop people by telling your event planner. The one real deadline is ingredient delivery, because each kit is sourced and sent to an individual address. Once kits are on their way, late additions can still join the call and cook along from a shopping list. Give your planner the most accurate count you can as early as you can, and send dietary needs at the same time.

Close to nothing. A dedicated event planner takes the brief, recommends a menu, collects addresses and dietary needs, arranges delivery, and sends the invite and recipe. On the day, a Rockoly host opens the call. Professional kitchens call this mise en place, French for everything in its place, the discipline of having every ingredient prepped and within reach before the heat goes on. Your planner does your mise en place for you. You show up and cook.

Anywhere from 3 people to 600 and up. Small groups get an intimate session where everyone talks to the chef directly. Large ones get extra Rockoly staff on the call to manage timing, questions and breakouts. Past a few hundred participants we usually recommend splitting by department or running the same workshop across two or three days, which keeps it interactive instead of turning your team into an audience.

Rates are tiered by group size, and most virtual cooking workshops land between $119 and $149 per person. Groups under five book at a flat rate instead. Happy hours cost less, in-person events start higher, and premium tastings cost more because the ingredients do.

• Virtual cooking, typical menu: $695 for under 5 people, then $139 per person for 5 to 30, $129 for 31 to 50, and $119 for 50 and up.
• Virtual happy hour, mocktails: $495 for under 5, then $99, $89 and $79 per person as the group grows. With alcohol: $745, then $149, $139 and $129.
• In-person events: starting at $250 per person, including themed appetizers and non-alcoholic refreshments.
• Premium experiences: Wagyu team building starts at $195 per person and caviar tasting at $260 per person for a group of 5 to 30.

A virtual event rate includes your chef, a dedicated event planner, a Zoom host, all ingredients delivered to each participant, and gratuities. Kits ship free anywhere in the US. Customization is included rather than billed on top, so swapping a dish, adjusting for a dietary need or adding a team game doesn't move the number. French restaurants quote prices service compris, service included, so the figure on the menu is the figure you pay. Rockoly quotes the same way.

• A professional chef leading the session live
• A dedicated event planner, from first call through follow-up
• A Zoom host who opens the room and keeps it running
• All ingredients, sourced and delivered to each participant
• Gratuities, plus free standard shipping within the US

A $250 deposit holds your date while the details get finalized. Rockoly accepts credit card, ACH bank transfer, or check, which covers most corporate purchasing setups. If your finance team needs paperwork routed a particular way, or an approval to clear before you can commit, tell your event planner at the start. It's far easier to sort out while the date is on hold than in the week of the event.

It depends on the format and how far ahead you tell us, and every window is counted back from your event date. For virtual events, cancelling 21 or more days out returns what you paid less any nonrecoverable costs already committed; 8 to 20 days out you choose between a 50% refund or a 100% Rockoly credit; inside 8 days payments are nonrefundable. In-person events run on a longer clock because venues, staffing and travel commit earlier — 30 days, 15 to 29 days, and inside 15 days respectively. Rescheduling is the easier path and most teams take it: one complimentary move if you ask 14+ days ahead for a virtual event or 30+ days for an in-person one, with a fee after that and $250 or 10% for any move after the first. Credits last 12 months and transfer within your organization. The full policy, including headcount deadlines and what happens when weather or a closure intervenes, is on our Event Terms & Conditions page.

Rockoly makes it right. That's the Love Your Event Guarantee: your team should have an amazing experience, and if your Rockoly event doesn't live up to expectations, we'll make it right. It's an easy promise to make after more than 1,000 events and a 5-star Google rating across 105 reviews, but it exists for the rare event that doesn't land. Raise it with your planner and it gets handled.

A Rockoly team member opens the video call, welcomes your guests and hands over to your chef, then stays on to handle anything technical so the chef can teach. Larger events get additional staff to manage questions and timing. The split is deliberate rather than generous: the moment one person is running the room and teaching the recipe, one of the two jobs gets done badly, and it is always the teaching.

Working culinary professionals who also teach well, and the second half matters more than people expect. They come from restaurant, catering and private-chef backgrounds and bring real teaching experience. Rockoly matches you on three things: the menu you choose, your team's cooking level, and the personality of the room. The chef who's perfect for a quiet ten-person analytics team isn't automatically the right one for 80 people in sales, so tell your planner what your team is actually like.

No. Zoom is the default because most teams already have it, but Rockoly chefs run events on Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and WebEx regularly. If your company restricts outside platforms, host the meeting on yours and the Rockoly team joins as guests. Mention it early so the host can test the setup before the day, especially if you want breakout rooms or a spotlighted camera view.

Yes, and on a virtual event partners and kids join free — they cook on the same screen at no charge, and every ingredient delivery is portioned per person and sized to feed a family of four, so a teammate cooking alongside a seven-year-old isn't stretching the box. Guests from outside your company are a different calculation. A client, a partner agency or a new hire who hasn't started yet needs their own kit and their own place in the room, so count them in the headcount you give your planner; their dietary needs are then handled exactly like your team's, at no extra cost. In-person events work the same way, with a station instead of a kitchen. Either way, tell your planner who's coming while you're booking rather than on the day, because the ingredient order and the room are both built from that number.

That's the normal starting point, and it's exactly why the format works. Recipes are chosen to be achievable in about an hour by someone whose kitchen skill peaks at reheating takeout, and the chef demonstrates every step live before the group tries it. Nothing is graded and nobody is racing anyone. The people who insist they can't cook are usually the ones talking most by the end, because for once everyone in the room is a beginner at the same thing at the same time.

Most virtual cooking workshops run about an hour. Virtual happy hours run about 45 minutes, or an hour with a team game added. The murder mystery happy hour runs 90 to 120 minutes depending on group size, and in-person events run about two hours. Add-ons that teach an extra technique, like tortillas from scratch, a wine pairing or sake etiquette, typically add 30 minutes. Your planner will fit the run of show to the meeting slot you actually have.

It gives people something to do with their hands while they talk, which is the part a normal video call can't manufacture. Chefs build in natural pauses while dough rests or a pan comes up to heat, and that's when the conversation happens without anyone having to volunteer to speak. Everyone is mildly out of their depth, which flattens the room fast. And it ends with a real result: your team sits down and eats something they made, on the same day, together.

Yes, at no extra cost, as long as you share them in advance. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kosher and no-alcohol are all routine, and most menus already carry marked options. Allergies are handled per person rather than by rewriting the whole menu, so one guest's shellfish allergy doesn't change what everyone else eats. Send the details to your planner along with participant addresses and the right ingredients go into the right kits.

They're built for mixed rooms. Every menu card tells you what you'll make and how long it takes, and your planner will steer you away from anything that would leave half the group behind, because a 60-minute pasta workshop is a very different ask from a multi-course tasting. Chefs pace to the slowest hands, not the fastest. If you have a few genuinely confident cooks, ask about an add-on so they have something to chew on.

Yes, and customization is included rather than sold as an upgrade. Tell your planner what you're celebrating, what your team eats and what you'd like people to walk away knowing, and Rockoly will connect you with a chef to shape the class around it. Common reasons to customize: a cultural heritage month, a region your company is expanding into, a dish that means something to the team, or simply swapping one course out of a set menu.

You'll learn real technique, because the chef teaches while you cook instead of performing at you. Expect knife handling, seasoning, heat control and the reasoning behind each step. The context is half the pleasure: sushi is named for the rice, not the fish. The word comes from an old term meaning sour, from an era when fish was preserved packed in fermenting rice and the rice was thrown away. Pesto comes from pestare, to pound, the same root as pestle. Your chef hands you things like that alongside the recipe.

Kits are sourced from stores local to each participant and delivered to their door before the event, rather than shipped from a single warehouse. That's mostly about produce. Basil is a tropical plant that blackens in a cold fridge, and delicate herbs and greens don't survive several days in transit. Everyone receives the ingredients and any special equipment their recipe calls for, and standard shipping within the US is free.

Yes. Rockoly has delivered ingredients to team members in Australia, the UK, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, Germany, South Africa, Mexico, India and Spain, among other countries. Give your planner the full list of participant locations early, because international addresses need more lead time than domestic ones. Occasionally a specific ingredient has to be swapped for a local equivalent, and your chef adjusts the recipe so everyone still ends up at the same dish.

Yes. Skip delivery and every participant receives a shopping list instead, with quantities and any substitutions noted, so they can source their own ingredients. Teams choose this when people are travelling, when the group is spread across countries that complicate delivery, or when the company would rather reimburse groceries than ship kits. The workshop itself runs exactly the same, because the chef teaches to the recipe, not to the box.

Very little. Your chef sends an equipment and ingredient list ahead of time and the kit covers anything unusual, so you're supplying pantry basics and a decent camera angle. A few small things reliably make the hour better:

• Wireless headphones or earbuds. Kitchens are loud and you'll be moving around.
• A laptop propped near your cutting board, angled so you can switch between your face and your hands. A phone as a second device lets you carry the chef over to the stove or the oven.
• The recipe open on screen or printed, so you can catch up if you miss a step.
• Staples within reach: salt, pepper, oil, butter, a lemon, and the pots and pans on your chef's list.

A chef and professional helpers come to you, either at your office or a venue Rockoly arranges, bringing all the ingredients and equipment, and run about two hours of hands-on cooking. Themed appetizers and non-alcoholic refreshments are included, and so are setup and cleanup, which is the part most offices underestimate. Rockoly runs in-person events in the Bay Area, Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Seattle, Southern California, Washington DC, Chicago, Austin and Columbus.

In-person cooking events start at $250 per person, covering the chef, helpers, all ingredients and equipment, themed appetizers, non-alcoholic refreshments, and setup and cleanup. Add-ons are priced per person on top: custom aprons with your guests' names or your logo run $40 each, and food and drink upgrades run roughly $8 to $30 per person, from sparkling flavored waters up to a full cocktail bar. Your planner builds the number against your headcount and venue.

Yes. The people in the office cook together in the room with the chef, and remote colleagues join by video with their own ingredient kits delivered to their homes, working through the same recipe at the same time. Rockoly's in-person workshops are designed for hybrid from the start, so this isn't a workaround. The thing to get right is audio and camera placement in the room, so the remote half feels included rather than like they're watching a party through a window. Your planner sets that up.

Full menus built around a shared task rather than a demo, each with a team activity folded in. Cavatelli & Competition has teams making pasta and pesto from scratch and then competing on the pesto. Rolling & Bonding is Japanese maki rolls. Charcuterie & Connection is board building, and charcuterie comes from the French chair cuite, cooked meat, for the charcutier who preserved pork back when there was no refrigeration. There's also Spanish tapas, a mixology session and a wine tasting.

Almost any moment a team needs to be in the same room without a slide deck. The word companion comes from the Latin for with bread, literally the person you break bread with, which is a fair description of what these events are for.

• Celebrations and milestones
• Welcoming new hires or an intern cohort
• Quarterly events and offsites
• Employee and client appreciation
• Learning a new skill together
• Holiday parties
• The finale of a long or multi-day conference

Yes, and that's the normal first step. A planning call is free with no obligation. You'll walk through what you're trying to achieve, how many people, what date and what budget you're working with, and get menu recommendations against it. It's also the fastest way to find out whether a rush date is possible. Nothing is reserved until you're ready, and a $250 deposit is what locks the date in.

Pick whichever route is easiest and a planner takes it from there. Have a rough headcount, a target date and any budget constraints handy and you'll get menu options back quickly.

• Fill out the form on this page and a Rockoly planner will reach out.
• Book a planning call and talk the event through with the team.
• Call the hotline at (617) 939-9732 or email events@rockoly.com.