NYC Team Building Cooking & Happy Hour

Usually neither. The chef comes to you with all the ingredients, supplies and equipment, so a conference room, a pantry counter or an open floor is normally enough room to work in — your planner goes over your space when you book and flags anything else it needs. If the office genuinely can't hold the group, they'll find a venue near you rather than make everyone travel. Events in your office are quoted differently from a venue we arrange. Groups run from 3 people to 600-plus, and very large teams are usually split by department or over a couple of days.

It's routine in New York, and event insurance is already part of every Rockoly in-person package. Plenty of buildings won't clear a vendor at the dock without proof of coverage, and freight elevators often have to be reserved days ahead and released by a set hour. Send your building's requirements and elevator windows to your planner as soon as you have a date, and the load-in gets planned around them so the chef is set up before your team walks in.

A chef or mixologist runs the session, an event helper preps and resets the stations, and your dedicated planner has the menu, timing and headcount settled long before the day. The crew arrives ahead of your team and builds the stations — in this city that arrival is the part with the real deadline on it, because the elevator window your building gives you is what the rest of the timeline gets built backwards from. Then it's roughly two hours, hands-on: the chef demonstrates a step, your group does it, and it repeats until everyone sits down and eats together. Themed appetizers and non-alcoholic refreshments are out from the start, and the shape holds whether you're shaping maki rolls in Rolling & Bonding or building boards in Charcuterie & Connection. Afterwards the crew clears the lot — dishes, equipment, every station — and your conference room goes back to being a conference room.

Try the egg cream. New York's classic soda-fountain drink contains no egg and no cream — just cold milk, seltzer and chocolate syrup, poured in Brooklyn candy stores and soda fountains from the early 1900s on. A century later, people are still arguing about where the name came from. It's a useful reminder that the best drink in the room doesn't have to be alcoholic. Mixology & Mingle already comes with snacks, appetizers and non-alcoholic refreshments, and no-alcohol versions of the cocktails cost nothing extra when you flag them in advance.

Yes, because nobody is working alone. The chef demonstrates each step and the group splits into small stations, so a first-timer shaping maki rolls in Rolling & Bonding is doing exactly what the confident cook beside them is doing, just at their own pace. Charcuterie & Connection asks for arranging rather than knife work. And the optional activities give the non-cooks something to win — the Haiku Challenge with sushi, or the bracket-style Charcuterie Tournament.

An event in your own office and a venue we arrange are quoted differently, and your planner firms up the number once headcount, menu and location are settled. What the rate always covers is the same: live instruction from your chef or bartender, all ingredients, supplies and equipment, setup and cleanup by the Rockoly team, a dedicated event coordinator, free customizations, event insurance, and enough extra food and drink that nobody's ordering dinner afterward. Add-ons are the only separate line — custom aprons at $40 per person, or a take-home cocktail shaker set from Mixology & Mingle at $40 per person.

Change whatever you want — customization is included, not billed. Teams regularly combine two experiences, sushi first and cocktails after, or swap out a dish their group won't love. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kosher and no-alcohol needs cost nothing extra as long as we know in advance, because the chef shops for them rather than improvising on the day. Send your planner the list once RSVPs are in and it's handled before anyone arrives.

A deposit holds it. Aim for roughly three weeks' notice for a cooking workshop and four for a happy hour, and in this city let the building set the real deadline rather than the chef: certificates of insurance, dock access and freight elevator windows are usually the slowest moving part of a New York booking, so the sooner your planner has your building's requirements the better. Rush dates are sometimes possible depending on chef availability, so ask rather than assume. You can pay by credit card, ACH bank transfer or check. Cancel 30 or more days out and you are refunded what you paid less any nonrecoverable costs already committed; 15 to 29 days out you choose between a 50% refund and a 100% Rockoly credit; inside 15 days payments are nonrefundable, though one complimentary reschedule is yours if you ask 30+ days ahead. Use the inquiry form on this page, email events@rockoly.com, or call (617) 939-9732 to book a planning call. Every event carries the Love Your Event Guarantee: if your Rockoly event doesn't live up to expectations, we'll make it right.