Washington DC Cooking & Happy Hour In-Person Events

Either one. Rockoly chefs travel from downtown DC out to Northern Virginia and Maryland, and your own office is usually the easiest call — the chef brings the ingredients, supplies and equipment and sets up in a conference room or open space, and your planner goes over the room with you beforehand. If your space is too small, or your building too locked down for a group that size, they'll arrange a venue nearby. Events in your office are quoted differently from a venue we arrange. Send us your badging or security desk requirements with the booking and the load-in gets built around them.

Either works, and it's worth deciding before you fix a date rather than after. Rockoly chefs travel from downtown DC out into Northern Virginia and Maryland, so any one of the three can host the whole group — the limit is your room rather than our range, and that's what your planner sizes up with you. If the biggest office holds everyone, one event in one place is the simplest version and the one people actually turn up to. If nobody wants to make that drive twice in a day, both alternatives are routine. The same menu can run more than once — large groups get split by department or across a couple of days anyway, and splitting by location instead is the same booking — or the offices that aren't hosting join as the hybrid half, with ingredients delivered to them and the same chef on screen. Groups run from 3 people to 600 and up either way. Send your planner a headcount per site along with your date, because that's the number that decides both the room and whether you split at all.

A Rockoly chef or mixologist runs the session, an event helper preps and resets the stations, and your planner has the timeline settled well before the day. The shape is simple: the crew sets up before your group arrives, then about two hours of hands-on cooking or mixing with the chef demonstrating each step, then everyone eats together. No experience is needed — the instruction is pitched at beginners and the tasks are shared. Themed appetizers and non-alcoholic refreshments are included, and the crew handles cleanup.

The half-smoke. It's the District's own sausage — coarsely ground, part pork and part beef, smoked, then split and griddled, usually served under chili — and it barely exists outside the DMV, which is strange for a city that eats from everywhere else on earth. Ben's Chili Bowl has been serving them on U Street since 1958 and is the reason most people know the name. If that's your team's kind of food, ask your planner about the Washington DC Office BBQ instead of a cooking workshop: the chefs bring the grill, the ingredients and all the equipment to your workplace and run it right there.

They don't have to. Rockoly runs hybrid events, so your DC office cooks with the chef in the room while remote colleagues join live and cook along at home, with their ingredients delivered to them. Same chef, same menu, same two hours — the only difference is which kitchen they're standing in. Tell your planner the in-office and remote split when you book, because the timing and the shopping list both shift a little depending on how many people are joining from where.

An event in your own office and a venue we arrange are quoted differently. Your planner firms the number up once headcount, menu and location are settled, and nothing gets added to it afterwards. What that buys is the entire event rather than the food alone — the chef or mixologist teaching live, every ingredient, all supplies and equipment, setup and cleanup handled by our crew, more food and drink than your team will get through, a dedicated coordinator, free customizations and event insurance. The last one is not decoration in this city, where plenty of buildings will not clear a vendor without proof of coverage. Add-ons are optional and quoted up front: custom aprons at $40 per person, or the take-home cocktail shaker set with Mixology & Mingle at $40 per person.

No, and it doesn't change your price. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, kosher and no-alcohol are standard accommodations whenever you share them ahead of time, and the chef shops for them so those guests cook the same dish as everyone else. Menus are equally flexible — combine Tapas & Talk with a cocktail session, or swap a dish for something your group will enjoy more. Customization is included in the event, which is worth saying plainly: tailoring the menu to your team costs nothing extra.

Three weeks of lead time is the working number for a cooking workshop, four for a happy hour. In this city there is often a second clock running alongside ours: association buildings, agencies and contractors frequently want visitor details submitted days in advance, and that list can close before our own deadline does. Ask your facilities or security contact what they need on the same day you ask us for a date, and the two timelines usually line up without drama. If your date is tighter than three weeks, ask anyway — rush events sometimes come together when a chef has the day free. Booking is a deposit on the date, 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. Send the inquiry form on this page and a planner will come back with dates and options; events@rockoly.com and (617) 939-9732 reach the same team if you would rather talk it through first. Whatever you book is covered by the Love Your Event Guarantee: if your Rockoly event doesn't live up to expectations, we'll make it right.