Snapshot of one of ChefTorial's chefs teaching a virtual class (Image: ChefTorial)
Online cooking company ChefTorial and e-commerce business Local Line have partnered to launch a virtual culinary platform where customers can directly buy products from Local Line farmers and take part in cooking classes on how to prepare dishes from their ingredients.
ChefTorial CEO, Rivers Corbett says the 22-year-old company had to completely pivot during COVID-19.
This year, they want to focus on collaborating with organizations that want to help educate their food customers and nurture team bonding.
“For the past year chef ChefTorial has been really focused on understanding how to deliver a model of excellence of virtual and interactive culinary experiences,” says Corbett. “We really started to understand that we’re all about engagement, interactiveness, matching the physical world with the digital world.”
Ironically, ChefTorial’s virtual pivot was more successful than they would have been if they instead chose to be an in-person service. By going virtual, ChefTorial isn’t restricted to chefs located in Saint John, instead drawing upon a global inventory of chefs, and they can teach chefs to build their own business.
Once feasible and safe to do so, Corbett wants to add in-person cooking classes.
ChefTorial logo (Image: ChefTorial)
“We will have the best of both worlds as this thing teeter-tottering back and forth between virtual and face-to-face – COVID has been a great blessing for us,” he said.
Local Line represents 150 marketplaces and 8,100 farmers across North America. After being introduced to Local Line’s CEO, Corbett found their companies complemented one another with their dedication to “buying local.”
The biggest obstacle faced by Local Line at the time was its customers don’t know what to do with their products. For example, if a Local Line farmer offers hanger steak for sale, customers wouldn’t purchase it because they don’t know how to prepare the steak explained Corbett.
Through the businesses’ partnership, farmers and markets using Local Line will be able to provide their customers with individualized cooking experiences led by ChefTorial, taught by top-class team of chefs.
“It was a natural marriage for us because our team of chefs are one, knowledgeable in the kitchen, and two, very knowledgeable on how to educate and connect with people in a way that we tie in with our emotions as their intellect,” he explained.
Corbett believes there has been a shift in the last three to five years, additionally fueled by the pandemic, of people buying ingredients locally, as well as farmers realizing they don’t need to rely on or go through distributors or processes to access their customer base.
“People are waking and seeing that they have choices now,” he said. “It’s a win-win for everybody.”
This story was originally published on Huddle.Today – an Acadia Broadcasting Limited content partner.
