The Chopping Block

What The Chopping Block does

The Chopping Block is a privately held recreational cooking school founded in 1997 by Shelley Young and currently owned by Lisa Counts, operating from a single dedicated kitchen facility at 4747 N Lincoln Ave in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood with approximately 30 employees. The company generates revenue from a diversified set of transaction-based offerings: in-person and demonstration cooking classes (starting at $95/person), 40-hour culinary boot camps, private and corporate team-building events (starting at $1,700 for 6–50 participants), wine and cocktail classes led by sommeliers and mixologists, kids and teen summer camps, virtual cook-alongs and demonstrations via Zoom (capacity up to 300 demo or 100 cook-along screens), retail gift cards, and a Wine of the Month Club. Internationally, the company runs small-group culinary tours (capped at 12–14 travelers) to Tuscany, Iceland, and Ireland through a partnership with Onward Travel that has been active since 2018, with tours priced at approximately $5,975 per traveler for double occupancy.

The business is supported by a standard SaaS technology stack rather than proprietary platforms: Occasion powers online class registration, Zoom delivers virtual programming, HubSpot manages CRM, MailChimp handles email marketing, and Square processes payments for gift cards and retail. Distribution spans direct in-person sales, virtual nationwide events, third-party listing on CourseHorse, gift card e-commerce, and curated international tours. Customer segments are primarily individual home cooks (the dominant segment), corporate teams, kids and teens ages 7–17, and culinary travel enthusiasts, with no external funding rounds disclosed and a 28-year operating history that has earned consecutive Best of Chicago recognition in 2024 and 2025.

Name

The Chopping Block

Legal name

The Chopping Block

Website

https://thechoppingblock.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

The Chopping Block is a privately held recreational cooking school founded in 1997 in Chicago's Lincoln Square, serving individual home cooks, corporate teams, kids/teens, and culinary travelers through in-person classes, boot camps, private events, virtual Zoom programming, and curated international culinary tours.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Recreational Cooking School

NAICS

Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing (3118)

akta.pro primary industry

Cooking Classes & Chef-Led Workshops (THAJAGAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Culinary Arts & Cooking (Baking, Pastry, Global Cuisines) (EDAAAGAG), Culinary Skills Workshops (Baking, Regional Cooking, Food Prep Skills) (THAJAKAE)

Keywords

• Recreational cooking classes
• Culinary education programs
• Cooking boot camps
• Corporate team building events
• Culinary travel tours

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Cooking Classes: In-person hands-on and demonstration cooking classes covering ethnic cuisines, techniques, and skills from beginner to advanced levels. Specialty classes in grilling, knife skills, baking, and sushi. Priced per person starting at $95.
2. Private Events: Customizable private cooking events for celebrations such as birthdays, anniversaries, showers, rehearsal dinners, and family gatherings. Customized menus for 6 to 50 participants. Starting at $1,700 per event.
3. Culinary Boot Camps: 40-hour intensive culinary programs covering core principles such as knife skills, sauces, meat and vegetable preparation, and desserts. Professional curriculum adapted for home cooks.
4. Wine & Cocktail Classes: Guided classes by expert sommeliers and mixologists, including hands-on and demonstration-based cocktail education. Available for private social and corporate events.
5. Kids & Teen Classes/Camps: Cooking camps for ages 7-17 focusing on baking, regional cuisine, fundamentals, safety, and cooking techniques. Teen Boot Camps offered for more skilled young chefs.
6. Culinary Tours: International culinary travel experiences to Tuscany, Iceland, and Ireland in partnership with Onward Travel. Includes hands-on cooking, wine education, cultural excursions, and accommodations at local villas.
7. Virtual Private Events: Virtual cook-alongs, demonstrations, and sips & snacks-style parties via Zoom. Capacity of up to 300 demo screens or 100 interactive cook-along screens.
8. Gift Cards & Retail: Gift cards sold through Square for class registrations. Wine and spirits retail, including Wine of the Month Club.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Chopping Block is Chicago's largest recreational cooking school, delivering hands-on and demonstration cooking classes, 40-hour culinary boot camps, wine and cocktail classes, kids and teen cooking camps, corporate team-building events, private parties, virtual Zoom cook-alongs, and international culinary tours to Tuscany, Iceland, and Ireland. The company operates from a single Lincoln Square facility with dedicated instructional kitchens and complements paid programming with free content resources including recipes, how-to videos, and cooking guides.

Product overview

The Chopping Block is Chicago's largest recreational cooking school offering a comprehensive portfolio of culinary education services. The core offering consists of in-person cooking classes, culinary boot camps, corporate team building events, private cooking events, wine and cocktail classes, and kids/teen cooking programs. The company has expanded into culinary tourism with international cooking tours to Tuscany, Iceland, and Ireland in partnership with Onward Travel. Supporting the core educational services, The Chopping Block provides digital content including a blog, how-to videos, recipes, and cooking guides, plus retail offerings such as gift cards and a Wine of the Month Club. Virtual offerings include Zoom-based cook-alongs and demonstrations for remote participants. The business operates from a single physical location in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood and serves customers both in-person and nationally through virtual programming.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cooking Classes In-person hands-on and demonstration cooking classes covering ethnic cuisines, techniques, and skills from beginner to advanced levels, including specialty classes in grilling, knife skills, baking, and sushi. Designed for home cooks seeking to build confidence and culinary skills.
• Culinary Boot Camps 40-hour intensive programs covering core culinary principles including knife skills, sauces, meat and vegetable preparation, and desserts. Adapted from a professional culinary curriculum for home cooks.
• Corporate and Team Building Events Interactive cooking experiences and challenges tailored to support collaboration, communication, and morale-building among teams. Includes wine and cocktail party options for corporate groups.
• Private Cooking Events Customizable private cooking events for celebrations including birthdays, anniversaries, showers, rehearsal dinners, and family gatherings. Accommodates 6 to 50 participants with professional instruction and customized menus.
• Wine and Cocktail Classes Guided classes led by expert sommeliers and mixologists featuring both hands-on and demonstration-based cocktail and wine education. Available for private social and corporate events.
• Kids and Teen Classes and Camps Cooking programs for kids ages 7-12 (focus on baking, pastries, regional cuisine) and teens ages 13-17 (fundamentals, safety, and cooking techniques), including week-long summer camps.
• Virtual Private Events Virtual cook-alongs, demonstrations, and sips and snacks-style parties delivered via Zoom. Supports up to 300 demo screens or 100 interactive cook-along screens for remote team building and celebrations.
• Culinary Tours - Tuscany Weeklong culinary journey through Tuscany combining hands-on cooking classes, wine education, and cultural excursions from a historic stone villa in Chianti. Features visits to Dario Cecchini's butcher shop and Badia a Coltibuono.
• Culinary Tours - Iceland Weeklong culinary journey through Iceland featuring geothermal baths, Reykjavik exploration, Golden Circle, geothermal greenhouse dining, and immersive food culture experiences.
• Culinary Tours - Ireland Nine-day culinary adventure featuring Ballymaloe Cookery School, Sally Barnes' fish smoking experience, coastal foraging, and visits to Cliffs of Moher, Ring of Kerry, and Killarney National Park.
• Gift Cards Gift cards available for purchase, enabling recipients to book classes and culinary experiences at their convenience.
• Wine of the Month Club Subscription-style wine club offering monthly curated wine selections.
• Loyalty Program Tiered rewards program where spending on classes earns discount milestones, with retroactive credit for qualifying purchases and automatic email coupon distribution.

Quantifiable outcome

• Thousands of home cooks have gained confidence in the kitchen over nearly 30 years
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Onward TravelcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Partnership since 2018 for culinary tour experiences. Onward Travel curates and operates international culinary journeys including Cook Like a Tuscan, Iceland tours, and Ireland tours. The Chopping Block provides marketing, customer base, and tour directors (Andrea Miller, Viktorija Todorovska) for these experiences.
• LAZ ParkingminorOthersParking partner offering 20% discounted rates at garage at 4715 N. Western Ave. Discount code Lincoln20Chi available for customers.
• SpotHerominorOthersParking reservation platform partnership offering discounted rates up to 50% off compared to drive-up prices for class and event attendees.
• OccasioncoreTechnology or IntegrationClass registration and booking platform powering The Chopping Block's online class calendar. Handles online registration and payment processing for classes.
• ZoomcoreTechnology or IntegrationVideo conferencing platform used for virtual cooking classes, private events, and demonstrations. Supports both demo-style (up to 300 screens) and interactive cook-along (up to 100 screens) formats.
• HubSpotcoreTechnology or IntegrationCRM platform used for customer relationship management, conversational and inbound marketing, and sales relationships.
• MailChimpcoreTechnology or IntegrationEmail marketing platform used for newsletters and promotional communications to opted-in subscribers.
• SquarecoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment processing platform for online gift card purchases and in-store retail transactions.
• Ballymaloe Cookery SchoolcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFeatured destination on Ireland culinary tours. World-renowned cooking school in County Cork, Ireland, founded by Darina Allen. Offers private hands-on cooking classes, farm and garden tours, and meals for tour groups.
• Sally Barnes / Woodcock SmokerycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLegendary Irish fish smoker featured on Ireland culinary tours. Offers coastal foraging experiences and traditional smoked fish meals at The Keep smokehouse.
• Dario Cecchini / Antica Macelleria CecchinicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorld-famous butcher in Panzano, Italy featured on Cook Like a Tuscan tours. Offers butchery classes and traditional Tuscan beef experiences including Bistecca alla Fiorentina.
• Badia a ColtibuonocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHistoric abbey and agritourism destination in Chianti hosting pasta and sauce cooking classes for Cook Like a Tuscan tours. Produces wine and olive oil for over a thousand years.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• EatWith: Marketplace for in-home dining experiences and culinary events hosted by local chefs. Competes for the experiential food/private-event customer with similar culinary-tourism appeal.
• Sur La Table: National recreational cooking school and gourmet retail chain offering hands-on classes, private events, and culinary travel. Closest direct peer in format, customer type (home cooks), and product mix.
• Classpop!: Cooking class aggregator and booking platform where customers discover and reserve in-person cooking experiences — overlaps with The Chopping Block's CourseHorse distribution channel and class discovery.
• Cozymeal: Online marketplace that aggregates cooking classes, private chef experiences, and food tours in multiple cities. Direct competitor for consumer cooking class bookings and team-building events.
• Ballymaloe Cookery School: Ireland-based recreational and professional cooking school, currently a tour partner of The Chopping Block. Comparable curriculum, immersive short-course format, and farm-to-table educational positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Williams Sonoma: Premium kitchenware retailer that operates in-store cooking classes and events. Adjacent peer — same home-cook customer base and aspirational culinary lifestyle positioning, though classes are an adjunct to retail.
• Le Cordon Bleu: Global culinary education brand with structured curriculum and short recreational courses. Broad incumbent in culinary education; relevant for aspirational positioning and chef-instructor talent pool.
• Institute of Culinary Education (ICE): Large culinary school offering both professional culinary arts training and recreational/continuing-education classes. Comparable curriculum and boot-camp format, though ICE is primarily professional-track.

Emerging players

• Airbnb Online Experiences: Hosts virtual and in-person cooking experiences globally, including chef-led cook-alongs. Direct overlap with The Chopping Block's virtual events and culinary tour offerings; massive built-in distribution.
• MasterClass: Subscription streaming platform featuring celebrity chef instructional video content. Substitutes for entry-level cooking education at near-zero marginal cost per learner; pressure on beginner-class value proposition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/ChoppingBlock
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/ChoppingBlockChi
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheChoppingBlock
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-chopping-block_2
• Instagraminstagram.com/thechoppingblock
• Pinterestpinterest.com/thechoppingbloc

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Chopping Block