Knowledge Base > Eric Wynkoop - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
![Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)](https://d1c8xu194km6ge.cloudfront.net/course_images/4547/square_thumbnail_Wynkoop.JPG3.jpg)
Eric Wynkoop - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
This event was on
Tuesday, July 23, 2024 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern
Join Chef Eric Wynkoop in his virtual office as he welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to Ask Anything – from cooking techniques to co… Read More.
Question:
![Sara A](/assets/users/default_thumbnail-c14152f0fe89cae1cce32e15cdc92f426d801796f87b61f4bb21b89f4b1704ab.jpg)
What are the specific steps for someone, who wants to start a Cooking Business, that would include main dishes, a salad, healthy, and balanced, for their community?
— Sara A Warfield
Answer:
Okay, so, uh, my approach, uh, this is my preference, uh, is to start with a business plan. And, um, I always direct my students to, uh, score.org, uh, where you'll f uh, find some, uh, information, uh, that'll, uh, talk you through and walk you through, uh, the different aspects of a business plan. Also, um, if you, um, happen to live in a, in a area where there is a score office, um, reach out to those folks. They provide free guidance, um, for, you know, um, uh, entrepreneurial folks, uh, that wanna start a cooking business, okay? I mean, otherwise, uh, what you will need to do is, uh, understand your audience, you know, who is it that you will be cooking for, and what are their interests? What is their demand in terms of, uh, type of food, the formality of the food, um, you know, for example. And, um, start to come, uh, compile menus that will fulfill that scenario, you know, across, uh, main dishes and salads. And, um, uh, start to test those recipes. You'll need to cost out the recipes. We call it costing the recipe. Uh, and that is to calculate the cost of every single ingredient that goes into the recipe that you produce. And let's say, for example, that the recipe that you're working with makes 10 portions. Once you add up the total cost of that recipe, you divide by 10 to calculate the individual portion cost. And then from that point, you can calculate the menu price that you'll show the customer. Okay? Um, and so those are a, a few of the details that will be within your business plan. Uh, the business plan itself is much broader, uh, addressing demographics and marketing and, um, you know, other factors, um, uh, that can, uh, hopefully, you know, lead to the success of your business idea.
Links:
![Eric Wynkoop](https://d1c8xu194km6ge.cloudfront.net/avatars/857712/1502306276-Wynkoop_profile.jpg)