Bookings for cooking schools, done properly.
Hands-on classes with a fixed bench count, ingredients bought ahead, and a cancellation window that protects the shop.
A cooking school buys the ingredients before anyone walks in. A pasta class on Tuesday, knife skills on Thursday, a bread course and a family pizza afternoon all need the shopping done days ahead. Every empty bench is food paid for and thrown away. The class size is the number of stations you can staff, not the number of chairs. Some classes are paid in full, some take a deposit, and the bread course is one purchase across four weeks. account42 holds the bench count, takes the money on your own Stripe or PayPal account, and applies the same cancellation rule to everyone.
A week at Harbor Cooking School.
This is the booking widget, not a picture of it. Take a seat and watch the count move and the confirmation text arrive.
Every session carries its own price, seat count and rules, so a course, a drop-in and a free session sit in the same timetable.
Book a class
This week
Tue 6:30 pm
Fresh pasta, hands-on
3 hours · $95 · drop-in
4 seats leftThu 7:00 pm
Knife skills
2 hours · $70 · members free
1 seat leftSat 11:00 am
4-week bread course
Starts Sat · $280 · package
FullSun 1:00 pm
Family pizza afternoon
2 hours · $45 · drop-in
7 seats left
How a cooking school uses account42.
- Set up the schedule
- Add the pasta class as a weekly pattern with ten benches, knife skills with twelve, and the family afternoon with eight tables. The bread course is one entry with a start date and four sessions inside it. Set the price on each: full payment, a deposit, or free for the open evening you run for neighbors.
- Take bookings and payments
- Customers book from your website or from the assistant. A couple booking the pasta class takes two benches in one checkout and pays once. A student on the bread course paid at the start and is checked in each week. The dietary notes you asked for at booking arrive with the booking, not in a separate inbox.
- Handle changes and waitlists
- A guest who cancels the night before is refunded, credited or neither, according to the window you set. The bench is offered to the waitlist with a time-limited offer. If the supplier lets you down, cancel the class and every guest is told at once with the refund rule applied to each booking.
The parts that are hard to get right.
You buy the ingredients before they arrive
Set how late someone can cancel, and what they get back if they do.
Under the hood
The window and its refund behavior run at cancellation time, so the rule applies the same way at 2am as it does at 2pm.
Benches, not chairs, set the class size
Publish the number of stations you can actually staff.
Under the hood
Every hold and booking is a single database transaction, so two people taking the last bench at the same second cannot both succeed.
A full class still fills itself
When someone drops out the night before, the next person is offered the place.
Under the hood
A cancellation promotes the next person automatically with a time-limited offer that passes down the list if it is not claimed.
Works where you are : your currency, timezone and language, on your own Stripe or PayPal account.
Questions people ask about booking for cooking schools
- Can I charge a deposit instead of the full price?
- Yes. Set the session price to the deposit and collect the balance in the room. The seat is held atomically while the deposit completes.
- Do you handle dietary notes at booking?
- Yes. You choose what to collect at booking, and it arrives with the booking rather than in a separate inbox.
- Can I sell gift classes?
- Yes. Sell a credit pack and let the recipient spend it on any session that accepts credits.
- Can I sell a private class for a group?
- Yes. Create a session with the seat count the group wants and price it for the whole party. The host books it as one purchase, and the seats are still counted so the bench limit holds.
- How far ahead can people book?
- As far ahead as your weekly pattern runs. Most schools publish six to eight weeks, which is enough for a birthday group to plan and short enough that the menu can still change.
- Can I run a class with an outside chef?
- Yes. A guest chef's class is a one-off session beside the weekly pattern, with its own price and bench count. It does not disturb the classes that repeat every week.
Related
- Wineries and breweriesFixed tasting times with a real seat count, vineyard tours with a deposit, private groups booked as one, and club members pouring for free.
- Pottery studiosWheel classes, hand-building workshops, multi-week courses and open studio, each capped by wheels and kiln space and paid for its own way.
- Art studiosLife drawing, painting workshops and portrait courses, with materials costed per head, seats capped by easels, and studio hire for members.
Every feature above is on every plan. See what account42 does and how it works, from install to the first booking.
Take bookings for your cooking school this week.
Fourteen days free. No card, no call, no implementation project.