If you trust your family to face off with knives and flames, then Kapiolani Community College's Culinary Institute of the Pacific has an activity for you.
The new Culinarium team building experience, launched in the spring, can be adapted for a range of groups, from foodie families looking for a new experience to corporations interested in building teamwork and collaboration in a pressure-filled environment.
"Cooking and food are still hot," said John Richards, dean of career and technical education and the executive director of the culinary school, who brought the idea from his previous job at the Miami culinary Institute.
"People can't get enough of it right now, and it's a natural medium for doing this type of exercise," he said. "It takes a group of people, throws them completely out of their comfort zone, and makes them solve a problem together, think innovatively, find solutions and execute."
Held at the college's picturesque Diamond Head campus just east of Waikiki, each event is structured as a hands-on cooking competition with the group broken up into teams, with each assigned a coach from students attending the culinary school, whose alumni are peppered around some of the top kitchens of the Aloha State.
After a brief orientation, each team prepares a three- or four-course meal. At the end, the teams sit together to enjoy the products of their efforts with wine. There are professional mediators on hand to evaluate the teamwork and chefs from the culinary school to judge the dishes.
"At the end of the event we can offer takeaways on what we observed," Richards said. "Maybe the CEO wasn't listening, the worst cook was giving orders, and the secretary was being ignored."
The intensity of the experience can go from low simmer all the way to raging boil depending on what the group is looking for.
"The fun version is a friendly competition, but it starts getting pretty intense with the corporate sessions," Richards said. "It's all up to what they want. Sometimes it's a celebration or social event, but we can add a lot more pressure to see how people operate and adapt when they get out of their comfort zone."
The Culinarium team works with corporations to tailor the experience to their needs, including focuses on teamwork, conflict resolution and design thinking -- collaborative, creative problem solving.
The college is also working with event companies to offer the Culinarium experience as a more interactive alternative to a wedding rehearsal dinner, throwing the two families together to battle it out and get to know each other in the kitchen, before sitting around a table together.
"It's a different and dynamic way for team building," Richards said. "It's exciting, fun and a totally fresh experience. It's not just another refab team building couple of hours. ... Most people are apprehensive and even scared at first, but when they leave they've really learned and enjoyed the experience."
The three-course Culinarium experience starts at $3,299 for 12 to 16 people, including appetizer, entree and dessert with full table service, beverages and photographs. There are also additional packages, such as a four-course option and a lobster or lamb entree upgrade for added cost.