We were lucky to catch up with Mareesa Ahmad recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mareesa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I was 14 years old, a freshman in high school, and bored one day during the summer time. I spent most of my days out in the yard, in the pool with friends, or cooking random recipes I found or making up my own. This particular day though, I was bored and found myself complaining to my mother. She of course gave me a laundry list of things I could do to alleviate my boredom, but one in particular stuck – she said, “Why don’t you teach your friends or the kids in the neighborhood how to cook? Just bring them over!” After some thought, I figured why not!

My first cooking student was in middle school and I taught him how to make Baked Parmesan Crusted Chicken, Homemade Mac n Cheese, and Roasted Green Beans. I paid for all the ingredients, taught him 3 dishes free of charge, and his mom came to pick him up 2 hours later with a full dinner. She was thrilled – not only because she didn’t have to cook dinner that night, but because her son just had learned a valuable life skill – cooking. She posted photos on Facebook that night and that’s when things started to get fun. So many parents, grandparents, and friends were commenting on the post and expressing their need and interest for a cooking service for their children.

A few days later I made a Facebook post and announced that I will now be teaching 2 hour cooking lessons at my home for $20. Drop your child off with the ingredients, and come back 2 hours later to a fully cooked dinner made by your child. The parents in my community loved it! I taught a few hundred students this way throughout high school.

When I went to Wake Forest University for college, I minored in Entrepreneurship and did my absolute best to grow my business, which I finally named Culinary Sprouts, in their accelerator program. I mainly stuck to my in-person model of teaching, but added virtual cooking lessons once the pandemic hit. I was actually about to reach students in South America, Europe, Asia, and all over the USA. That virtual model exploded in the best way possible during the pandemic. But once the pandemic died down, so did the virtual cooking lessons, so it was time again to innovate and pivot to something new.

After countless surveys, focus groups, and interviews with parents – I discovered that parents genuinely want their children to learn how to cook, but either lack the time to do so or just haven’t found the right option that’s convenient for them. So, I set out to make cooking kits that were 100% kid and parent friendly. I thought let’s include all the ingredients and have them pre-measured, this way parents don’t have to do any extra grocery shopping and the kids can have everything ready to go. And let’s also include a detailed recipe card with a QR code that leads to an in-depth instructional recipe video, so the kids can watch and follow along and the parents won’t have to feel obligated to stay in the kitchen and lead the lesson themselves.

This model works and is better than our competitors who only include recipe cards and leave it up to the parents to provide all ingredients and instruction. It’s exciting to reflect on all the iterations that Culinary Sprouts has been and see where we are now – cooking kits for kids.

Mareesa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi! My name is Mareesa Ahmad and I’m a self-taught home chef with a passion for child development and crafting simple yet wholesome recipes. I am the founder of Culinary Sprouts, a monthly subscription cooking kit for kids ages 5-12.

I grew up in a small town of Harlan, Kentucky with my Bangladeshi immigrant parents. From a young age, they always encouraged me to help in the kitchen. It started off with simple tasks like stirring and assembly. Slowly, but surely, I progressed and picked up knife skills and even got experienced with the stove and oven by age 12!

Growing up, I was surrounded by kids who didn’t have cooking skills and instead ate many meals out. Cooking and eating in with the family has not only proven to be more cost effective, but it is also healthier. That’s why in high school, I decided to make a difference and start to offer cooking lessons to the kids in my community.

After earning degrees from Wake Forest University and Babson College and with all the communication and entrepreneurial skills I gained from these schools, Culinary Sprouts started to take roots and grow.

I have taught 550+ students the joys of healthy cooking since 2014 in my hometown of Harlan, Kentucky while also testing recipes and writing blogs for ChopChop Magazine, SpoonUniversity, and The Publisher Desk. I am on a mission to share my love for cooking with more kids because it is an essential life skill and should be learned as early as possible. Learning how to cook from a young age can help children develop self-sufficiency and independence, promote healthy eating habits, enhance creativity and imagination, develop adaptive skills, and improve social skills. Who wouldn’t want that for their kids?

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Reviews, reviews, and reviews. Word of mouth is powerful! Especially if you are just starting out, nobody really trusts who you are yet… it is so important to get those testimonials from your customers and post them everywhere. Reviews will help you build credibility with new customers, improve your product/service, increase visibility for new customers, and encourage customer loyalty with your existing customers. Having customers review your business is an essential part of building a successful business and it’s definitely helped my reputation with parents and kids.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building social media presence is tougher than you’d think and it definitely takes time. When working on Instagram, I try to follow Social Media Strategist Jessica Sorentino’s advice and keep my grid as clean and colorful as possible. She says when people come to your Instagram page, it’s like they are opening a door into your storefront. Be sure to keep your “store” organized and relevant to your brand.

I would also say it’s important to post as much as you can and use relevant hashtags. TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Facebook Reels have been a great boost in exposure and followers for my business as people love to see happy kids cooking!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.culinarysprouts.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/culinarysprouts/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/culinarysprouts
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/culinary-sprouts/?viewAsMember=true
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@culinarysprouts/shorts
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@culinarysprouts?_t=8ZoC01dcFeV&_r=1

Image Credits
Photo Credits to Katie Sprague Photography – Award-Winning Maine, Maryland Photographer & Jessica Sorentino