The Story of Chefs on the Go
Chefs on the Go was established in 2010 by Christina Marie in Fort Collins, Colorado. This program was created to initiate a fun and loving environment for children to be able to experience the joy of cooking through local chefs. While Christina was pursuing her degree at Colorado State University, she recognized the importance of supporting the local community and became aware of the great talent of the chefs in town. The idea of exposing children to these chefs and enabling them to be able to learn from the pros was exciting to her.
With this concept in mind, Christina wanted to create a program to allow the children's inner chef come alive after experiencing first hand how easy happiness comes along with cooking. The mission would be to give children a joyful experience through the interaction of local chefs and cooking. The vision came to life in the summer of 2010 starting at Mary's Mountain Cookies with only two children. Mary, the owner, kindly offered to host the first cooking event. Watching the kids eyes light up as they scooped up a ginormous spoonful of icing into two large cookies was only more encouraging for Christina to continue this adventure with the children.
Kiley Reynolds, The Very First "Chef on the Goer"
Meet the Creator, Christina Marie
Luckily, she was incredibly blessed with amazing parents who spread the word while also gaining several great restaurant chef/owner relationships in town. Little did she know, that these chefs and owners would exceed her expectation and were some of the kindest people one person could ever meet. They were the perfect fit for getting children excited about cooking and creating a positive and joyful setting. One of the chefs in particular with a strong French accent especially stood out. Chef Claude, Owner of the French Restaurant, Le Creperie, was a glimpse of how much fun both the chef and the kids would have. The first day he hosted, he created a large alligator out of croissant dough for the children.
Christina was hoping word of mouth could be the primary tool of marketing. She wanted children to be able to have an incredible opportunity and join in the fun once she saw it come into action.
Not only were the kids lighting up with excitement, but Chef Claude was too! The fun continued and the same happy response from both the children and the restaurant owners were evident. From making the longest noodle in town to learning how to create the worlds best cinnamon roll. It has been a non-stop adventure filled with lots of laughter.
Before you knew it, a few years later, Chefs on the Go started to take off and has been to over 40+ restaurants in town allowing several children to engage in such a unique and interactive hands on experience! So, where are we now you may wonder? Chefs on the Go is STILL on the GO and exploring more and more restaurants/ bakeries.
Chef Claude and His Alligator Creation
Chef Claude and the Happy Chefs
Chef John and Heather at Silver Grill
Noodle Creation at Bissetti's with Chef Amber
Brightening children's day one chef at a time!
Brightening children's day one chef at a time!
What We Do
Chefs on the Go provides children the opportunity to build their cooking skills through the interaction with local restaurants and bakeries. Restaurant chefs will teach children how to cook their specialty and help children further understand the art of cooking. Throughout each session we will go to a new restaurant each day, which gives the participants a new exciting adventure daily throughout the program.
How it Works
This program is divided into two week sessions Monday-Thursday from 10:00 am-11:00 am. Each day parents drop off their kids to a new restaurant and the chefs teaches the children their favorite item to cook. It's a very interactive and hands on approach to cooking. Every day the kids have an opportunity to get their hands in the dough and act as real chefs right beside the professionals. For more detail see