Inspired to combine her two passions of cooking and teaching, Ela Teague decided to open her own Indian cookery school. Having worked as a secondary school teacher for 18 years, she wanted to use her teaching skills to share her knowledge of the Indian food she grew up with and loves to cook. “Cooking for me has always been a real passion and coming from an Indian Gujarati household eating was just as important. There is no way you could leave our family home feeling hungry. The joy feeding people great food gives me is why I want to share my passion for food.”

 

She contacted Enterprise Enfield for advice about implementing her ideas to get her business up and running and was subsequently successful in securing a place on the organisation’s September 2019 Inspiring Women Start Up Programme.  The scheme, which is part funded by the European Regional Development fund, offers 3 months worth of start up seminars/ webinars with access to an expert Business Adviser - to empower budding entrepreneurs to get their enterprises up and running.

 

Ela found the guidance and support provided under the programme was exactly what she needed, “The Inspiring Women Start Up Programme was the perfect starting point for me. It gave me a clear introduction to writing a business model, marketing, finance and skills analysis.”

 

During her time on the Programme, Ela attended 8 Start Up seminars on a range of topics to enhance her business skills and knowledge in key areas including marketing, managing finances and business planning.

 

“One of the best parts of the course was meeting like-minded women who were able to listen and inspire me onwards and who continue to do so. The programme also gave me the confidence to talk about my business to others and network successfully. “

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Ela completed the Inspiring Women Start Up Programme in January 2020, and her business Cook, Eat Joy was launched in July 2020. As an early-trading business, she was then eligible to access a further 12 hours’ of business advice, webinars and support under the Inspiring Women Business Growth Programme, which she enrolled on in September 2020. In addition to working through her business model with her dedicated expert Adviser, she attended a range of Business Growth webinars including: ‘Know and Retain Your Clients’, ‘Strategic Growth’ and ‘Online Marketing Basics’.

 

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the cookery school adapted its services to offer Indian cookery classes online as well as local takeaway services. Face to face classes and private dining will be offered once restrictions are eased. The range of cooking classes available include: vegetarian thali, dal masterclass, vegan classics, street food, Indian breads and design your own menu.

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For more details about Cook, Eat, Joy, visit www.cookeatjoy.co.uk