An Entrepreneurs thoughts…from Jill Stout, Jill’s Kitchen Ltd and CookitKids LLC

I’ve been doing a lot of research and looking back over my work these past few weeks. With my new website (www.cookitkids.com) launch delayed until the end of August 2016, while we work on some final issues in our New York kitchen, it’s given me some extra time to look back at all the old photos from my kids cooking classes.

While I looked at them I was thinking about all the wonderfully inspiring, sweet and savoury dishes my little cooks have had a hand in creating and the fun we have had along the way.

I’ve also been in full promotion mode, shooting videos to use around the launch. It was a truly great experience with the help of some lovely local people, including the fantastic Bill McDonough, of http://www.mcdonoughproductions.com/home.html I’ve had the pleasure of working with Bill on my shoots for the past few years. He makes everything so easy and is a pleasure to have around.
I’m working on building a team of people who will inspire and co-exist in my company for years to come and working with Bill helped to remind me why I am being very particular about who joins the team. 

I started this company because I wanted to build a better future for my family, but also because I believe that teaching kids to cook is a vital life-skill that has far reaching consequences. The people who join us need to be on the same page, share our vision and bring with them a skill set that compliments mine and other team members.

The past few months I completed an accelerator course for Female Entrepreneurs with the DCU Ryan Academy, Female High Fliers, and a theme that cropped up again and again was finding the right people to bring with you on the journey.

While I have been immersed in the business end of the company it has been vital that I don’t lose focus on the very reason for its existence, and that is, to teach kids to Cook. We just happen to be aiming that at a worldwide audience!

The kids who have attended my classes, the parents who have bought my products and the kids who have enjoyed making them and have shared pictures of the finished products are all the reason I get to keep doing what I love. They are also the reason I will be very careful with each step I take and decision I make and ensure that the vision and goals I started with are peppered through everything we do.

It’s onwards for Jill’s Kitchen and our new online business - Cookit Kids - will enable people around the world to gain access to our products. It will allow people here who love what we do send a gift to loved ones far and wide and it will allow us to grow and reach more kids and more families and ultimately create lots more memories through food.