Thriving Online: The Gourmandise School

The Gourmandise School adapted to the pandemic by offering virtual cooking and baking classes for beginners to professionals. The business continues to thrive on the third floor of Santa Monica Place, where they’ve taught for the last ten years.

THE GOURMANDISE SCHOOL offers hands-on cooking and baking classes in Los Angeles. The outside view of THE GOURMANDISE SCHOOL on Monday, March 8, 2021 in Santa Monica, Calif. (Yasamin Jafari | The Corsair)

Clemence Gossett, co-owner of The Gourmandise School, pastry chef, and mother of three, has taught classes since her business opened. Even though it is not a professional school, she says, "We're a school that specializes in teaching everyone how to be a more confident cook, a good baker, and just to understand the technique and the science and history behind everyday foods."

Sabrina Ironside, Gourmandise co-owner and general manager, started off with Gossett when their business was just a small one-room school for the first seven years. For the last two and a half years, they have expanded to a much larger room across the hall.

Gossett picked the location in the mall due to her love for the Santa Monica community and its proximity to the Santa Monica Farmer's Market. "That's always been really important to us... making sure that everybody worked with really well-sourced ingredients that were as close to the farm as possible and just teaching the benefits of buying locally,” said Gossett. “Working with the freshest ingredients possible and understanding how their food purchases make a big difference in the local economy."

The Gourmandise School's most popular virtual cooking classes during the pandemic are making Chinese dumplings and baking croissants. Gossett mentioned that they teach a two-day class on how to professionally make croissants at home

Reflecting on how much their services have changed within the last year, Gosset said, "It's been different in this era to see which classes everybody feels comfortable trying from home versus which classes they were like, 'Oh, let me just try coming into the school and doing it.'"

Gossett reveals that even when they go back to teaching in-person classes, they plan to keep most of their virtual classes. People are much more likely to practice remaking dishes at home. The online environment makes it less intimidating to practice these muscle memory skills.

Gossett’s history of working in food started at a young age. Her family owned a restaurant in France. She loved the idea of inviting people in and creating an experience with them, especially when she started teaching. "Getting to participate in hospitality and food at the same time and getting people to cook more at home is just...it's a really, really great feeling. I think teaching people how to make bread at home will change their life forever," she said.

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