Restaurant Camp 2025
A 5-day summer immersion camp in Brooklyn for chef-teens to hone their kitchen skills and learn the essential systems of the professional kitchen.
Teen Restaurant Camp 2025
Restaurant Camp by Purple Kale Kitchenworks is a 5-day summer intensive where teens ages 13 - 18* can refine their cooking techniques, prime their palates, and learn real systems of the professional kitchen.
The camp is led by Purple Kale Kitchenworks' chef/owner Ronna Welsh and a visiting crew of NYC industry friends. We do our best to accommodate all eating preferences.
We will be offering two weeks of Restaurant Camp in 2025:
Week One (vegetarian): July 21 - 25
Week Two: July 28 - August 1
* There is some flexibility here, depending on your child’s enthusiasm and ability to work independently. Please reach out to Ronna directly (ronna@purplekale.com), if you’d like your younger camper to be considered for a spot.
About Restaurant Camp
Chef campers will:
• Design, plan, prepare, and present an original dish as part of a high-end, multi-course meal for guests (The Dinner Showcase)
• Explore a wide range of flavors and advanced cooking techniques and learn the foundations of culinary improvisation
• Learn how to work as part of a team on a professional-level kitchen line
A Camp Day:
Camp hours are 10am - 3pm, Monday through Friday.
Each camp day will start with a deep dive into essential cooking techniques, using a full range of seasonal and premium ingredients. Midday, we will break for staff meal (provided). In the afternoon, we will open the kitchen to restaurant industry veterans, including chefs, bartenders, food photographers, stylists, and writers. We’ll end each day with a kitchen breakdown, where your teen will learn how to clean!
Enrollment is limited to 8 campers. No experience is necessary to apply for a spot, but prospective campers should show genuine enthusiasm for cooking and a willingness to immerse themselves in serious (but really fun!) instruction. They should be eager to work as part of a team to make each day and, especially, the Dinner Showcase a success.
We will be as accommodating as possible about pick up schedules for those who are not traveling independently. We do not charge for late pick up, and no camper will be rushed out the door.
NOTE TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS: You should feel comfortable with your child working both independently and with others, and with commercial kitchen equipment, including sharp knives. One note: If your teen has not taken a basic knife skills class before, they will need to sign up for Purple Kale Kitchenworks’ Basic Knife Skills. This class will be offered only to campers the Sunday before camp starts, and at a steep discount.
Fees:
The fee for each week of Restaurant Camp 2025 includes a daily lunch and snacks, instruction in a wide range of techniques using premium ingredients, stipends for guest-specialists, and dinner for two guests at our 8-course Dinner Showcase on Friday evening. We welcome additional diners at the Dinner Showcase at $50 per person, with advanced notice.
2025 camp fee, per week: $850
companion Basic Knife Skills class: $50 (regularly $125)
Campers may register for more than one week, but due to anticipated high demand, we cannot offer discounts for multiple session sign-ups.
Location:
Purple Kale Kitchenworks is on 44th Street, between 2/3 Avenues, in Sunset Park, just south of Industry City, on the second floor. The kitchen studio is in a renovated warehouse; we regret that the building is not wheelchair accessible.
The closest subway is the R to 45th Street. Also not far from the D/N/R at 36th. The B63 and B37 are also nearby. There are two CitiBike stations at either end of our block.
Questions?
Please feel free to reach out to Ronna with any questions about the camp, and to see if your teen would be a good fit: ronna@purplekale.com