Paetec. Tutoring. A slew of after-hours Chinese delivery services. Since the dawn of college life, businesses have sprung up gearing themselves solely toward the college student, providing fast, efficient, and inexpensive services, and cultivating a loyal customer base in a centralized geographical area.
The formula is simple: Find a large group of young people confined to a campus with a lot of spending money, and offer them a convenient and quick service. Quick and convenient - these two magic words open the pocketbooks and wallets of the lazy and those otherwise ill-inclined to search beyond campus walls, and spell opportunity for any creative businessperson.
Using this formula, Verena Wieloch created Cheapass Gourmet, a Somerville business that aims to teach college students how to cook inexpensively and healthfully.
Wieloch teaches at the students' homes, using their utensils and cooking ingredients. She emphasizes a relaxed, laid-back atmosphere, which any busy college student can appreciate. The class, she says, is a "combination of a Tupperware party with a cooking class."
After leaving a corporate job in February, Wieloch had plenty of time to consider what she loved doing and what she wanted to do next. With the knowledge and experience gained from working on an organic farm during her summers, Wieloch saw Tufts as the opportunity to combine her love of food and cooking with the frugality - and desire to learn - of a Tufts student.
"Cooking makes life nice," Wieloch said. "And how nice to show people how on a fixed budget."
During her college experience, Wieloch had no cooking options as a student at the University of Pittsburgh. No one had taught her how to cook simple dishes, let alone tasty, inexpensive meals. "If you watch all the television chefs, they prepare these luxurious and extravagant meals, but who has the time or the means for that?" Wieloch said. "It's great to watch on TV, but nobody cooks like that."
Lacking the visibility of Emeril and the stars of "Ready, Set... Cook!," Wieloch started her business with only a half-time partner, who teaches when Wieloch is unavailable. She required little money for her start-up, instead relying on students to provide the food, utensils, and classroom space, as well as any friends who could be future clients, allowing Wieloch to keep costs low.
She approaches her teaching with an organic twist, using her experience in the field. The students walk away with an understanding of what it means to buy organic, as well as a consciousness of cooking.
Two main factors pushed Wieloch towards Tufts students, currently her sole clientele, though she hopes to branch out to Boston University and possibly Harvard in the future. Her main focus is frugal cooking - and who better to appeal to such a lifestyle than a college student? But Wieloch also believes most college students are very open to learning.
Wieloch says her motivation is the love of teaching and cooking, but as with all entrepreneurs who pursue college students, Wieloch likely also sees dollar signs. Simply put, Boston is the biggest college town in the United States, where one of every four people walking around the city is a student. It is the sheer number of college students in the area with money to spend that makes Boston a lucrative and obvious market for entrepreneurs.
Although Wieloch is aware of other cooking class attempts that have been made throughout the country, she has seen none that offer such inexpensive expertise in such a relatable manner. It may appear that most of the work rests in the student's hands. After all, they host the class and provide the ingredients and utensils. But as Wieloch says, "in your own kitchen, you know what you are capable of."
In addition, the intimate atmosphere of each class allows for Wieloch's most trusted method of advertisement: word of mouth.
In the end, both the student and Wieloch prosper. Wieloch profits from the accessibility of college students, but at the same time, students take advantage of the business's aim to please attitude and from the useful culinary survival skills they have learned. Wieloch makes a living from her tutorials, and the student learns to cook easy meals on a fixed income, and can dine on more than Mac and Cheese and Rose's Chinese cuisine.
