It's that time of year! Although we all know that we should be thankful all year long, it never hurts to have a month that reminds us to look at the past year and reflect on gratefulness. And boy, we have SO MUCH that we are thankful for in the past year.
Last year, we were cooking right along in the cottage, 6 months into our new business. We were hitting our stride, classes were booked solid and we were getting all settled in. Little did we know what was coming...That a whole 6 month later, not only would we decide to expand Gather, but we would take on a larger than expected renovation project (but aren't they all?). That we would make a big ask of our Gather community for any help we could get. And you showed up in a big way. More that we could have ever expected.
So one year later, we are re-settled in to our new space and loving it. And because of your continued support, we have so much to be grateful for this year and even more to be excited about for next year. We wanted to take the beginning of November to fill you in on what we ALL have to look forward to coming in the next few months. And as always, we've got a few surprises up our sleeves for the rest of the year :)
Our latest news and exciting addition to the studio this week were all new stations! New butcher block topped kitchen islands with more elbow room and more storage mean not only an updated new look, but they are more functional for you and they have more storage for us! It's a huge upgrade that we are so thrilled to show you. Even more exciting, there is room on each station for TWO cutting boards!!
Then we did a really big thing...We bought the oven. THE OVEN!! Sometime over the next few weeks a brand new commercial-style, restaurant convection oven will be delivered and installed. We were planning on making this new addition in January, but...ants in the pants won again. We are over the moon about this upgrade. Not only will it give us more oven room for our existing classes, but it means that we can start ramping up our baking classes and bringing you more great themes and recipes.
And because we will have the oven, we are also going to add bread baking classes to the schedule starting in February. Keep an eye out for an announcement about this new program and instructor. You won't want to miss these classes!
We attempted to buy a new dining room table, but as it happens, it was out of stock last week. So we are impatiently waiting for it to come back into stock so that we can update the dining room table to a more comfortable table that can seat up to 10 and that will give a new look to our space. No, we aren't increasing class sizes, but it will give us more capability for private events. And it's BEAUTIFUL. I can't wait!!
Also starting in January you will start seeing a new instructor in the kitchen covering a new range of topics. Dave & I want to bring you a well-rounded culinary education (and take an occasional day off) and hope that you will be as excited as we are about Gather in 2020! In January we'll add one class with a new instructor and build from there.
We're working hard to make improvements, provide you a comfortable and functional space to gather and keep bringing you the knowledge and skills to improve your culinary journey. And we're able to do all of these amazing new things because of your continued support.
It is with grateful hearts that we say THANK YOU!! Thank you for joining us on this wild ride, keeping us sane on the hard days and laughing every day. And if you haven't made your way into the Gather kitchen, we welcome you to join us. You might never be the same - we know we won't ;)