Meet Our Creative Kitchen Team

Three culinary educators who bring decades of combined experience to your meal prep journey, each with unique perspectives shaped by diverse backgrounds and shared passion for teaching practical kitchen skills.

Lead Educator

Marcus Chen

Meal Planning Strategist

Started his culinary education journey in 2018 after spending fifteen years managing restaurant operations across Ontario. What caught his attention wasn't just the cooking—it was watching people struggle with basic meal prep at home while restaurants had systems that worked. Marcus developed our signature weekly planning method that helps busy families prep five days of meals in under three hours. He's particularly good at teaching knife skills to beginners who are intimidated by basic chopping techniques.

Weekly Planning Knife Skills Time Management Budget Cooking

Nutrition Expert

Priya Nakamura

Nutrition Education Specialist

Her background combines registered dietitian credentials with hands-on teaching experience in community centers throughout the GTA since 2019. Priya noticed that people often knew what they should eat but had no idea how to actually prepare those foods in ways that tasted good. She specializes in making vegetables interesting and teaching portion control without counting calories. Her approach focuses on understanding how different nutrients work together rather than following restrictive diets. Students appreciate that she never makes anyone feel guilty about their current eating habits.

Nutritional Balance Vegetable Preparation Special Diets Portion Control

Kitchen Innovation
Specialist

Innovation Guide

Elena Rodriguez

Kitchen Innovation Specialist

Joined our team in 2022 after working as a product development chef for several food companies. Elena's strength lies in teaching people how to adapt recipes for their actual lives—not the perfect kitchen scenarios you see in magazines. She's the one who figures out how to make complex techniques work with basic equipment and limited counter space. Her storage and preservation methods have helped countless students reduce food waste while extending the life of prepped meals. Elena particularly enjoys working with students who think they hate cooking.

Recipe Adaptation Food Storage Equipment Optimization Preservation Methods

Our Teaching Philosophy

We believe that meal prep education should focus on building confidence rather than following rigid rules. Our approach emphasizes understanding principles over memorizing recipes, giving students the flexibility to adapt techniques to their own preferences and circumstances.

Practical Focus

Every technique we teach has been tested in real home kitchens with actual time constraints. We don't just show you what works in theory—we show you what works when you have twenty minutes before dinner and three picky eaters to feed.

Individual Adaptation

Rather than insisting everyone follow the same approach, we teach core principles that can be modified based on dietary needs, kitchen equipment, family size, and personal preferences. Your meal prep system should work for your life, not against it.

Collective Experience That Matters

Our team brings together thirty-eight years of combined experience in culinary education, restaurant management, nutrition counseling, and recipe development. We've taught over 1,200 students since establishing our program in 2018, with our courses now running year-round at The Pen Centre location.

1,200+ Students Taught

38 Years Combined Experience

6 Years Teaching Together

150+ Recipes Developed

Professional kitchen setup with meal prep containers and fresh ingredients showcasing our teaching environment