VBT 057: Interview with Stephanie Prather of Vegan Gastronomy Culinary Academy

In this episode I interview Stephanie Prather, co-founder of the Vegan Gastronomy Culinary Academy on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Vegan Gastronomy is a vegan cooking school that offers in-person training in the city of Palma, with a focus on teaching students to create healthy, delicious, sustainable, and economical vegan dishes. Through its Global Vegan program, it also takes its training on the road to other cities across the globe and has recently partnered with equipment maker Fisher & Paykel to offer classes in New York; Sydney, Australia; and more. Stephanie, who lived in Las Vegas for 20 years, has had a varied career, including selling mortgages to seniors, working at an LED lighting company and teaching children. Food has always been her passion and in 2013 she started Mallorca Vegan, a guide to the island’s best restaurants, eco-farms, workshops and wellness facilities with a plant-based focus. After running short workshops in vegan cooking, she opened Vegan Gastronomy with Manuel Lynch to respond to consumer demand for more comprehensive training. Stephanie writes a weekly vegan column in a mainstream newspaper, the Majorca Daily Bulletin, covering new recipes, restaurant reviews and healthy food. In this interview Stephanie talks about: •    Why she chose to run in-person trainings rather than online courses •    What to take into account when running live trainings in a physical location •    The importance of preselling courses to ensure you get a minimum number of students to cover your costs and make a profit •    The importance of attending events and conferences to keep up to date with the latest information in your industry, particularly if you teach and train others •    How to approach potential partners to collaborate with – and the key personal quality you need to muster to make this successful •    How she got a column in a major daily newspaper and how this helped her business •    And much more Visit the Vegan Gastronomy website Brands mentioned in vegan business news roundup: The Very Good Butchers Home Food Hall D’Addario Accessories RESOURCES: My Online PR Course for Vegan Business Owners & Entrepreneurs: Vegans in the Limelight My book Vegan Ventures: Start and Grow an Ethical Business Follow Vegan Business Media on: Facebook   Twitter  Instagram  Connect with me personally at: Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn