Team Building Testimonials
Great place to host a corporate event, great team building, great food! Denene, thank you to you and your crew for an awesome company event! You rock!
– Mindy Rogers, The Doctors Company
This was our third office party with Le Chat. We have so much fun and it is a gift that keeps on giving. I can’t wait to make this meal all over again. Thanks D!!!
– Lesia Lonier, Lonier Family Dentistry, DDS
We really enjoyed playing in your kitchen! You are incredible! Thanks again for the great day. We created many “team memories”.
– Michigan State Medical Society
Team Building Clients
Accident Fund
Ackley-Peters-Haubert Insurance
Alliance Ob/Gyn
American Cancer Society
Analysts International Corporation
Aspen Dental
Blue Cross Blue Shield
BorgWarner
Capital City Vision Center
Caring Animal Hospital
Consumer Energy
Deloitte Consulting LLP
Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana
Dr. Jacob Myers DDS
Emergent Bio Solutions
Emergent Holding Inc.
ES Engineering
Financial Technology, Inc.
Fifth Third Private Bank
Gestamp
Global Business Resource Group
Greater Lansing Convention and Visitor Bureau
GreenStone Farm Credit Services
Hyland, creator of OnBase
Kellogg Company
Lansing Community College
LeadingAge Michigan
Lilly
Lonier Family Dentistry, DDS
Mason Family Dentistry
Mayotte Group Architects
MERS – Municipal Employees’ Retirement System
MESSA – Michigan Education Special Services Association
MHA – Michigan Health and Hospital Association
Michigan Health Council
Michigan Insurance Company
Michigan Plastic Surgery
Michigan Public Power Agency
Michigan State Medical Society
Michigan State University
MSAE – Michigan Society of Association Executives
MSBO – Michigan School Business Officials
MSMS Physicians Insurance Agency
North American Natural Recourses
Olivet College
PCG
Physician Billing Services of Mid-Michigan, Inc
Piper & Gold
Pratt & Whitney
Public Sector Consultants
Pure Eden Salon
Riehl Solutions, Inc.
Sam Eyde Management Company
SBAM – Small Business Association of Michigan
Set Seg
Sircon
Sparrow Hospital
Susan Maples, DDS
Techsmith
The Doctors Company
Therapy Today
Think Space
Verafore
Visioncare, PC
Yun-Powell DDS Okemos Dentistry
Team Building Press
MEET & EAT – Let’s Get Cooking!
Michigan Meeting & Planning Magazine
By Jeanette Hurt
Forgoing traditional team-building activities like trust walks at outward bound centers or get-to-know-you games in conference rooms, Bonnie V’Soske’s team instead turned to building gingerbread houses.
V’Soske, manager of meeting planning for the Michigan State Medical Society, and her co-workers donned aprons at Le Chat Gourmet in Eaton Rapids, Mich. There, the group learned how to make gingerbread houses, and then constructed their own. “It was just a fun event,” V’Soske says. “You really get to know people when you’re working together. Everyone did something (for the house). Then, we took the finished product back to our office.”
Fun and food have traditionally mingled together at meetings and events, but when you host that event at a cooking school or bring a professional chef in to teach at a meeting, you literally add some spice.
Team-Building Bounty
One of Chef Denene Vincent’s specialties at her Eaton Rapids school, Le Chat Gourmet, is running classes for corporate and executive team building groups. Vincent also recommends cooking classes for holiday gatherings, employee rewards and special clients. Ideally, the groups are comprised of 12 to no more than 24 people. The typical class runs about 3 1/2 hours—approximately 2 for cooking and 90 minutes to dine and run the meeting and take care of business. “When people come in for a cooking class, they have to use organizational, planning and communication skills just as if they had received an assignment as a group,” says Vincent. “But it’s a more fun-filled environment.
Since Vincent’s classes are private, the sky’s the limit in terms of the cuisine or cooking techniques that can be taught in class, and it’s all hands-on learning. Popular menu themes include Gourmet Steakhouse, Taste of Italy, Savoring Michigan, Spanish Tapas, New Orleans Surf & Turf, French Bistro, all appetizers and all desserts. The Gourmet Steakhouse menu features…
APPETIZER
Warm Crabmeat-Pepper Jack Cheese Dip
with Tortilla Corn Chip Wedges
STARTER
Summer Sweet Corn Soup with Butter Poached Lobster,
Fresh Tarragon & Smoked Olive Oil Drizzle
ENTRÉE
Whole Oven Roasted Beef Tenderloin Steak
Gourmet Steakhouse Salad
– crisp butter crunch lettuce, shaved radishes, sweet corn,
vine ripened tomatoes and homemade green goddess dressing
DESSERT
Classic Crème Brule
with Caramelized Brown Sugar Crust & Fresh Berries