The Chefluencer Training Program
Become a leader in culinary sustainability
Learn all about induction cooking and add an energizing new facet to your career journey as a BDC Chefluencer! Apply to be a part of upcoming Chefluencer cohorts at the Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC).
Spaces are filling fast—apply today.
You can play an inspiring role in addressing the climate crisis by doing what you do best: cooking and spreading the message with the joy of food! With chefs like you leading the way toward cleaner, safer, and healthier cooking, we will greatly impact the transition away from fossil fuels. The proof is in the cooking!
Chefluencer is for you if:
- You want to be a culinary climate leader
- You are entrepreneurial
- You run your own business, such as catering, consultancy, private or personal chef
- You have impeccable food safety and sanitation procedures
- You are savvy with the operations, administration, and licensing that goes into running a business
- You have a growth mindset
- You want to positively impact your community
Join us to become a culinary sustainability leader and help your community prepare for the future through our exciting and impactful BDC Chefluencer Training Program.
Why Chefs and Kitchens are Key to Addressing Climate Change
At BDC, we like to say the kitchen is the doorway to a healthy home. Chefs are no strangers to the numerous interconnected movements and practices of sustainability. Additionally, food-related businesses and organizations needing to hire and retain staff are rethinking old business methods.
Let's cook up solutions together!
Here's the thing: we can't have healthy homes and communities if we cook on gas ranges. While gas cooking had been the more powerful and controllable option for decades, that is no longer the case. Just wait until you see (and try) what we have to share with you!
- Burning fossil fuels inside your home or business can cause health problems – including childhood asthma and respiratory illness. And the excess heat from gas ranges is a safety concern for both home cooks and chefs cooking long hours in residential and commercial kitchens.
- Fossil fuels are also the main driver of climate change. Unless we remove fossil fuels from our lives, climate change will continue putting our communities, health, and planet in jeopardy.
What is Induction?
Induction is not your grandma's electric stove. It's an electric cooking technology that uses magnetism to generate heat directly in your pots and pans. Its power, precision, and control outperform gas. Induction ranges are used by top-rated Michelin restaurants throughout Europe and Asia. We’re also seeing more American kitchens, such as One 65 SF, Chipotle, and Google campuses, quickly building induction-centered, all-electric kitchens. And there are excellent reasons to make the change: It is significantly more comfortable to cook on. You can still cook culturally relevant foods. It’s safer since burning yourself is much less likely, and cleaning is a breeze! And importantly, induction does not use combustible methane gas (aka natural gas).
Momentum is growing rapidly as states receive more funding for consumer education and inspiration programs and events.
You can be a climate leader: Apply today to become a BDC Chefluencer
We need many more chefs with unique stories to help showcase induction, educate local communities and critical audiences, and become climate leaders.
We are currently taking applications for our Jan 2024 cohort. Join us for an interactive, impactful, and unforgettable training event that will bring your cooking to new heights.
What You'll Learn With Us
- Speak to the bigger picture of climate change through your culinary creations.
- Refine and reflect on your brand as a chef.
- Observe and participate in live induction demonstrations up close and in person.
- Play with cutting-edge induction technology.
- Demonstrate the fundamentals of boiling, melting, and searing on induction.
- Learn persuasive communication skills to influence people to switch to induction cooking.
- Experience a safe space to demonstrate, make mistakes, and try again on induction.
- Expand your professional network and connect with like-minded cooking and climate change colleagues.
- Develop a signature live demonstration on installation and get feedback from BDC's Chef Rachelle Boucher.
Training Details & Timeline
The program is a five-week hybrid virtual and in-person training conducted in English.
Virtual Workshops
We will have 3 virtual modules and ask you to complete online learning before we meet in person (approximately 50 minutes each).
- Who is BDC and Why Building Electrification is Important
- Induction 101 and Opportunities for Climate Culinary Leadership
- Social Media Best Practices
In-person Training (required)
- Location: Northern California
- Breakfast and lunch will be provided on both days.
- Dinner will be provided at the end of the first day.
- Attend a two-day training where you'll learn about induction technology up close and personal and how to run your climate-aligned induction demos.
Capstone Project
- We will finish up the training with an at-home induction demo capstone project you can complete at your own pace over the course of two weeks.
Upon satisfactory completion of this training, you will:
- Be an official BDC Chefluencer and have the training to speak at the intersection of kitchens and climate change
- Be added to BDC's network of certified Chefluencers for the next year
- Be awarded a Chefluencer certificate you can add to your LinkedIn page for the next year
- Receive your own induction hob to lead induction demonstrations
- Have access to our online professional community Learn about online and in-person opportunities to connect and grow as professionals in the community Be able to do paid events that demonstrate induction and grow your climate leadership skills. Events are an exciting addition to your current work and are based on the needs, locations, and requests of our clients.
BDC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming diverse voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planet's most pressing environmental problems, and we encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically marginalized in the environmental movement.
We do not discriminate in recruitment based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. We will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does this program cost? ? This training is free to the chosen applicants and travel, food and lodging is paid. Stipends are available if needed. In the application, you can apply for the stipend. It is confidential.
- Do I need to apply? Yes, this is an application-based program.
- Can I share this opportunity with my friends? Yes, please share the application with folks who could benefit from this opportunity.
- When will I hear back to see if my application was accepted? We will announce training program acceptance on a rolling basis.
- Do I need induction experience to apply? No! This program is all about learning and creating pathways for all folks to experience induction and elevate their career. We want to work with chefs who are excited about learning to cook with induction.
- How many events and opportunities will there be for me? Funding and requests for these events are growing fast. That being said, opportunities are based on the needs, locations, and requests of our clients. Certain themes, cuisine types, and language skills may be requested throughout the year and in various regions.
If you'd like to become an induction thought leader, grow your career, and have a positive impact, apply today!
