Flour Power Kids Cooking Studio launches new monthly kids culinary cooking box

Nine years after opening a cooking studio for kids that now has locations across the state and, soon, the country, Susan Caldwell, owner of Flour Power Kids Cooking Studio, this week is launching another venture for families.

Sugar Plum Kids is a kids culinary cooking subscription box, a monthly box of activities, recipes and projects for kids, ages 5 and up, and their adults to complete.

"As much as we love to get the kids in the studio, it's difficult to reach kids who can't come to the studio or who live in areas without studios," Caldwell, a mom of two, tells me.

The first Sugar Plum Kids boxes are available to order this week. Caldwell said she's capped the first shipment at 250 boxes. The boxes will arrive mid-January, but those who order them now will get a gift certificate in the mail if they are intended as a holiday gift. For every 50 boxes ordered, one will go to a classroom for kids with special needs for free.

You can order the boxes one at a time. They are $28 for a single box. Or, you can order three, six or 12 boxes and receive discounts for the more boxes that you order. Go Ask Mom readers get a 15 percent discount off all three-month, six-month or 12-month box subscriptions. Just use offer code WRAL15 on the Sugar Plum Kids' website. Customers also can order boxes from some studios, which also can carry them in their stores starting in January.

Each month, the boxes will come with a different theme and activities.

They'll include three illustrated themed recipe guides, a kitchen chemistry activity, a food art project, a focus on an international food culture and related recipes, games and activities, a kid-size kitchen tool, a manners and etiquette activity, a video to follow along with the recipes and an iron on patch.

For kids with allergies, the box will include alternative recipes. If you plan on multiple children getting involved in the activities, there is an option to purchase an extra kitchen tool and iron on patch. (Important note: No food is included in the box).

January's box will, for instance, include a recipe for bacon egg cups and a guide to make ladybugs with fruit and chocolate chips. Kids will be introduced to a character named Skye, who will share details about her travels in each box. In the first box, she'll travel to Paris and bring back a crepe recipe. The etiquette activity will offer some tips on table manners.

Caldwell said the box is designed so kids, depending on their age, can play a leading role in completing the activities. But, she said, it's intended for families to enjoy together.

The focus of each box will be fun, hands-on activities that encourage families spending time together and helping kids make smart and healthy food choices.

"There is so much emphasis on gaming and cell phones and electronic devices," she said. "It's nice for families to really find activities where they can do something together that's meaningful. ... Kids need that interaction from their parents too where you put all the cell phones aside."

Caldwell said she came up with the idea in the spring. She's eager to ship those first boxes.

"The wheels are always turning in my mind about what can we do next," she said. "We've done kids cooking before kids cooking was cool to do."

Over at Flour Power, Caldwell has been focused on growth. In the last year, she's franchised all of her cooking studio locations and no longer is involved in the day-to-day operations of a studio. There now are seven franchises across the state - four in Wake County and three in the Charlotte area (two will open next year).

Caldwell also has hired a national salesperson to share details with prospective owners. Locations now are set to open in Michigan, Florida and Massachusetts, she said.

Also to come for Flour Power in 2018: Mobile units that will be a Flour Power Kitchen Studio on wheels. They will make it possible for Flour Power to bring birthday parties to homes, provide activities at corporate picnics and run enrichment classes at schools and other locations without on-site kitchens.

Caldwell said she's excited for the future.

"We've defied the odds of small business success rates and we're just going to keep going," she said. "I don't know what else we'll end up coming up with."