Community Provider Spotlight: Eat2Explore Subscription Boxes

Have you ever considered ordering a subscription box, but you weren't sure how to incorporate it into your child's education plan? 

In this episode, we sit down with Sage Oak community provider,  Eat2Explore, a multicultural subscription box service that provides recipes, unique ingredients, cooking tools, and lesson plans integrating food, history, geography, music, and art from around the world.

Subscription boxes can be fun, exciting, and surprising which increases motivation and curiosity.  In addition, lessons and materials create hands-on experiences and often allow for curriculum and grade-level crossover.

For more information, visit the Eat2Explore website. 

To learn more about other Sage Oak Community Providers offering subscription box services, please visit sageoak.education and speak with your child's teacher.  

Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.

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Transcript

0:14

Welcome to another episode of Sage Studio. I'm Tiffiny Webster, and today I am joined by Rowena Scherer of Eat2Explore. Welcome, Rowena. Tiffiny and thank you to Sage Oak for having me. We are so excited to talk with you today because Rowena's company Eat2Explore provides subscription boxes to students, which is so great, and I wanted to just create a podcast where we could dive into the world of subscription boxes, because I know that some of our families really enjoy receiving subscription boxes and they've really made that part of their educational plan. But for others, it's a brand new concept and a brand new idea, and they may be unsure about how a subscription box would fit in to their learning. So, I can't wait to dive into that today. So first, tell us though a little bit about you and how you even started this business. Sure. So I am I'm originally from Malaysia, so I, this is sort of my second career. I came to the United States working on Wall Street, but I grew up cooking with my mom and my sisters, and when I have my own two children, it made me realize how important it is for family time for teaching them a life skill of cooking and, and also about the world. I am a train chef from French Culinary Institute, and I did it because I love cooking so much, growing up with my mom and cooking with my sisters, but it was never a career that I wanted to do right after college. Ended up going to finance, which, you know, was very helpful in building my life here in, in the US. But, but then I go back to my real passion, which has always been cooking and education and food and travel. So, so hence, I started to Eat2Explore. So, Eat2Explore is a food and culture experiential cooking kit. So to basically expose children and families to the world, but through food. So it's really an educational product because you learn about the history, you learn about the music, the art, the geography, and then the byproduct is the food. Because as we all know, food is such a great celebration of life and country. And we teach you all the element about the ingredients and then you cook and then you make a meal and sit down and learn together. So that is the whole mission of Eat2Explore is to expose kids to different world and, through food basically. I just love how you spoke to how important the cooking experience is because it's not just, like you said, the byproduct is you actually make something you can eat, but really what it's all about is the interaction. Yeah. The conversations you're having with your kids, the questions that are coming up. Exactly. Yeah. And, and no, growing up in a world where technology is so consuming in a world we live with now, even the adult you're so busy with your screen all the time, and when you're cooking, you're literally taking a break. You have to have your hands on deck, you know, dicing cooking, and, and it creates an opportunity for families to talk and, and it's so easy. You still have to eat. You still have to make a meal, right? So why not make it fun? Why not make it a family event? And why not learn at the same time? I love that. I think so many of our families are going to relate to that because when you are in an independent study program and you are educating your kids literally around the kitchen table, making food all day long is a part of that process, right? So what a great opportunity for you to work that into the overall education of the day. And you're making it easy for us, right? You're going to show us how to do this. That's a plan. That's a plan. The other thing that I find kids needs to learn to, it's a life skill, right? Learning how to cook. It's can take them a long way in the future and expanding their palate, not just eating pasta and bread and you know, pizza all the time. You are exposing to the Ethiopian or to Peruvian, like all the world to South Korean gimbap. So it's, it's a fun way to expose their palate. So before we dive into all of the cultural aspects that your product brings, which I think is really cool, talk to me first about what really is a subscription box and how is this a lesson rather than just a recipe? Perfect. So the reason why it lend itself, it was to lend itself as a subscription is because we have 24 countries and we keep adding new countries. So you are meant to get a box a month of different country. So once a month you can say, I'm going to explore Peru, this month. Right inside the box, there are only three recipes. Recipe cards with the essential spices and sauces and grain, all non-perishable. So we make it easy for you. You don't have to go find your fish sauce for your Thai recipes. You don't have to go find tef flour for your Ethiopian injera bread. So we make the hard part easy for you. And we have a shopping list that you just buy your grocery of basic chicken and we, we even have a gluten-free optional and vegetarian vegan optional and I always said shopping in a grocery store is a learning opportunity for kids because you can give them a$20 budget. They learn how to feel the food and find the aisle. So it's a great learning moment. There is always a booklet. We call it Explorer booklet to give you a feel of learning the geography and history and music and art and, and as an activity sheet for the country. And then, there's a QR code for an online exploration guide or a lesson plan where each section, like the geography that is links to books and music videos and virtual museums and playlists that you can use for, for further enhancement of your lesson plan. Oh, that's so great. I think our parents will love that because I think that's those are the dots that they want to connect. How is this more than just a recipe? Are those links and resources, grade level specific. Our boxes to me is perfect for elementary to middle school. It really does provide kind of this literally in the box cultural experience for our families, and you've gone to so much trouble to not only make it something that they can see and feel and touch and smell and eat, but also too that you're connecting it to those other aspects of reading and tourism and the music of other countries. And I think that really makes it a multi-dimensional experience for our family. So I think they're going to be excited about this. Okay. Awesome. Tell us a little bit more about how it works. So, a parent receives this in the box. They get the different recipe cards. Now they have access to the lessons. Are they supposed to do it like in the course of three days? Do they do one recipe a week? Like how does that work? A lot of families do it different ways. We actually, in addition to subscription, you can buy a single box. Okay. And we also have a continent bundle because I know, sometimes you do a unit study on the continent, like a Europe continent or Asia continent, and know a lot of families ended up buying a bundle where you get five countries of each continent and they do it more frequently. But the way we, we approach it is our thought process is once a month you immerse into that country, right? We give you all the tools, pick a day. You know, if it's every Friday is we learn about different country through food, then use that Friday to prepare, get the meal, get all the work done. And we know families who like make it even arts and craft relating to that country. Then watch a movie that relating to the country. So you, you can do it however way you want, but we made it three recipes just because you can do it once a week and have a break, you know? Yes. So, our families, can really work with their teachers to even create a thematic type of lesson where they're adding in some of those other things that you mentioned. So I think that's a really great way that something like this can work into our independent setting model because you know, our families are always looking to do work that is standards based, but they want to have these personalized experiences. So a lot of families who's using us at, on a monthly basis on a subscription, they ask for the listing so they can prep ahead of time and, and align their studies around the countries that they would be receiving for the next few months. I know too that you always drop like a little something special in the box for kids as well. So tell me about some of those other things besides the recipe cards and besides the ingredients and besides the information about the country, what else is in there? So we call it collectibles. We actually each box you, we give out a flag pin. And we really want families to learn about the flag. Kids love flag and you know, every flag tells a story and the significance of all the little items, the color, everything has a story behind it. So you get to collect the flag pin. We actually give you a passport so you can track where you go and there's a stickers and you can rate the dishes that you like. We also give a fun cooking tool. So every box is a different cooking tool, and it's sort of like the collectibles too, so kids can use and every cooking tool is relevant to, to the country. Recipes like a spoon or a fork or what are the cooking tools like? So for our French box we have this herb stripper where you can put in your rosemary and, and, you know, and your, even your kale. Then we have some our Mexico box. You have a avocado slicer and, and avocado tool. And then we have Chopsticks for our Japan box. So every box is different. So it's kind of fun to collect some very different unique. Oh, I love that idea. I think that's really fun. And I think kids probably enjoy seeing all these little strange things arrive in the box too, right? Like what uses one in our Jamaica box? It's like this little human, like a miniature man. Yeah, but it's a pot holder, so you can put it on the pot to create a little gap to create steam. Or you can put it Oh. Yeah. So it's like a, it's like a topic, your conversation sometimes. Yes. That is fun. And you know what they do, they love that. And using those little tools is half the fun. I know like my kids love to use a real piece of nutmeg and like a microblade and just, you know, just kinda get that in there. I just, it brings it all to life and yep. Such, such a fun way to bring the learning together We give you a story behind the, the recipes and also fun facts about the ingredients. I think that's important to know, what is rosemary, what is sumac? You know, like, explain the ingredients. Oh, I'm so glad you mentioned that, cuz you're right. There is a lot of ingredients that are going to be new to the families and the students that are making these recipes. So knowing a little bit about what those ingredients are, where they came from, why they maybe even grow in certain areas and not others, right. If our parents are curious about this and they want to give it a try, you mentioned that they can order either one box at a time or they can sign up for a subscription. How can they learn more about what you offer? Go to our website, eat2explore.com, and everything is there. You can see the subscription options, what's coming up on each each month, or you can go into our cooking kit. Where you, we classify by Continent bundle, which Asia? Middle East, Africa Europe and Americas. Or you can go to individual countries. Actually before I forget, we have cooking kit and because of high requests and demand, we actually have baking kit. Oh. And it's a world baking kit. So each baking kit is, you get to learn three countries. So we have two baking kit right now and we're adding a German holiday baking kit end of this year. What a fun idea. I know. I have a couple students in mind that I know would really love a baking kit like that. That's so great. Okay, now I do have this question. Okay. So the way that instructional funds work at our program is that once a parent learns about your program and they maybe check it out on your website and they decide, yes, this is definitely what I want to do. They'll talk to their teacher about placing the order for them so that they can use their instructional funds to pay for the order. If they are wanting to do the subscription box year round, are they able to just pay like one annual fee or do they only get the subscription box during the months that the kids are in school? So they can buy an annual. So we have four payment options, okay? So you can get the subscription. You don't want to do the monthly because you will require a new PO each time, like a new purchase order, right? So if you want to do a one year program, you, and we give discount for 12 months, prepaid at 15%. So most families will buy the 12 month. Okay, great. So if our families want to start this in August, when the new funds drop for the school year, then they get that discount, which means that they're kind of getting those summer months for free, but the service doesn't stop. So, yeah, exactly. And then if they were to continue for a second year, are they going to get the exact same recipes or do they change No, no, we have 24 months, so we have two years rotation. So at least two years. So even if you do it this year and then next year is a completely different countries. Got it. And we have customers who, you know, They may have purchased it separately and then they have duplicate. We have a great customer service program where we will be very willing to replace it with something else. You just have to contact us and let us know. Oh, that's so good to hear. I think that's half the battle sometimes too, is just knowing that you're going into business with someone that you can work well with. And I know that that matters to our families. They want to be able to work with our community providers in a way that makes them feel like they actually have a a relationship or someone that's in their corner when it comes to providing them with instructional materials for their kids. So I know that that won't go a long way with them. Good to hear. Absolutely. All right. Well you've given us so much to think about today to chew on, I should say. I think that the subscription box model is really great for our students. I know how much fun it is for them to receive that in the mail every month and to open it up and have all the goodies inside. I think parents are going to feel really good about knowing that it's not only just some fun things and a way for them to connect with their kids, but it's there's a lot of resources in there for them to connect it to learning as well and to learning for multiple ages. If they have more than one child at home, they can really use that same subscription box to educate their kids that are in maybe multiple grade levels. So I think that's a really great benefit to the box as well. Yes. Let alone all the, all the tools and the pins and, and all the other incentives that make it fun to receive the box. I love that you're continuing to hear the needs of the customers and continue to build more and more things to offer them. That personalization, that innovation, those are values that are very deep rooted in Sage Oak, and so our parents always love working with community providers that recognize that importance of personalizing things, giving them lots of different choices, always innovating, creating new opportunities for them. So exciting. Awesome. I love it. Well, thank you so much Rowena, for coming on the podcast today, talking to us all about subscription boxes. We will provide a link in the show notes to the Eat2Explore website, so you can definitely check it out. And then if it looks like it's something that you are interested in for your kids, definitely have a conversation with your teacher facilitator and get ready to make those purchases when it comes time to place your orders All right. Thank you so much and we look forward to hearing about all the new things that you're going to continue to offer. Sounds so delicious.