Baton Rouge Team Building and Corporate Events: Benefits of the Culinary Experience

Charlie Ruffolo • January 24, 2018

Team building is an important practice for any organization. With so many different people from different backgrounds and experiences, it can be difficult to achieve the synergy that businesses need in today’s marketplace.  Putting different employees and departments together in a different environment to achieve goals that are outside of their comfort zone or at least a change from day-to-day business is a great way build camaraderie.


While ropes courses, paint ball, and other uber-competitive activities have their benefits, they may not be for everyone and that’s forcing leaders to think outside of the box when it comes team building excursions. You want everyone to get to know each other on a different level, improve communication skills, enhance their collaborative abilities, and, here’s the tricky part, have a fun time outside of the office.  This can be a difficult balancing act. A fun experience that still provides key skills that filter down to different parts of life and work. This is where cookery, or the culinary arts, can change your next team building exercise.


Corporate Services from Louisiana Culinary Institute

The corporate solutions available at LCI spur on your team’s creativity and camaraderie. These activities are not only fun, but they inspire confidence, and you’ll learn a thing or two about food. These corporate packages can be customized to include:

  • Culinary and hospitality training
  • Room and event venue rentals
  • Team building activities and competitions


Benefits of Cooking as a Team Building Activity

Dinner parties and cooking are the epitome of a social activity.  Combining a fun, relaxed, and social environment with direction from a professional chef to learn a new skill is a great recipe for team building. This is a very inclusive format, making it suitable for team members or all ages, abilities, and skill level. Not only do you get elite training for a fun activity, you also get to enjoy the fruits of your labor with a delicious meal afterwards.


The team building options available at Louisiana CulinaryInstitute are limitless. Packages can be created and customized to meet your team’s needs, budget, culture, and more.


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By Charlie Ruffolo • March 25, 2026
Some people know from childhood exactly where they're headed. Ben Messina took a different route. He started college as a music major, took a gap year to find his footing, and leaned on his brother's encouragement before landing exactly where he was always meant to be: a professional kitchen . Now a senior in the Savory program at Louisiana Culinary Institute (LCI) in Baton Rouge, Ben is weeks away from graduating in May 2026. He arrived at LCI with a love of cooking and a family connection to food. He's leaving with a world-class culinary foundation, a mentor who pushed him to be his best, and a dream of opening multiple restaurants of his own one day. His story is proof that the path to a culinary career doesn't have to be a straight line. Is It Too Late to Change Careers and Go to Culinary School? For Ben, food has always been part of the family fabric. Growing up in Baton Rouge, he spent time in the kitchen with his grandmother, learning to make snickerdoodles as a kid. Those early memories planted a seed. But Ben initially followed a different passion. He'd played trumpet and piano since a young age, so he enrolled at Southeastern Louisiana University to study music. It wasn't long before the questions started creeping in: "What am I actually going to do with a music degree?" He took a gap year to figure it out. And the answer, when it came, was simple: go back to his other love. Cooking. His brother, who owns a food truck, had been encouraging him to consider culinary school. More specifically, he encouraged Ben to look at LCI. And then, without warning, he signed him up for a campus tour. 
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