(aka "Cookbook Boot Camp") is a two-day working retreat for professional chefs eager to make the most of their careers. In a series of six intensive seminars hosted by award-winning cookbook authors Matt Lee and Ted Lee and conducted in the historic heart of Charleston, South Carolina, participants will shape a compelling kitchen vision—and learn practical methods for communicating that vision to others—so that they can achieve their personal and professional goals. Success in broadcast media, consumer products, and publishing requires different skill-sets from restaurant success, but what all these businesses share is a dependence on the chef’s core vision and his or her ability to express that vision to customers, viewers, readers, editors and agents. At Chef Development Institute, Matt and Ted lead a select group of professional chefs in seminars whose rigorous, workshop-style exercises will produce a compelling and unique vision, and a personalized action plan for each participant, including, in the final seminar, the foundation of a cookbook proposal.

Each retreat is limited to 6 chefs and we are now enrolling for the session on May 20 and 21. Please register here to receive an application. We will notify you when the new dates are announced.

Praise for CDI:

"The information on recipe writing, cost of photographer and stylist, editorial lingo, etc. were really invaluable---information like that is really hard to come by."

"You illuminated a few pieces of the recipe writing process that have eluded me.  It was great to do it in such a small group and hear everyone speak and work thru their signature recipe."