For Jeff Pennypacker, working as a chef at the Biltmore Estate for seven years just wasn’t enough. He and his wife Heather, who was a pastry chef at the Biltmore and later an instructor at the University of Tennessee, were looking for a change.
They drove across the country for several months looking for their next challenge and their next home. As they passed through Chattanooga, they quickly fell in love with the city, and despite their travels, felt compelled to return.
It’s because of that love that they are opening The Sweet and Savory Classroom, the only business in the area dedicated to teaching the culinary arts to beginners and experts alike, said the husband-and-wife team.
“We’ve both had elements of teaching at some degree in our professional lives,” said Jeff Pennypacker, who shares over 40 years’ professional cooking and baking experience with his wife. “We had to teach trainees and new hires, and it felt natural for my wife and I to be teachers. It was a simple progression to getting into full-time instruction.”
The Sweet and Savory Classroom is primed and ready to open in the coming weeks, he said. Only a bit of paperwork and a few inspections stand between the business’s opening.
That hasn’t stopped prospective customers from signing up early.
“The response has been phenomenal. Just for January we’ve got 120 seats booked as it is,” Pennypacker said earlier this month, “and people have already booked into February and March. It’s amazing to be welcomed so well.”
The first class is set to be on New Orleans and Creole cuisine, though Pennypacker said the business will be offering a multitude of classes on different methods and cuisines.
“We’re hoping to offer something for everyone,” he said. “We’ve got some easier classes strictly for fun, but we’re also ready for more technical classes for those interested in advanced knowledge.”
In addition to serving customers through instruction in the culinary arts, Pennypacker said he and his wife also want to serve the community, although nothing definite is in the works.
“We’d love to offer cooking classes to children and at-risk youth,” said Pennypacker, adding that he and his wife started a ministry to pair adult mentors with fatherless boys while living in Asheville. “Mentoring is a passion of mine, and has been throughout my life. We’re just going to add that to the business side of life. We’ve had some conversations with some organizations in town already, but we’re aiming to get the business up and running first.”
An after-school program to teach cooking leadership skills, or a class for single mothers and their children to learn cooking together are definitely things he’s interested in providing, he said.
Pennypacker said he’s been blown away by the welcome he and his wife have received from the community.
“It’s been absolutely amazing. The Southside community has wrapped its arms around us,” he said. “People are calling, emailing and inviting us to places just to welcome us into the community. I’ve lived in many cities and worked with several businesses and I’ve never had that happen before.”
For more info or to sign up for a class, visit sweetandsavoryclassroom.com or call 661-8750.
Email Shane Foley at sfoley@timesfreepress.com.