Meet Alicia, Founder of Smart Raspberry Cookery School

October 2026

Smart Raspberry was founded by Alicia in 2011. The passion Alicia and her business has always been for children to take an interest in food and healthy eating, while having lots of fun! The key aim: “to teach children how to cook nutritious food from scratch helping them to learn a valuable life skill”.

The essence of the Smart Raspberry brand is based on:

Development - We want children to receive good instruction, learning good habits around food and its preparation

Fun - Our environment is one of fun. An enjoyable relationship with food preparation will provide lasting inspiration in cooking and a love of food

Healthy - We are interested in the long term benefit of our students. Instilling good ideas of balance, proportion and the role of food as part of a healthy lifestyle

We run cookery parties, clubs and classes during term time and the school holidays as well as workshops, Duke of Edinburgh courses and lots more; teaching basic cooking skills and inspiring an interest in food among children from five up to teenagers in their first years away from home.

So... how did Smart Raspberry begin?

One of my greatest passions is food and any spare time I have is spent cooking and eating! I love to cook a wide range of international cuisines for my family and I get my children to help in the kitchen as often as possible.

My passion for food began when I was a child. I lived in Spain and thought my dad’s cooking was the best! I began cooking myself during my university years, during which I spent a year living in Spain and Italy in that time I was immersed in the local cultures and learnt a lot about food and how to fend for myself in the kitchen.

My interest in food took on a new dynamic after having children, as I wanted them to grow up experiencing a wholesome, varied and interesting diet. Turning my passion into a business was prompted by the lack of regular cookery tuition in schools for younger children.

I began an afterschool cookery class in my local junior school and as word spread , I soon expanded into other nearby schools. I had to take on my first employee and as our popularity with parents and children grew, it enabled us to start offering parties and holiday workshops.

A few short years later we began offering weekend cookery clubs for teenagers and those participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme. 

Back in 2010 I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to attend Leith’s School of Food and Wine where I was able to hone my skills, develop my knowledge and expand my styles of cookery; something which has been invaluable in the development of our recipes.

Franchising came into play when a lady interested in working as a teacher wanted to bring Smart Raspberry to her home in Milton Keynes. The next step was to carefully franchise our model ensuring we could support our franchisees step-by-step as they built a successful, sustainable and highly rewarding business.

Interested?

Click here to find out more about the Smart Raspberry Franchise and how you can bring a Children's Cookery School to your community!