Business-minded pupils help students overcome fear of cooking (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Surbiton pupils help students overcome fear of cooking

7:00am Monday 7th March 2011 in Talking Business By Louise Robertson

Entrepreneurial school students have formed a company to help fellow students overcome the fear of cooking at university and the daily trap of beans on toast or pizza.

As part of a scheme called Young Enterprise, a group of Surbiton High School pupils have started a company called Alight, selling recipes in folders.

Alight's co-manager Charlie Hyde, 17, said the concept strips away the technicalities of cooking by using terms such as "a sprinkle" or a "bit of this", rather than precise measurements.

She said: "The early university time is stressful enough without having to worry about feeding yourself and eating healthily is as important to them as anyone else.

"But the reason students don't cook is because they feel they don't have the time or the money.

"We want to dispel this myth and it's something I'll be taking to uni."

Each company member submitted a family recipe so students could have home comforts around them during their first year, and some of the recipes do not even require cooking.

The product is available for £6.99 and they have already sold some at Surbiton Farmers' Market, some to men who wanted to cook for their wives without the hassle of measuring ingredients.

Future plans include decreasing the recipes in each folder so people do not feel bombarded and but selling additional recipe cards.

They also want to create a folder for young children.

Miss Hyde said: "It's great to think that we've filled a small gap in someone's life and made cooking easy - something our company holds a passion for."