Thirsty Dumpling

It’s been a year since we launched, and sometimes I still scratch my head, wondering how we got here… I’ve always thought of myself as a creative first and foremost. Storytelling, food, and bringing people together sparked this idea. But to bring all those things together, I had to become something else, too—an entrepreneur. Over the past year, we’ve faced challenges, made mistakes, and taken calculated bets—learning the hard way, as many first-time founders do. Just a year ago, we were running multiple test orders late into the night and sticking on labels, all to make sure everything worked before we went on live TV to announce our launch the next morning 😅 Looking back, every painful tweak, every small win, and every piece of feedback from our community has made this year more rewarding than we’ve could’ve imagined. Here’s to year two 🥳 Thank you to everyone who has supported and inspired us along the way ✨🙏

Our job is done 🥟🫶 We love working with our building partners because we know the power of community. Bringing people together through a shared experience goes beyond the food. Whenever we see folks exchange numbers and make plans together at the end of class, we know we’re doing something right 🥹 Looking to host a communual experience soon? Reach out to book us for the holidays! Fill out the form below to get more info 👇 https://lnkd.in/gxMa-ra3 . . . #residentialbuilding #residentliving #workplaceexperience #teambuilding #companyparty #holidayparty

We’re a food company—not a restaurant—bringing dumpling-making experiences directly to you. That’s what we tell people during our classes. While many assume we’re a restaurant, Thirsty Dumpling is all about transforming any space into a hands-on, communal experience allowing you to create dumplings from scratch anywhere, without needing a full kitchen. We just returned from the Bay Area, where we held back-to-back classes at Summitry even adapting to teaching our sessions on their gorgeous patio! With the holidays events approaching, contact us to book a unique, hands-on cooking event available both in person and remotely. You can also order your own kits to host your own dumpling party 👇 thirstydumpling.com

💄GRWM to teach a team event online 🥟 People often ask how we came up with the idea for Thirsty Dumpling. It all started with a series of random moments—especially from teaching dumpling classes remotely. These classes highlighted the challenges people faced in the kitchen, and those insights ultimately shaped our dumpling kits. Some of the best moments was when people would say, "I never thought I could make dumplings from scratch, and now I can!" They often followed it up with, "I have to do this with ___ (their favorite people)!" 🥹 If you’re planning a remote company holiday event, we love to be part of it. DM us or fill out the form below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gxMa-ra3

🚨 Bay Area Friends! 🚨 We’re bringing our Dumpling-Making Classes to town and we have availabilities for October 21st and October 23rd! 🍽️ Interested in a fun, hands-on team experience? We offer customizable packages for different formats and group sizes. DM for more details! #CookingClass #DumplingMaking #CorporateEvents #WorkplaceExperience

There is nothing more beautiful than looking out the window while folding dumplings as you let your worries melt away 🥟 🤏 Want to host your next private dumpling party with us, check us out on www.thirstydumpling.com or DM us! . . . #residentevents #apartmentliving #communityevent #privateevents #cookingclass #chicagoevents

Sometimes, it only takes minutes—not hours—to learn something new! One of the biggest challenges in making dumplings, aside from the prep work, is learning how to fold them properly. But over the weekend, we were able to teach festival attendees (many of whom had never made dumplings before) how to fold them in just 4 minutes! 🤯 A big thank you to the Chicago Cultural Alliance for having us back at World Dumpling Fest! #worldumplingfest #foodfestival #events #privateevents #festivals #companyevents #corporateevents #activation

People often ask us, "How do you keep customers coming back?" For a while, we didn’t have a solid answer. Then, in August, a client asked, "Do you have any Fall-themed options for our resident program?" That was our lightbulb moment! 💡 We quickly said “yes” (even though we didn’t have it yet) and launched our Fall-themed dessert dumpling program, inspired by all the cozy autumn flavors we love. Since then, we’ve booked four Fall events on top of our usual dumpling classes! It’s a great reminder that sometimes our best ideas come from the clients themselves. Now, we’re thinking of how to customize our menus for each season, program, and even company events. If you're thinking about hosting a fun Fall company event, DM us for our event packages! #FallEvents #ResidentPrograms #employeeengagement #workplaceexperience #employeeexperience #workplaceculture #workplace

🍁 It’s official! Starbucks announced PSL season last week, and we’re all in on the Fall vibes! 🍂🎃 To celebrate, we’re excited to introduce our new Fall-themed dumpling cooking class lineup, designed with your sweet tooth in mind. Check out our delicious new flavor profiles! 🤤 We’re fully booked for September thanks to our amazing clients, but we still have availability from October to December! Want more info about our event packages? More information in the comments ⬇️ 🎃 🎃 🎃 #FallSeason #CookingClasses #PumpkinSpice #PSL #EventPlanning #WorkplaceExperience #WorkplaceCulture #EmployeeCulture #EmployeeEngagement #ChicagoEvents

Why does it seem like we transitioned from a CPG company to an events company? In February after a spike in sales from a featured Eater article that was immediately followed by a long sales drought, we faced a harsh reality: just because you set up an e-commerce site doesn't mean people will automatically come back. Out of necessity, we pivoted to hosting events and started offering dumpling-making experiences. It’s been a weird period. Launching a product was fun but the real learning, heartache and desperation comes after. Events was not part of our original plan but at the time that was the only path forward. Our plan B became a blessing in disguise and the best way to get our products in front of people. We’ve been slowly acquiring clients and last month out of nowhere we had much more business than usual… By the first week of this month, we were fully booked with six back-to-back events, including a dumpling and mimosa brunch, and even a sushi class (we did it for our first client who took the first leap in hiring us). The key takeaway from this experience is that sometimes Plan A needed to fumble for Plan B to do its thing and we are figuring what’s working in real time… We still remain a CPG company at heart. If you want to recreate our cooking class experience at home, check out our kits on our website. And if you're looking for a fun team or company event, DM us for details on our event packages. Here’s a few snaps from our recent 6-day event marathon💨