Tante Marie's Cooking School is turning into Parties That Cook.
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Tante Marie's Cooking School is turning into Parties That Cook.

Tante Marie’s Cooking School announced its closure back in June, and after 35 years, it will move out of its longtime Francisco Street headquarters at the end of September.

Tante Marie's Cooking School is turning into Parties That Cook.

Tante Marie’s Cooking School is turning into Parties That Cook.

But there’s a silver lining: Mary Risley will pass the space on to one of her many alumni, Bibby Gignilliat.

There, Gignilliat will open a permanent location of her 15-year-old culinary events company, Parties That Cook.

Gignilliat attended Tante Marie’s in 1997, and Risley has been a key part of her life ever since. So when Risley called her to ask if she’d be interested in the keys to the space, she accepted.

“Mary was, and still is, a mentor to me. When I was in school there she connected me with Joanne Weir, Joey Altman and Jacques Pepin to work on their cooking shows,” says Gignilliat. Her business was actually born by coincidence at Tante Marie’s, when she was guest-teaching a class there — a team building class for “inebriated attorneys” wherein one of the lawyers liked her so much that she was asked to do her first solo event. “Essentially my business was founded in Tante Marie’s Cooking School.”

And so, it’s come full circle. Now, Parties That Cook will have itself a permanent location, though the company will continue to do its usual mobile events around the Bay Area. In addition to a kitchen facility of their own, the brick-and-mortar headquarters will allow Gignilliat and co. to host cooking classes (she mentions couples’ cooking classes and singles’ cooking classes), special events, author events, product launches and even some chef dinners.

The building will get a quick remodel and redecoration after it closes October 1. Gignilliat hopes to open the doors anew by December 1, if not sooner.

Tante Marie’s Cooking School announced its closure back in June, and after 35 years, it will move out of its longtime Francisco Street headquarters at the end of September.

Tante Marie's Cooking School is turning into Parties That Cook.

But there’s a silver lining: Mary Risley will pass the space on to one of her many alumni, Bibby Gignilliat.

There, Gignilliat will open a permanent location of her 15-year-old culinary events company, Parties That Cook.

Gignilliat attended Tante Marie’s in 1997, and Risley has been a key part of her life ever since. So when Risley called her to ask if she’d be interested in the keys to the space, she accepted.

“Mary was, and still is, a mentor to me. When I was in school there she connected me with Joanne Weir, Joey Altman and Jacques Pepin to work on their cooking shows,” says Gignilliat. Her business was actually born by coincidence at Tante Marie’s, when she was guest-teaching a class there — a team building class for “inebriated attorneys” wherein one of the lawyers liked her so much that she was asked to do her first solo event. “Essentially my business was founded in Tante Marie’s Cooking School.”

And so, it’s come full circle. Now, Parties That Cook will have itself a permanent location, though the company will continue to do its usual mobile events around the Bay Area. In addition to a kitchen facility of their own, the brick-and-mortar headquarters will allow Gignilliat and co. to host cooking classes (she mentions couples’ cooking classes and singles’ cooking classes), special events, author events, product launches and even some chef dinners.

The building will get a quick remodel and redecoration after it closes October 1. Gignilliat hopes to open the doors anew by December 1, if not sooner.

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