When Wellesley mom Kelly Barry was searching for a business opportunity that would let her capture her three big passions — children, cooking, and food — she kept circling back to the idea of giving cooking lessons. Barry has been happily up to her elbows in the kitchen since she was a child and knows from cooking with her own three children how much kids love to get involved in all things food. From there, her idea for Little Chefs was born, a business that teaches cooking classes to kids ages 3 – 9+ and runs specialty classes such as “Kids Cook and Adults Schmooze” or birthday parties that feature cupcake baking or pizza making.

Barry brings everything needed to homes or businesses. “I am a mobile class,” she says. “I bring all the supplies and food to people’s locations such as to companies, sports clubs, firms, and people’s homes.”

The most-requested classes she does are, unsurprisingly, her pizza parties. Least popular thing she ever did was the healthy chocolate cupcakes she once brought in for her son’s pre-school class. The thing is, they were healthy but they didn’t taste great, and the kids just flat-out wouldn’t eat them. From there a lesson was learned which now informs her every decision in the kitchen: “It’s really great that all the food in my classes is healthy, but the bottom line is that it has to taste good, too.”

The former attorney and active member of the Wellesley Mother’s Forum says she never says never to going back to practicing law, but for the foreseeable future you can find her cooking up a storm, running and hosting parties and classes for the next generation of cooks.