Alva · For cooking instructors & chefs

Video · PDF recipes step-by-step lessons · certificates

Alva Courses for cooking instructors

Cooking instructors on Shopify want to sell recipe-driven video courses with downloadable PDFs and step-by-step lessons — not a folder of disconnected videos. Alva Courses is a Shopify app that lets you build a structured culinary course: a cooking video plus a printable PDF recipe card in every lesson, students gated through the recipes one step at a time , drip-released week by week, and a completion certificate at the end — all inside your own store, no second login.

Install on Shopify An instructor's workflow →

★★★★★ 5.0 ·

· 13 reviews · 100% five-star · 14-day free trial · By Tom Rushmore, Founder

Recipe cards

PDF in lesson

Beside every cooking video

Lessons

Step-by-step

Require completion to advance

Video hosting

50 GB

Pro · no 10-min limit

Completion

Certificates

Auto-emailed to students

A day in the life

How a cooking instructor's Shopify + Alva Courses workflow actually runs.

08:00 · FILM

Upload today's technique video.

You filmed a 22-minute lesson on laminating croissant dough. Drag the file into Alva Courses' video block. On the Unlimited Pro plan, Alva Video Hosting takes the full-length 4K clip with no 10-minute cap — or embed from YouTube, Vimeo, VdoCipher or Loom instead.

08:35 · LESSON

Add the recipe card and a quiz.

In the same lesson, drop a PDF block with the printable recipe card, a text block with the ingredient list, and a short quiz on dough temperature. Turn on "Require completion before next lesson" so students master the fold before moving on.

12:18 · ENROLMENT

A student in Toronto enrols. Email fires.

The order is paid through your normal Shopify checkout. Alva Courses delivers access instantly — a branded enrolment email with a "Start Learning Now" button, plus the course on the thank-you page. The student opens "My Courses" in their Shopify account and starts the first recipe.

19:00 · COHORT

Week 2 of the bread course drips automatically.

Your "Six-Week Bread Course" releases its next section 7 days after enrolment. No manual sending — Alva Courses drips it on schedule. A student who finished Week 1 replies in the lesson comments; you answer, and an email notification keeps the thread moving.

What cooking instructors actually use

Alva Courses' feature set, re-angled for a culinary instructor.

01 / 06Video + PDF

A cooking video and a recipe card in every lesson.

Each lesson in Alva Courses is a mix of content blocks. Add a video block for the technique, a PDF block for the printable recipe card, a text block for the ingredient list with a rich-text table, and an image block for the finished plate. Students watch in the storefront and download the recipe to take into their kitchen.

Video comes from Alva-hosted upload, or embedded from YouTube, Vimeo, VdoCipher or Loom — so existing footage works on day one.

02 / 06Step by step

Sequential lessons that build skill in order.

Cooking is sequential — you knead before you prove, you sear before you braise. Turn on "Require completion before next lesson" and Alva Courses gates each recipe until the previous one is marked complete. The drag-and-drop builder lets you group recipes into sections like "Knife skills", "Stocks & sauces", and "Plating".

03 / 06Drip

Drip a six-week course one module at a time.

Release a module each week after enrolment, or schedule a lesson to publish on a fixed date for a live cohort. Drip scheduling paces students so they actually cook each recipe before the next arrives — which lifts completion, cuts refunds, and keeps a class moving together through a challenge.

04 / 06Video hosting

Long, high-res cooking videos with no file cap.

Technique videos run long and look better at high resolution. The Unlimited Pro plan adds Alva Video Hosting — 50 GB of dedicated storage with no per-video size or length limits, bypassing Shopify's native 1 GB / 10-minute file cap. A whole knife-skills masterclass uploads as a single clip.

05 / 06Quizzes & certificates

Test knowledge, then award a certificate.

Add a quiz inside a lesson to check food-safety rules, oven temperatures, or knife grips. When a student completes the whole course, Alva Courses automatically awards a custom-designed completion certificate and emails it to them — a tangible reward that students share, which markets your next class for you.

06 / 06Community

Per-lesson discussions where students share results.

Every lesson has a native comment thread, so students post photos of their bake and ask "why did mine collapse?" You moderate from the Shopify admin and get an email when someone comments. Progress tracking shows you who finished, who stalled, and your overall completion rate per course.

Pricing, instructor-sized

Which plan does a recipe course need?

Both Alva Courses plans give you unlimited courses, lessons, members and comments, progress tracking, quizzes, custom certificates and branded email. The real question for a cooking instructor is video: where do your long, high-resolution technique clips live? That is the line between the two plans.

PLANPRICEFITS

Unlimited$9.99/moAn instructor whose recipes are short clips, or who embeds video from YouTube, Vimeo, VdoCipher or Loom. Shopify-hosted video is capped at 1 GB and 10 minutes per video. Unlimited courses, members, quizzes, certificates and drip.

Unlimited Pro$14.99/moAn instructor uploading long, high-resolution technique videos. Adds Alva Video Hosting — 50 GB with no per-video limits — so a 40-minute masterclass uploads as one clip. The right plan for most recipe courses.

Both plans include a 14-day free trial. There is no free plan today. Compare both side by side on the pricing page.

Setup path

From recordings to a sellable recipe course in 4 steps.

Already teaching in person or on YouTube? Alva Courses turns that material into a structured, paid course inside the Shopify store you already run — no separate learning platform to manage.

01
Build the course outline.
In the Shopify admin, create a course and use the drag-and-drop builder to add sections — "Knife skills", "Stocks", "Plating" — then lessons inside each. Use "Create Multiple" to spin up a lesson per recipe in seconds, then reorder by dragging.
02
Fill each lesson with video + recipe card.
Add a video block (upload or embed), a PDF block with the printable recipe card, and a text block for ingredients. Turn on Require completion before next lesson for the recipes that build on each other, and add a quiz where it helps.
03
Set pricing, drip and the certificate.
Bind the course to a Shopify product and set the price. Configure drip — for example, one section released every 7 days. Design the completion certificate to match your culinary brand. Optionally set limited-time access for a time-boxed cooking challenge.
04
Customise the email and publish.
Edit the enrolment email — from-name, subject, message and the "Start Learning Now" button — and optionally send from your own domain. Publish. Students buy through checkout and find the course in "My Courses". Migrating an existing list? Bulk-import students via CSV.

Shopify App Store reviews

What merchants say

“I’ve researched and tested a lot of Shopify course apps, and I recommend Alva Courses without hesitation. Setup was easy and everything works exactly as it should.”
— Freedom by Digital, United Kingdom · Shopify App Store review

“So easy to use, and the support is unmatched.”
— Edge Elements, Kuwait · Shopify App Store review

“I hit a couple of snags and Tom helped right away over live chat — a real person, not annoying AI. Many thanks.”
— Early Childhood Education Courses, Canada · Shopify App Store review

FAQ for cooking instructors

Questions cooking instructors actually ask.

Can I attach a downloadable PDF recipe card to each lesson?

Yes. Every lesson in Alva Courses supports a PDF content block, so you can attach a printable recipe card, ingredient list, or prep sheet beside the cooking video. Students view or download it from the storefront course player. You can also add text, image, audio and quiz blocks to the same lesson, building a complete recipe step by step.

How do I make students cook one recipe before unlocking the next?

Turn on 'Require completion before next lesson' in the lesson editor. Alva Courses then gates each recipe so a student must mark the current lesson complete before the next one unlocks. Combined with sections, this turns a scattered recipe library into a structured, step-by-step culinary program that students follow in the right order.

Can I drip-release a cooking course week by week?

Yes. Alva Courses drips lessons or whole sections a set number of days after enrolment, or you can schedule a lesson to publish on a specific date. A 'Six-Week Bread Course' can release one module each week, which paces students, reduces refunds, and keeps a cohort moving through the recipes together.

Where do my long, high-resolution cooking videos go?

On the Unlimited Pro plan ($14.99/mo), Alva Video Hosting gives you 50 GB of dedicated storage with no per-video limits — so a 40-minute 4K technique video is no problem. The Unlimited plan ($9.99/mo) uses Shopify-hosted video capped at 1 GB and 10 minutes per video, or you can embed from YouTube, Vimeo, VdoCipher or Loom on either plan.

Do students get a certificate when they finish a cooking course?

Yes. Alva Courses automatically awards a custom-designed completion certificate when a student finishes every lesson, and emails it to them. You edit the certificate template to match your culinary brand. Quizzes inside lessons let you test knife skills, food-safety facts or recipe knowledge before a student is marked complete.

Do students need a separate login or a different platform?

No. Alva Courses runs natively inside Shopify. Students buy through your normal checkout and watch lessons in your branded storefront course player, accessed from 'My Courses' in their Shopify customer account. There is no second login and no external learning platform — everything stays inside your store.

Guides for cooking instructors selling courses on Shopify.

Guide

How to sell online courses on Shopify (2026 guide)

A step-by-step walkthrough for building and selling a video course direct on your Shopify store with Alva Courses.

Guide

Drip-feeding course content: when and how

Why pacing a recipe course module-by-module lifts completion, and how to set up drip scheduling in Alva Courses.

Guide

How to price an online course

A pricing framework for putting a number on your recipe course, from single classes to multi-week programs.

Install in 90 seconds

Launch your recipe course this week.

Install Alva Courses from the Shopify App Store. Build a course, add a cooking video and a PDF recipe card to each lesson, set the drip schedule, and place a test order — watch the branded enrolment email land and the course appear in "My Courses". Everything stays inside your Shopify store. The 14-day free trial starts when you install.

✓ Video plus a printable PDF recipe card in every lesson ✓ Step-by-step gating, drip scheduling and certificates ✓ Alva Video Hosting (Pro): 50 GB, no 10-minute limit

Install on Shopify Book a 15-min onboarding

courses@alvaapps.com
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