Community Kitchen

Plans to create a community and commercial kitchen on-site are underway.  This will be a multi-use space for the community as well as for our intended small food business boost incubation program to help tackle barriers to employment and other food businesses who are looking for access to a commercial kitchen.

 

Part of the broader kitchen activities at the hub includes the Food Business Boost program that supports women who are experiencing barriers to employment to grow their own food business. This is offered as a fully subsidised course.

The program is supported by the Bennelong and Inner North Community Foundations and attracts a diverse group of women, who are all eager to advance their knowledge and skills.
The program is run as a series of workshops including mentoring and coaching that develops the women’s food business. It covers topics from web and social media, food business marketing skills, food business registration, food safety training and certification, market testing, product development, menu development, risk management and access to sales and distribution channels. At the conclusion of the program the women are offered 2 market stalls at a Melbourne Farmers Market to help accelerate their learning and business. It’s a high impact program which has already seen some fantastic food businesses flourish from cohort 1.  Alphington Farmers Market attendees so far include Yoko from Cooking with Koji, Zura from Happy Crumbs and Minerva from Minjums.
Expect to see more cohort 2 participants coming to Alphington Farmers Markets in the coming months.