Welcome to the June edition of Hospitality News.
I am very pleased to begin this edition of the Hospitality News with two award announcements. Congratulations to Christian and his team at Broughtonlea for being awarded the 5-Star Rating Award for Good Hygiene (Food Safety Program and Training). Congratulations to Tina and her team at Hansworth for being awarded The City of Monash Golden Plate Award for Food Safety.
Our Autumn Supplier Lunch at Livingstone Gardens commenced with a very special welcome to Bennett Dining Room by Ron Elbourne who personally ensured we were well looked after whilst we enjoyed the Roast of the Day, Honey Soy Stir Fry Vegetables with Tofu and individual Lemon Meringue Pies completing the culinary affair. Guests included representatives from Big Ben, SAJ, Unilever and Sunny Queen who acknowledged our Chef Manager Simon and his fabulous team did an outstanding job and all have requested an invitation to the next lunch.
Jo and I were lucky enough to visit Community Chef where the CEO Joe Ciccarone took us on a personal tour of the premises which was very interesting and we also learnt a new word being Fragilisation! In the Fragilisation area (work station) food items are removed from their packaging and prepared for the cooking process. We were treated to a delicious lunch of spiced pumpkin and lentil soup followed by Chicken ala King and orange cake with chocolate blancmange. The reason for our visit was to investigate the possibility of having some of the meals supplied to Broughtonlea whilst the kitchen is renovated.
Who is Community Chef?
Community Chef opened in December 2010 operating in a 1600m2 state-of-the-art commercial food manufacturing facility in Altona. Staffed by highly qualified and experienced food technologists and chefs, they currently produce and deliver more than 100,000 meals a month, including five hospitals and three aged care facilities in Melbourne, rural and regional Victoria.
Community Chef is a local government-owned, social enterprise that provides high quality meals at affordable prices for people who are nutritionally at risk. Community Chef was formed as a direct outcome of concerns expressed by all levels of government, about long-term food security for nutritionally at-risk residents and the failure of the private market to provide suitable meal quality and variety at affordable prices. In a ground-breaking solution 13 municipalities formed the joint venture Regional Kitchen Pty Ltd.