Informative, fun and rewarding.
Very enjoyable team building way to give back to the community.
Great opportunity to have fun with work colleagues whilst supporting the community.
Lovely to see sustainability is incorporated through the whole program and to see it in practice.
A fun way to give back to the community with my team!
Great initiative and team bonding morning!
It was uplifting and great way to spend time with colleagues doing something great for the community and sharing a laugh.
Corporate Cooking Team Building Program
Our Corporate Cooking sessions are a great way to bring your staff together for some team building outside the office, while giving back and learning about all the good work being done in their local community.
Our Corporate Cooking sessions assist us to convert rescued food, that often is not able to be used for food relief, into ‘heat and serve’ meals. These cooked meals are individually packaged and frozen before being distributed across central Victoria to those in need, as part of our food relief program.
In recent years, we have noticed an increase in businesses and other organisations in the region interested in supporting our work and our corporate cooking program offers businesses a way meaningfully contributes, while learning more about Bendigo Foodshare.
What’s involved?
Working alongside an experienced cook, and 2-3 of our Bendigo Foodshare volunteers, your team will cook around 150 nutritious meals, using rescued food that would otherwise go to waste. Based on the food available to us, our chef will prepare a menu which aims to cook three dishes including 50 x soups, 50 x main meals and 50 x desserts during each session.
The session runs on a Thursday morning for approximately 4 hours. This includes full instruction and support, as well as morning tea with (rescued) snacks while we provide an overview of our work.
It’s a great team building session and we’ve had fabulous feedback so far.
Participation
Each session accommodates 8-10 participants. You are not obliged to fill a session with your team; we can include volunteers, or team up with another organisation.
Location
The program is held on a Thursday morning from 8:45am-1pm in the kitchen at Holy Trinity Anglican Church Bendigo, Flora Hill.
Cost
The session costs $900. The charge helps us to cover the costs of the day including chef’s wages, kitchen hire, costs of containers and lids and some small top-up food purchases.
Details
All participants will be required to comply with food safety guidelines, including completing a 30-minute online food safety course ‘Do Food Safely’ in advance.
- Hygiene compliance includes:
- wearing a hair net and apron (provided)
- appropriate (sturdy/closed toe) footwear (eg: no ballet flats)
- no nail polish (gloves are optional)
- no jewellery or piercings (must be taped if cannot be removed)
How it started:
Our Corporate Cooking program was started in 2023, with the assistance of a $20,000 Circular Economy Grant through the City of Greater Bendigo.
The corporate cooking program is based on our existing Cooking for Change! Youth program (which started in a similar manner in 2020).
Since the program started in 2023, we have held more than 24 sessions making more than 3,600 meals for food relief.
Expression of interest
To register your interest with us, please complete our expression of interest form.
