Australia's largest charity kitchen opens its doors in Melbourne, dishing up 4000 free meals a day

MELBOURNE :  Food rescue and relief charity FareShare will officially open the doors on its new kitchen at 1-7 South Audley Street in Abbotsford, Melbourne, at 9:30am on 17th October 2024. 

The state-of-the-art facility will serve as Australia's largest charity kitchen, and will see rescued, donated and homegrown food transformed into millions of delicious, healthy meals that feed dignity and wellbeing for Australians experiencing hardship.

FareShare has been cooking tasty, nutritious meals for people experiencing food insecurity since 2001. These are given away free to frontline charities such as soup vans, homeless shelters, women's refuges, First Nations organisations and groups providing disaster relief.

SecondBite | FareShare CEO Daniel Moorfield said the new facility couldn't come at a better time to support the growing needs of Australians as they do it tough in the cost-of-living crisis.

"With a kitchen area that has expanded by 35 per cent, we will be able to produce a staggering additional 500,000 meals every year," Moorfield said.

"Since FareShare and fellow food rescue charity SecondBite joined forces, this has enhanced and streamlined the supply of rescued food, further increasing our capacity to support those in need."

In addition to the new kitchen facilities, the site's warehouse has more than doubled in size, to enable the storage of larger quantities of rescued food, as well as keeping the vegetables and herbs grown at FareShare's kitchen gardens fresh. 

"This facility would not have been possible without the support of the State and Federal Government, and our many dedicated supporters - both financial and in kind," he says. "We would love to thank each and every one of them, who came together to make this happen. It is only with their help that we are officially opening our doors today and producing more meals than ever before." 

ENDS

About FareShare
FareShare operates Australia's largest non-profit kitchens in Melbourne and Brisbane where chefs and volunteers work hand in hand to cook the best possible meal for every person in need. Each year FareShare transforms rescued, donated and our homegrown food into millions of delicious, healthy meals that feed dignity and wellbeing for Australians experiencing hardship. For more information go to www.fareshare.net.au

About SecondBite 
SecondBite sources quality surplus food from farmers, retailers, and manufacturers and provides it to people in need. Last year, we rescued more than 23 million kilograms of unsold, edible food, providing the equivalent of more than 46 million meals to Australians in need. SecondBite works with more than 1100 charity partners, more than 300 food donors and thousands of generous financial supporters to feed millions of hungry Australians each year. For more information go to www.secondbite.org

TO INTERVIEW SECONDBITE CEO DANIEL MOORFIELD OR TO ATTEND THE LAUNCH, email Max@marksonsparks.com or call Max 0412 501601 or email Marta@marksonsparks.com or call 0409 291 785.