Community Chef

Community Chef is a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen facility located in the suburb of Altona in the City of Hobsons Bay in Melbourne’s south-west. Starting with just a few councils working in collaboration, the operation now has 21 member councils and is a joint venture between local councils in and around Melbourne. It operates as a separate arms-length business and contracts to member councils and other clients to deliver quality cook-chill or snap frozen meals ready for use by those in need in the community. All meals are high quality, nutritious and ready for delivery to elderly, frail and disabled residents.

LGMA has produced a case study on Community Chef, which is an outstanding example of local governments working together to deliver a quality service outcome under an innovative social enterprise structure. Whilst the focus of the Community Chef project is on the delivered meals function, the key lesson to be taken from this case study is that, as an example of best practice, its potential is far greater. The core message is that the approach taken in the Community Chef model can be adapted and applied in any number of other government service areas and functions, both within local government and beyond.

The case study comprises a video and a written document. Both will be available here by late 2014.