Some big names in Australian hospitality will take part in the fifth big year of the OzHarvest drive to increase awareness about homelessness, food security and wastage.
Hospitality foodservice businesses are subject to tremendous food wastage, and as such a special part of the OzHarvest mission to see excess food from commercial outlets to go a better place than landfill.
OzHarvest collects all types of foods and delivers it directly and free-of-charge to more than 800 charities across Australia, to provide much-needed assistance to vulnerable men, women and children.
This Monday (7 March) the 2016 OzHarvest CEO Cookoff event will see 50 celebrated chefs from around the country oversee more than 150 CEOs and MDs from leading Australian companies, as they serve up around 1,300 meals for disadvantaged and homeless people in Sydney.
Several prominent members of the pub sector will be present, including the pub king, Arthur Laundy, Hostplus’ David Elia, Liquid Ideas’ Stuart Gregor, and Ray White’s Andrew Jolliffe.
Amongst the many hatted chefs will be Matt Moran, Neil Perry, and Public House Management Group food ambassador, the acclaimed Guillaume Brahimi.
“I’m really excited to be participating in OzHarvest’s CEO CookOff, where top CEOs, and fellow chefs and companies work together to make a difference to Australia’s most vulnerable and reduce food waste,” says Brahimi.
“It is an amazing charity to be a part of, and I look forward to taking part in raising awareness and much needed funds for OzHarvest.
As a worthy and heartfelt cause, the event has been growing each year and several participants, such as Elia and Jolliffe, are back again to bang the drum again.
Jolliffe states his goal priorities are raising awareness, and raising money – and not losing a finger. (Check out AJ’s culinary skills(?) below.)
“I’m prepared to take firm instruction from Matt Moran or Guillaume Brahimi or whoever is shouting at me the loudest,” confessed Jolliffe.
“It’s clearly great to raise money for such a worthwhile initiative, but without also raising the awareness of the issue central to the movement (namely the better utilization of existing resources: financial, human and product) to crush the absurdity of hungry kids in Australia; then I will have failed in meeting my objective.”
The OzHarvest CEO Cookoff is flagship annual event for the food-rescue organisation, and has so far raised more than $4 million dollars. The goal for this year is to raise a further $1.5 million.
OzHarvest was founded by Ronni Kahn in 2004. She will be leading the CEO charge again at this year’s cookoff. Eying a goal of raising $100,000 herself, she has already notched up $102,363 even before the event.
Donations to OzHarvest or sponsorship of the participants can be made at www.ceocookoff.com.au/sponsor.