Community Grant Recipient | FoodLab Sydney

Kick-starting change through the kitchen!

FoodLab Sydney is a social enterprise kitchen incubator with a mission to empower food entrepreneurs from high-barrier backgrounds to grow and formalise their food business. By offering affordable kitchen space, mentoring, and technical assistance, FoodLab provides these entrepreneurs with the tools to overcome significant barriers in the food industry.

“We are a capacity-building social enterprise,” says Managing Director Jamie Loveday, “training and educating people to grow their own food businesses.”

Many of these entrepreneurs face significant challenges, including a lack of access to startup capital, networks, and affordable kitchen space. This makes it difficult for them to scale their operations.

“Food is what these wonderful entrepreneurs know best – it’s what they want to share with the world,” Jamie explains, “but without access to the right tools, skills and kitchen space, they’ll find it next to impossible to compete on the same playing field as larger commercial operators.”

The shared kitchen at FoodLab Sydney has become a vital resource, providing participants with the opportunity to turn their culinary skills into sustainable businesses​​.

One key challenge for many of FoodLab’s entrepreneurs is extending the shelf life of their products to meet market demands. To address this, FoodLab applied for a SilverChef Community Grant worth $5,000 AUD, to purchase a whole host of essential equipment – including a vacuum sealer machine – allowing entrepreneurs to produce and preserve food on a larger, commercial scale.

“Many of our businesses want to extend the life of their food in commercial quantities, and a vacuum sealer machine does exactly that,” says Jamie.

“Now our entrepreneurs are able to compete with big commercial caterers, which is an incredible testament to the support of SilverChef.”

This equipment has allowed FoodLab’s entrepreneurs to step up their production, helping them grow their businesses and thrive in the competitive food industry.

Learn more about FoodLab Sydney

SilverChef Community Grants program

Developed to support groups and organisations serving disadvantaged or marginalised members of our community. You can read more about our Community Grants program here.