Sunbury disability and services support provider Distinctive Options (DO) has celebrated its newly installed professional kitchen with a grand opening, accompanied with an array of tasty treats.
The opening was held on October 17, with participants and their family members, staff, coordinators and Distinctive Options chief executive Ernie Metcalf in attendance.
Assistant coordinator Hannah Chalkerspoke about the exciting plans for the new kitchen which include an internal canteen and more cooking programs.
“We had been previously hiring a kitchen… but having a large kitchen in our own building allows us to get more creative with our programs and open up new opportunities,” she said.
“We will continue to support the Master Chef participants to develop skills to prepare food and work in a commercial kitchen.
“The kitchen will be available for our other cooking programs to use at a later date.”
The day was filled with tasty treats from the Master Chef team, including roast beef with horseradish cream canapes, honey mustard chicken sausage rolls, New York cheesecake and haloumi and vegetable skewers with basil pesto.
Ms Chalkersaid the team will spend a few weeks learning recipes and settling into the new kitchen before opening up as an internal canteen once a week.
“There will be a rotating menu which features a grilled chicken or beef burger, a chicken caesar salad, a ranch chicken salad and wedges.
“We have options for people with swallowing difficulties and gluten-free and dairy-free options. We also look forward to using the kitchen and adjacent courtyard for fundraisers where we can invite community members to attend.”
The project was partly funded by Living Local Fund community grants, which Ms Chalker said DO is very appreciative of.
Zoe Moffatt
