Hospitality Helps: Melbourne’s FOOD4GOOD is a Community-Driven Online Marketplace

The global response to this pandemic has been mixed, but, surprisingly, there’s one industry that is continually finding ways to stay strong and contribute: hospitality. Among all businesses, hospitality was one of the hardest hit for obvious reasons, and a few weeks ago there was a looming dread over those within it. There’s still uncertainty, but many have done what they know best—what drew them to the industry in the first place—which is to provide support, comfort, and openness for others. We’ve seen amazing results, from unique delivery services, to free food for hospitality workers, to hotels transforming into makeshift hospitals. Here we spotlight one of the initiatives we’re happy to see in our community:

Here in the U.S we haven’t heard as much from Australia as we have from countries in Europe and Asia. Thankfully, the country has managed to keep the pandemic under control—though they aren’t out of the woods yet. The country is still on lockdown, meaning restaurants are still limited to take-out / delivery and have faced the subsequent job losses like the rest of the world. But in Melbourne, two companies wanted to respond by using their resources for good. Half Acre (helmed by Adam Wright Smith, who once worked with AHL favorite The Fat Radish in New York), teamed up with food&desire catering to form FOOD4GOOD, a new online market with charity in mind. The mission revolves around 4 goals: providing jobs for hospitality workers, offering a marketplace for the community to get high-quality food and essentials, supporting charities (Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre, OzHarvest, and St. Kilda Crisis Centre Salvation Army) with a portion of sales directed towards them, and propping up local businesses that are trying to survive.

Even beyond the charitable initiative, everything on the site looks delicious, from the flatbread pizzas to the mushroom ragu to the matcha-raspberry ‘bliss balls’ by Sara’s Cakes. There’s a strong wine list, as well as a selection of pantry essentials, and their Instagram will update you on new offerings. Not only does this represent why small businesses, and hospitality businesses in particular, are so valuable to communities, but it also paves way for the way restaurants can offer food outside of their brick-and-mortars in the future.

Visit FOOD4GOOD online, or check out @food4good.au on Instagram for updates