OzHarvest Ventures disrupts the profit-for-purpose sector taking ownership of Gastronomy
Gastronomy team with OzHarvest Founder Ronni Kahn, Gastronomy CEO Miccal Cummins and Gastronomy General Manager Carly Cummings
Leading social enterprise takes ownership of Gastronomy’s premium hospitality company, extending its impact and challenging business norms
OzHarvest Ventures, the social enterprise entity linked to OzHarvest, has formally taken ownership of premium corporate hospitality business, Gastronomy, whose profits will now enable more meals to be delivered to vulnerable communities across Australia.
In a bold move for the social enterprise sector, OzHarvest Ventures was set up in October 2023 to focus on innovation and exploring new commercial opportunities to diversify revenue, as a way of amplifying and enabling OzHarvest’s impact into the future and addressing the environmental and social challenges of our time.
Gastronomy is a highly regarded and well-established business that tailors in-house premium hospitality and corporate services to the brands and cultures of Australia’s most innovative and prestigious organisations such as Meta and Christie Spaces.
Since 2022, the business has been donating 100% of its profits to OzHarvest, enabling over 2.4 million meals to be delivered to feed people in need. This act of extraordinary intention and generosity transformed their business model into a dedicated social enterprise.
Miccal Cummins, Gastronomy’s Founder and CEO is excited to see the successful 26-year old business continuing long into the future, under a purpose-driven owner with aligned values.
“I often think about what is enough for us as individuals and as a society, and what we throw away. Obviously, the wasteful societies of the global North are unsustainable, and I felt we could play a part in reducing that waste. I’ve always been inspired by my dear friend Ronni and how OzHarvest rescues food from going to landfill and creates a real difference in people’s lives.
In creating beautiful experiences for our customers, Gastronomy is committed to and balances people, planet and profit. This move aligns with our business values and our personal values. We have always had a sense of purpose, living to create, as caring about our business customer’s hospitality enabled us to look after our community and our planet. As the next step in our long-term partnership, it made sense for OzHarvest Ventures to take over the business as formal owners.”
Ronni Kahn AO, OzHarvest Founder said Gastronomy has been part of the OzHarvest journey since the beginning 20 years ago. “This long-standing partnership and generosity of Miccal Cummins and the Gastronomy team has enabled this incredible social business acquisition, forging a new path for business for good.
We’re disrupting how society thinks about how ‘charities’ should operate. More businesses could be a force for good, and profit and purpose should not be mutually exclusive. Every business has a role to play and has the power to transform society and solve our collective challenges. By using Gastronomy, your people will be fed and nourished, knowing that you are enabling us to deliver more meals to those in need.”
Gastronomy’s day-to-day business operations remain unchanged and will continue with their incredible staff and customers. Their head office is in Sydney with 160 team members across Australia based within corporate partnerships in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
Miccal Cummins remains as CEO and the leadership team will continue in their roles with no changes to Gastronomy or OzHarvest’s daily operations as they continue delivering impact in food rescue, education, advocacy and sustainable innovation.
Louise Tran, Head of OzHarvest Ventures said OzHarvest is experiencing demand higher than ever before and currently relies on corporate and philanthropic funding to run their operations. “OzHarvest Ventures is on a mission to diversify funding streams to help create a long-term sustainable future. We are exploring innovative projects from developing upcycled products all the way through to new business opportunities like Gastronomy.”
Stuart Cook, Chair and Director of OzHarvest Ventures added, “Our aim is to create new business models that can attract a new generation of impact investors, while improving social and environmental outcomes at the same time. We are so excited about this alternative business approach, and what it means for supporting the critical work of OzHarvest.”
Gastronomy will operate as a subsidiary under OzHarvest Ventures where profits will continue to go to OzHarvest and to OzHarvest Ventures to continue nourishing our country, pioneering innovation and creating positive impact in food sustainability and food security.
For media enquiries, please contact: Louise Tran, Head of OzHarvest Ventures, 0466 620 744
Founded by Ronni Kahn AO in 2004, OzHarvest is Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, collecting quality surplus food from more than 2,600 businesses, including supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, hotels and retail food outlets. Every week over 250 tonnes of food is saved from going to landfill and delivered to 1,500+ charitable agencies, helping to make a positive difference to the lives of vulnerable people across Australia. OzHarvest’s education programs include: NEST - tailor made workshops that support people in need with nutrition education and life skills, Nourish - a hospitality training program for vulnerable youth, FEAST – a curriculum aligned program for primary and high school students. To inspire behavioural change and make it easy to waste less food at home, OzHarvest launched their Use It Up tape and campaign. OzHarvest operates nationally in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Newcastle, and Perth and in regional communities and to date has delivered over 270 million meals and saved over 88,000 tonnes of food from landfill.
OzHarvest Ventures was formally set up in October 2023 as the innovation and social enterprise sister entity to OzHarvest. It seeks to explore commercial opportunities and diversify revenue streams that would ensure the impact of OzHarvest could be sustained long into the future. In 2023, OzHarvest Ventures released its first products featuring upcycled produce including the Kakadu Kitchen x OzHarvest Conscious Drink, and a range of natural lemonades.
Gastronomy tailors in house hospitality and corporate services to the brands and cultures of Australia’s most innovative and prestigious organisations. Their head office is in Sydney with 160 team members across Australia based within corporate partnerships in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.