Restaurant quality food to the home table

COMMITTEE for Ballarat CEO Michael Poulton said many local food and beverage producers have seen their product demand “dry up” with the closure of hospitality venues.

Partnering with Eat Drink West, the committee is problem solving, developing a new platform for this fresh produce to reach homes and bellies via produce boxes, purchased online.

“There’s this great range of local produce which has always made its way to table which now doesn’t have the market without restaurants and events,” Mr Poulton said.

“We’re trying to provide a unique offering of quality, locally produced food and beverage to people who really need it the most, and otherwise arent able to get it from supermarkets.

“Our initial target was to help healthcare workers, providing boxes they can buy online so they don’t need to go to a supermarket, because by the time they get there, it’s all gone.”

With a produce drop-off hub and packing base at Housey Housey, hospitality workers will also be redeployed.

“We’ll have workers who’ve lost their jobs, allowing them to find an avenue of work that they otherwise wouldn’t have had,” Mr Poulton said.

“Local producers will bring their produce into the distribution centre, our workforce will pack fruit and veg, bakery, dairy and all sorts, into a box which the consumer will then buy online, ready to pick up, or be delivered.”

There will also be a gifting functionality on the East Drink West website, catering to those who otherwise might not be able to access the service.

“My elderly neighbour down the street, for example, they might not be able to get out to the supermarket to find the goods they need, so I could gift a box to them and have it home delivered to their doorstep,” Mr Poulton said.

“Many people will go online and find things for themselves, but it doesn’t need to be a stress. Other industries might then donate 10 boxes to the emergency department at Ballarat Base Hospital.”

A project like this could be crucial to maintaining a local produce industry moving throughout and beyond the pandemic’s lockdown period.

“We’ve got really good producers and we don’t want to see them go under. We can develop a social enterprise model that can work in the recovery phase as a sustainable business model, moving our purchase decision making and shopping habits to a much more localised economy.

“The longer-term view is to sustain ‘buy local, eat local, shop local,’ which has obvious benefits to the local economy, and it starts to redistribute some of the profits, and where producers are being paid for their produce.

“You won’t be seeing $1 milk.”

Kate Davis said Eat Drink West was built so people could make connections.

“It’s about community and it underpins Share the Care and Be Kind Ballarat. I’m so pleased there’s this resource for people to access food and wine from these small businesses,” she said.

“We’re all locked in our homes, so the most important, fundamental thing for us, is to ensure families have really healthy, nutritious, fresh vegetables and fruit. We all know the benefits.”

Keep an eye on eatdrinkwest.com.au for the initiative’s launch.