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"Case Study - AMES Cultural Cooks & Noble Park Primary
School
"Adult Multicultural Education Services (AMES) Cultural
Cooks provide lunches to Noble Park Primary School and Noble
Park Language School from Monday to Friday.
"Noble Park Primary School does not have a canteen but
they still give their students healthy lunch options through
AMES Cultural Cooks. Cultural Cooks strives for healthy eating
through their 'School Healthy Eating program'. To achieve
this, they had their menu assessed by the 'Go for your life'
Canteens Advisory Service to make sure their menu was in line
with the Victorian School Canteens and Other Food Services
Policy.
"With the great support from Noble Park Primary School
and the work of chef Jasmin Osmanovic and the AMES staff,
the Cultural Cooks menu does not have any Occasionally (red)
foods.
"Changes made:
- marinated chicken wings with skin
on (Occasionally / red) were replaced with chicken drumsticks
with skin removed, marinated in light seasoning, baked in
the oven creating moist and tasty Everyday / green chicken
snacks
- the recipe for homemade cookies
with little fibre content (Occasionally / red) was adjusted
- half the white flour was replaced with wholemeal flour
and fruit was added to the choc chips to create a Select
Carefully / amber food. The students did not even notice
the change and the cookies still sell well.
- all commercial Occasionally / red
foods like falafels were swapped for similar but Select
Carefully / amber foods from Canteen Buyers Guides
- parents from Noble Park Primary
School are consulted regarding the menu items - this gains
support from the parents and caters for the market
"Best sellers:
"Sales change during the year but overall the best selling
items are lasagne, stir fried vegies with rice, homemade oven
baked chicken nuggets and chicken drumsticks.
"Tip for success:
"Run a lunchbox meal deal promotion. We find it works
really well at our school. From time to time, we offer a free
lunchbox meal deal. We select a grade or a class and the teachers
run a competition. The school advertises the competition to
the class and the school community. Once the free lunchbox
meal deal has been won, the other students start buying the
same lunch box meal deal as it's been talked about in class
and gets the students excited about the lunchbox."
- Jasmin Osmanovic, Cultural Cooks Chef
"AMES Social Enterprise Network
"The AMES social enterprises are community-based businesses
that aim to create pathways to employment for migrants and
refugees through training and community building. They aim
to address the issue of systemic unemployment amongst culturally
and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities through the
provision of hands-on vocational skills development and work
experience.
"These are the AMES social enterprises:
Cultural Cooks @ Noble Park - Nada Mocevic, Enterprise Manager,
03 8558 8877; Jasmin Omanovic, Enterprise Supervisor, 03 9548
4475
Sorghum Sisters @ Carlton Primary School - Melinda Hall,
Enterprise Supervisor, 03 9348 1574
Canteen+ @ Kensington Primary School - Melinda Hall, Enterprise
Supervisor, 03 9376 6931
"Introducing Cultural Cooks:
"Cultural Cooks is an AMES social enterprise operating
from the Noble Park campus. Cultural Cooks takes pride in
transitioning newly-arrived migrants and refugees towards
mainstream employment in hospitality. As a social enterprise,
all profits are re-invested back into the enterprise to provide
more training and employment opportunities.
"Cultural Cooks delivers healthy lunches to school communities
following the guidelines of the state government healthy eating
initiative 'Kids Go for your life'. Operating in close consultation
with Nutrition Australia and the Victorian School Canteen
Association, AMES has been delivering its School Healthy Eating
Program for over three years.
"Cultural Cooks is currently servicing Noble Park Primary
School and Noble Park Language School, and would like to extend
services to at least one more neighbouring school. We are
able to deliver lunches Monday to Friday or are happy to do
one or two days per week.
"Cultural Cooks staff are trained and accredited with
Certificate II and III in Hospitality under the supervision
of a qualified chef. The team is passionate about providing
catering with a difference and pride themselves on excellent
service.
"Cultural Cooks Staff:
"Mai arrived in 2003 as a migrant from Vietnam.
She completed her Certificate II in Hospitality in 2007. Mai
relishes the opportunity to work with Cultural Cooks and provide
an income for herself.
"Tua arrived from the Cook Islands 14 years ago.
She completed her Certificate III in Hospitality operations
in 2007.Tua enjoys learning how to make food from around the
world but looks forward to injecting some Cook Islander flavour
into the menu!
"Jasmin is our Australian born, fully trained
chef with over 8 years of commercial catering experience.
Working with Cultural Cooks combines her passion for cooking
and her desire to create opportunities for disadvantaged individuals.
Jasmine values working with such a dynamic team.
"Napasorn is our new trainee doing traineeship
in Cert II in Hospitality Kitchen Operations. She is from
Thailand, and is a passionate cook willing to develop her
skills to different cultural cuisines.
"Kadi is a volunteer who arrived in 2007 as a
refugee from Sierra Leone. She completed her Certificate II
in Hospitality in 2008. Kadi enjoys the social networking
opportunities almost as much as cooking!
"Marie Lisa just signed the traineeship contract
a few weeks ago. She is doing traineeship in Cert II in Hospitality
Kitchen Operations. She emigrated from France, and wants to
develop her hospitality skills to be able to get a job in
Australia.
"The AMES Social Enterprise Network operates school
based enterprises delivering healthy lunches to school communities."
- Nada Mocevic, Enterprise Manager
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