AN UPDATE FROM OUR TABLE
After eight years of bringing people together through food, The Welcome Table has closed its commercial catering operations and Chef Training program.
Since 2018, we've used food to create opportunities for people seeking asylum and refugees to build skills, confidence, connections and pathways towards employment.
OUR TABLE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT MORE THAN FOOD.
The Welcome Table, by House of Welcome, was created around a simple idea: that food can be a powerful way to bring people together and create opportunities to participate, contribute and belong.
At the heart of our work was our Chef Training program, which combined paid, hands-on kitchen experience with accredited training and practical support to help people seeking asylum and refugees build skills, confidence and pathways towards employment.
Alongside this, food gave us a way to create connections — with workplaces, organisations and the wider community — and opportunities for people to share their skills, cultures and contribution.
While our Chef Training and commercial catering operations have now concluded, the experience, impact and learning from eight years of this work remain — and offer valuable insight into how food can create connection, confidence and opportunity for people seeking asylum and refugees.
Eight years of doing this work has reinforced that pathways to employment and participation are about more than technical skills. Confidence, connection and opportunities to contribute matter too.
Food can create common ground
Cooking and eating together gives people a natural way to meet, share skills and culture, and contribute as equals.
Confidence grows through participation
Real opportunities to learn, work and contribute help people build confidence, capability and a stronger sense of belonging.
Connection can create opportunity
Relationships beyond our immediate circles can open access to new people, workplaces, information and opportunities.
What began in 2018 with a borrowed kitchen, a Head Chef and four client cooks grew into eight years of training, employment pathways, shared food and connection.
Client cooks have participated in our Chef Training program
24
75%
of participants have found employment after training
TBC
14,985
additional whole-of-program impact measure
Meals prepared in
FY26
“I’ve gained so much confidence from being here. I’ve learned to be patient - Abbey taught me that not everything will be perfect the first time. I’ve also learned to be more professional and to support other trainees as they learn.”
FATIMAH*
*name has been changed
“I felt very supported and enjoyed working with other trainees and meeting new people. Afterwards I was so happy to find a job in busy, welcoming kitchen.”
ANA
NONE OF THIS HAPPENED ALONE.
The Welcome Table was built by many hands — our trainees and graduates, chefs and team, customers, partners, funders, councils, suppliers and supporters.
Together, they helped create opportunities for people seeking asylum and refugees to contribute their skills, experience and culture — and showed what becomes possible when people are welcomed to participate as equals.