Launched in 2012, the OzHarvest CEO CookOff is an annual fundraising event where corporate and business leaders are paired with top Aussie chefs such as Peter Gilmore and Neil Perry, to cook gourmet meals for those in need. The event has a goal of creating five million meals, and then some.
In a high-pressure kitchen serving the community, the executives learn from the best, not just about food and how it is cooked, but also how many vulnerable people are in need of food and nutrition.
Being in the kitchen and on the frontline of food insecurity shows anyone involved how critical the situation really is; one in three Australian households (3.5 million) experience food insecurity, meaning they skip meals, reduce portion sizes, or go entire days without food due to a lack of money.
As the demand for food relief grows, the event has an even deeper urgency. Speaking with OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn AO, we explore the strategic hurdles of scaling such a big event, how impactful it can be for business leaders, and what those involved learn throughout the process.
What were the biggest strategic hurdles in scaling OzHarvest CEO CookOff into the national event it is today?
In 2012, we only had one event in Sydney based on a simple idea: create something that brings competitive business leaders together for a good cause. We already had great support from leading chefs, so it was a matter of signing up business leaders and letting the event do the rest. The goal was filling one event, and that seemed really big at the time.
After years of doing one big event in Sydney and then a hiatus due to the pandemic, we knew we needed to create opportunities across the country for leaders to experience the same magic. The biggest strategic hurdle was scaling nationally without losing the humanity, intimacy and magic that makes it unique. This is not an event where you simply buy a ticket or a table. Every leader has to commit, fundraise, use their influence and truly participate.
We also had to create a consistent national model while recognising that every city was different, with its own chefs, venues, corporate networks and community needs. That required enormous collaboration, discipline and belief across the entire organisation.
Importantly, we had to shift CEO CookOff from being seen as a wonderful fundraising event to a powerful leadership movement. The real achievement has been proving that you can build something bold, national and commercially powerful without it losing its soul.
With demand for food relief climbing sharply, how has OzHarvest’s operational and supply chain strategy changed?
Our Frontline Report this year revealed some shocking numbers. While the charities we support are helping more than 350,000 people every month, one in five people are being turned away as there is not enough food to meet demand. Behind every person turning up to receive food relief, there’s often so many more – a family to feed, elderly neighbours. It’s heartbreaking.
Our operations are now focused on improving efficiency and increasing the volume of food we can rescue to help meet the growing need. We’ve currently supported 1,500 organisations and there are 1,600 more on the waiting list.
We’re piloting new technology to match surplus food at source with local charities in real-time, which will help address regional and outer-metro areas that our yellow vans can’t reach. Cost-of-living pressure has pushed people who never needed food relief before through the doors of our charity partners, and our job is to make sure the food arrives before that need turns into someone going without.
The honest answer is that the demand curve is out-running the supply of surplus food we can rescue. Which is exactly why events like CEO CookOff matter more than ever, as every dollar raised converts to two meals on the ground.
Do you notice a pattern in how different business leaders handle losing their title in the kitchen? Who adapts fastest?
I’d say it’s not always the leaders you’d expect. The CEOs of some of the biggest organisations, who have huge remits, are often the ones who feel very nervous about their skills (or lack of) in the kitchen.
The ones who adapt fastest are the leaders who’ve done something hard and unfamiliar before, and remember what it felt like to be a beginner. The leaders who can laugh at themselves quickly, and are happy to ask for direction (instead of being in charge) become good sous chefs with great results.
That’s really the whole point of the night. Watching a titan of the industry get gently bossed around while carrying a tray of risotto is one of the fastest humility resets I know.
How are you using the Black Apron Club — leaders who’ve raised over $10,000 — to drive change beyond the night itself?
The Black Apron Club is a great way to amp up the competitive side of any business leader. They can garner great support from their networks and organisations to achieve incredible fundraising results. Black aprons are very visible that night and a nice way to acknowledge their huge efforts.
What can corporate leaders take from the zero-hierarchy, high-pressure teamwork of the kitchen when they return to their offices?
The kitchen strips away every artificial marker of authority and replaces it with one honest question: Are you actually useful to the person next to you right now? It doesn’t matter that you’re the CFO when the garlic is about to burn. You just get on with it.
That’s the lesson I want leaders to carry back: Hierarchy is often a substitute for trust, not a source of it. In the kitchen, trust gets built in twenty minutes because everyone is relying on each other to deliver in a short space of time.
If leaders bring one thing home, I’d want it to be this: Create more moments where your team has to be genuinely interdependent, not just organised. Shared pressure builds real trust faster than any offsite or values workshop. I’ve watched it happen in a kitchen a thousand times.
For leaders who want to move from awareness to action on food security, what’s the first step they can take today?
The quickest and most effective way to start is with your own food waste. Look at your own kitchen, your own supply chain, your own event catering. Look at it honestly, and at what you’re throwing away. Most leaders are stunned by the number once they actually measure it. That number is your business case.
To help feed people in need, don’t just do it as a one-off. Get your whole workplace involved in understanding the issue, why it matters now and how they can help. There are many ways to support organisations helping on the frontline – either by running food drives, through workplace giving, by coming to OzHarvest for our corporate volunteering program ‘Cooking for a Cause’ and of course we’re always looking for like-minded partners who share our vision of creating a world free of hunger and waste.
The organisations that end up making the biggest difference are often the ones that did something small and real this week and then didn’t stop.
OzHarvest CEO CookOff is a great entry point for any leader looking to lead with purpose and create change for their local community.
Learn more about the CEO cookoff here.
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