Food harvest

Today, I discovered OzHarvest organisation (based in Australia), who 'collect and distribute excess food at no cost to the food donor or the recipient charity.' What an amazing idea! I've often thought about it's a good act for commercial food outlet to donate their excess food to people in need of food, and I know there are organisations that organize soup kitchen for the homeless etc, but combine the two - you have it!  I quote the webiste "OzHarvest believes that good food should not go to waste. In fact, by distributing it to those in need, we turn excess food into a resource and save thousands of kilograms of food from being dumped as landfill each year." I love it! They have rescued 15 million meals from going to landfills.

Here are some more info (copied and pasted from 3 different pages) on this organisation taken from their website:

"They offer to take food from:
Cafe
Supermarket
Caterer
Function centre manager
Tourist operator
Hotelier
Food wholesaler
Retailer of food
Restaurant owner
Deli owner or
Other food provider

OzHarvest provides food to over 260 charities across Sydney and Wollongong,55 in Newcastle, 47 in Adelaide and 22 in Brisbane. These charities provide support to many individuals in need, including:
children and youth at risk who may have been abused or have nowhere else to go
single parents with no support
older men and women who have trouble making ends meet
those who are homeless
marginalised indigenous men, women and children
refugees looking for a better life
those who are going through drug and alcohol rehabilitation
women who are escaping domestic violence; and
families with low incomes who need help to get by.

It's safe to donate.
Members of the community who donate food to charities are protected from civil liability.
Food donors in New South Wales are protected from civil liability under Part 8A of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW).
In general, this Act protects food donors from civil liability where food is donated for a charitable purpose with the intention that the consumer will not have to pay for the food, and where the food was safe to consume at the time of donation."

So, anyone keen to start a KL chapter?

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Homemade desserts

The baking supplies shop that I frequent seems to be more packed with customers recently, some with multiple full baskets. I’m probably one of only few who grabbed a few items only, for personal/family use. I notice that majority of them seems to be home-based entrepreneurs, judging by the big quantities being purchased. Quite a number are getting chocolate bars, moulds and boxes. I guess homemade chocolate business is blooming now. I wonder shortly, is the sales volume chipping at the conventional commercial chocolate market (say of Cadbury or even Ferrero Rocher), or is it a totally new demand? The homemade chocolate, with pretty packaging and decorations are usually meant for special occasions, celebration and gifts.

Image source credit to littleroseschoc.blogspot.com
Homemade cakes has been around since I’ve been aware of it, say 20 years ago, though in the absence of the internet, customers are mostly family and friends and perhaps, friends of friends. A little less than ten years ago, homemade cupcakes (and muffins) made its debut, at its peak probably some four five years ago. I started noticing homemade chocolates about two year-ish ago, and seems to be at its peak now. And now, I’m starting to see macaroons on offer. Traditional kuih has also been available, but somehow I don’t see that many being promoted online. I believe that one of the reasons is that there are less traditional kuih bakers/makers from the younger generation, hence the promotional method remains offline. This does not mean there is less demand for those, just a different way for customers to get them. It also means there’s an opportunity to market to the remaining customer who searches for traditional kuih providers online.

But I’ve never yet come across home-based entrepreneur offering doughnuts, fancy decorated doughnuts I mean (think Dunkin Donuts or Big Apple Donuts). Have you? Please share the website here. I wonder why that is. Baking and decorating doughnuts is surely as fun and creative as cupcakes – with all the possible combinations of fillings, glazings, icings, nuts, jams etc! I do believe there is demand, judging by the increasing numbers of commercial doughnut booths/shops.

Image source credit to shazerina.wordpress.com

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