“I’d always wanted a restaurant,” says Ronni Kahn, OzHarvest CEO and Founder. “I thought it’s just a beautiful public facing thing, how do we do this?” When it opens on February 24th, Refettorio OzHarvest Sydney, an “eating house” not a restaurant says Kahn, will make good on that vision; serving those in the community who are experiencing “food insecurity.”

A collaboration with Food for Soul the non-profit organization founded by chef Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore, it’s the 13th global Refettorio after projects in Europe, South and North America. “I met Massimo and it was like, ‘oh yeah, OK, we’ll do one.’ It just took a while to bring to life,” says Kahn.

Bottura, who is expected to visit later in the year, says that when he met Kahn in 2016, he knew OzHarvest was the perfect partner for the first Australian Refettorio. “We have the same passion, determination and goodwill which you need to get a project like this off the ground,” he says. “When people ask what a Refettorio is, I describe it as a cultural project that shares beauty and hospitality in a different way, where we treat our guests like we do at our restaurants. It’s a warm hug we give as guests are welcomed into a beautiful space with delicious food, and we say this is your place and we are here for you.”

Initially open for lunch Tuesday to Friday, around fifty diners each day will be drawn from the organisations supported by OzHarvest. Nationally that numbers around 1800, with up to 400 in Sydney. A vegetarian menu will utilise rescued produce, “perfectly good food that would otherwise have gone to landfill, maybe for cosmetic or for a whole lot of other reasons,” says Kahn.

She raves about the work of head chef Jez Wick, “from pickles to ferments, to the use of vegetables like I have never tasted,” says Kahn. “She made schnitzel from red capsicum, that was just extraordinary.” A zero-alcohol space, house made kombucha and shrubs will also feature on the menu.

Kahn tells me that the people they serve are in situations where this type of experience would be inaccessible to them. The space which features a hanging light “like a huge basket, representing harvest,” may be “chic, elegant and actually quite sophisticated,” but preview diners have described it as having “warmth and homeliness about it.” A place that “they feel safe.” Beyond providing food Kahn hopes it will “elevate their soul, their spirits, because it’s a beautiful space, with wonderful quality food. It’s a cultural experience.”

Service will be staffed by volunteers, a way Kahn says that people can get involved directly with the Refettorio. For those that don’t have the time or proximity there’s the choice to “pay it forward” and donate. “If somebody gave up a cup of coffee a month, we could deliver nine meals,” is Kahn’s simple equation.

An endeavor that has already involved over a hundred people, the building on Crown Street in Surry Hills was purchased by Just World Investments and has been promised for at least five years, Frost* Collective designed interiors, and the Goodman Foundation, OzHarvest’s longest standing partner, supplied start-up funding.

While most of the seats each day will be allocated, a table will be left for walk ins. It’s a “no judgement space” says Kahn, where trust and respect reign, where “no one will be asked questions.”

Food insecurity, when put it into a national context may surprise some. “Six million people at some point in the year need food support, in a country as rich and abundant as Australia. It’s horrifying,” says Kahn. Of the people OzHarvest serves “64 per cent have a job and a roof over their head,” she says. “But it doesn’t cover their medical expenses, fuel, their food, and they’re making choices every day as to what meal they skip in order to do something else.” Just one part of their demographic, another is “people who don’t have a roof over their head and who are requiring food every day.” It’s this spectrum that the first Refettorio on our shores will serve.

Once lunchtime service is “working beautifully,” Kahn says there’s plans to open at night, for community dinners and private bookings, allowing the space to be utilised and to help sustain the lunchtime service. And this is just the beginning for the Refettorio OzHarvest concept, Kahn revealing, “we’re planning to do one in Melbourne.” Watch this space, and in the meantime pay it forward.

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