FAQs

This is a truly unique event where restaurants, fundraisers and charities come together to make a huge impact in the lives of people struggling to put food on the table.

On multiple dates from the 15th – 29th May, restaurants are opening their venues for CookOff participants to cook alongside them, along with fellow fundraisers, to create delicious meals that will be served to guests from the charities we support. Participants get the opportunity to cook alongside top chefs – learning from the best, and to make meals for people in need.

After creating delicious meals, participants serve and dine with guests, learning more about their struggles, making connections and creating a truly memorable night for our guests. For some, this will be the first time they experience a dignified dining experience.

In the lead up to each CookOff event, we ask CookOff fundraisers to get behind our cause and help us raise money for people in need! This year we have a goal of raising $2.5million, that’s 5 million meals for people across the country who are doing it tough.

Head to our ‘The Restaurants’ page and search for a restaurant, location and date that works for you. There are a number of different CookOff events taking place from 15th – 29th May - simply pick a date and venue that works for you!

Once you’ve chosen your restaurant, select ‘Join Us’ to complete your registration. During this process you’ll create a personal fundraising page that you can share with your networks to help you collect donations and reach your fundraising goal.

When your registration is complete, it’s time to get fundraising ahead of the event! You can do this by sharing what you’re doing with your network on your social media channels, organising a bake off, fundraising event or silent auction. We have lots of ideas to help you fundraise in our toolkit here. You can also join one of our Food Rescue Drivers for the day to see our daily food rescue operations first hand, volunteer at our Free Supermarket in Waterloo or visit our Refettorio.

On the day of your event, you'll be warmly welcomed at the restaurant by your chef host, joining the rest of your team! From there, you’ll be briefed on the meal you'll help create, guided through the preparation of the dish by the kitchen team – a master class like no other.

When our special guests arrive, you’ll plate up and serve the meals, then taking a seat to enjoy alongside the guests. You'll share a meal, stories, make new friends and hear firsthand how your fundraising makes a real impact.

The event is a great opportunity to continue your fundraising efforts, sharing with your networks what you’re doing live from the venue! Fundraising is open until 31st May so there’s plenty of time to reach your goal post event.

There isn’t one central location for CookOff, instead you’ll be cooking in the restaurant of your choosing! We have some of the best restaurants in Australia taking part across multiple dates so this is your chance to learn from some of the top chefs in the country and make meals for people in need. This is also the first time in CookOff history that we’ve given YOU the chance to choose what restaurant you’d like to cook in. You can check out the list of restaurants here.

There are multiple CookOff events taking place between 15th – 29th May. Restaurants will be opening their venues for one day for fundraisers to cook in and special guests from the charities we support to attend and enjoy a delicious meal made with love. You can choose a restaurant and date that works best for you to cook in!

For each participate, fundraising takes place from the day you sign up until 31st May! You can find a list of our restaurants here.

The menu is specially crafted by the chefs from participating restaurants. All ingredients will be provided on the day on the event, so all you have to do is turn up, rolling up your sleeves, cook and fundraise!

You'll be warmly welcomed at the restaurant by your chef host, joining the rest of your team! From there, you’ll be briefed on the meal you'll help create, guided through the preparation of the dish by the kitchen team – a master class like no other.

When our special guests arrive, you’ll plate up and serve the meals, then taking a seat to enjoy alongside the guests. You'll share a meal, stories, make new friends and hear firsthand how your fundraising makes a real impact.

As soon as you’ve completed the registration process you can start fundraising. You can continue to fundraise all the way up until 31st May – no matter what date you’ve chosen to cook in a restaurant!

Your donations and money raised will help us:

· Deliver fresh, nourishing food to 1,900 charities across Australia who support people in need. These charities have reported a 73% increase in demand over the past 6 months.

· Ensure people aren't making impossible choices about where their money goes. At the moment, millions of vulnerable Australians are choosing between food or other necessities like rent, medication and school needs.

· Keep perfectly good produce out of landfill and feeding hungry bellies instead. Food waste feeds climate change! We collect food destined for landfill from 3,000 food donors across the country, saving it from ending up in the bin and instead delivering it to charities who support people in need.

Yes! In the lead up to your event we’ll let you know which charity will be attending the restaurant you’re cooking in.

If you know someone who you think would like to take part you can ‘Nominate A Mate’ here. You can also donate to fundraisers here to help them reach their goal, or make a direct donation to OzHarvest here.

Yes. Your $1,500 registration fee is fully tax deductible and goes towards your fundraising tally. Please note, the $1,000 early bird fee is valid until 17th February only.

Whether you’re a community champion, business leader or keen fundraiser anyone based in VIC, NSW, QLD, SA or WA can take part in Community CookOff! To help us achieve our goal of raising $2.5 million we ask individuals to set a fundraising goal of $10,000 per person whether you sign up individually or as a team!

Absolutely! Our aim is to raise $2.5 million dollars, allowing us to deliver 5 million meals! Your fundraising literally keeps the wheels turning and allows us to continue to Nourish our Country.

We encourage both individuals and teams to sign up. You can register as a team up to 5 people. However, if you have a team of more than 5, get in touch! Starting with a Team Captain who creates the team page, each team member then sets up their own fundraising page, joins the existing team and collects donations to help reach your overall team target. If you’re fundraising for a business, you can also get your staff involved in your fundraising journey. We will assign a fundraising coach to ensure you are set up for success and find meaningful touchpoints to engage your organisation with our purpose.

We encourage you to register as a team of up to 5! However, if you have less or more people in your team please get in touch and we can share our small and large team options with you.

Our aim is to raise $2.5million - that’s 5 million meals for people in need. To help us achieve this we ask individuals to set a fundraising goal of $10,000 whether you’ve sign up individually or as a team!

Yes, team members can participate in different states and venues.

Yes, you can select the restaurant you’d like to cook in during the registration process.