A recipe for success: the social enterprise helping underprivileged home cooks

Dodo Cheng Yiu-tung had been a social worker for six years when it dawned on him that there was more he could do for the grassroots community near the nursing home where he worked.

As a volunteer in Tin Shui Wai and Tung Chung doing community development work, he met many women who were extremely talented in the kitchen. However, they did not have a platform on which to share their work, so Cheng quit his job and decided to help them.

He founded Sharing Kitchen in April last year. Based on the idea of a shared economy, Cheng brought together 12 underprivileged women and six restaurants to create a new business aimed at helping them get a leg up in society. As home chefs, the women get free use of restaurant kitchens during off hours to cook up their creations to sell. Some of the products are incorporated into the existing menus of the restaurants, while others are sold at independent stalls set up at restaurant entrances.

As well as lobbying restaurants to allow the home chefs to use their facilities, Sharing Kitchen also arranges for the women to be trained by the restaurants’ professional chefs. For example, home chefs need to learn to use industrial kitchen equipment. The organisation also takes care of the behind-the-scenes work, such as contracts and insurance. Sharing Kitchen takes on the marketing and packaging side of the business too.

“The packaging needs to bring out a home feel, a home flavour. We worked with a designer for some time on this,” Cheng said.