AUSTRALIA’S FIRST SOCIAL ENTERPRISE BAKERY
The Bread & Butter Project is Australia’s first social enterprise bakery, and since 2013, we have invested 100% of our profits into providing training and employment pathways for people seeking refuge and asylum, who aspire to become bakers.
This program has been shown to have lasting intergenerational impact, and helps boost our trainees’ prospects of successful resettlement and employment, while building a strong sense of belonging in the Australian community.
How our training program works
Our trainees undertake a 6 to 8 month traineeship, which includes on-the-job bakery training, TAFE accreditation, English-language tutoring and job readiness support. The Bread & Butter Project then supports trainees after graduation to secure employment with like-minded organisations who are passionate about creating a diverse and empowered workplace.
GOVERNANCE
The Bread & Butter Project is a public company with a voluntary board of directors. As a social enterprise, we operate as a commercial business, but at the same time we are also a registered charity with DGR status.
100% of our profits are channelled into creating opportunity and alleviating poverty.
Currently, bread and pastry sales fund 90% of our training and operation costs and donations fund the remaining 10%. We also rely on volunteers and pro bono assistance to help us achieve our goals.
OUR IMPACT
Since our launch in 2013, we have worked with trainees from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Sierra Leone, Congo, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Mongolia, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Fiji and Papua New Guinea
Almost all baker graduates since launch are sustainably employed and have been able to discontinue welfare support
Independent research in 2018 identified that 100% of offspring of graduates are in school, university or employed, demonstrating positive intergenerational impact.
HOW WE GOT STARTED
The Bread & Butter Project commenced in 2013, after renowned Sydney chef and baker Paul Allam and his wife Jessica Grynberg, visited a group of refugee women at an orphanage on the Thai-Burmese border. Paul and Jessica taught the women how to bake bread, helping to establish a social business that supports the women and the orphanage to this day, and in the process provided inspiration for The Bread & Butter Project.
Paul Allam and his business partner in the legendary Bourke Street Bakery, celebrated pastry chef and baker David McGuiness, acted on this inspiration by generously gifting what could have been a valuable wholesale business opportunity for them, plus their delicious recipes and many thousands of hours of support, to create The Bread & Butter Project.
In the years since, The Bread & Butter Project has become a thriving, independently run social enterprise that helps refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia.
MEET OUR BOARD AND FOUNDERS
Cindy is an experienced management consultant who was a Principal and then General Manager Aust/NZ for the Boston Consulting Group before co-founding the consulting firm, Cast, in 2010. She thrives on helping organisations achieve their boldest aspirations and has advised many large and mid-sized corporates as well as not-for-profit and public sector organisations. She is a part-owner of the fine dining restaurants Pendolino and La Rosa in Sydney’s Strand Arcade, and has an MBA from AGSM and Wharton School of Finance.
Paul has been a chef and baker for over twenty years. In 2004, along with David McGuiness, he established the highly acclaimed Bourke Street Bakery. He has always seen Bourke Street Bakery as more than a business and has nurtured its place as a community bakery. Paul is thrilled Bourke Street Bakery has been able to initiate something as exciting, bold and life-changing as The Bread & Butter Project.
Jane is a business development professional and lawyer who has worked with MinterEllison for 17 years with deep expertise in the government and health sectors as well as HR management and industrial relations. She is a founding member and champion of MinterEllison’s LGBTI network and passionately believes in the need to give people the opportunity to be fully alive in public and private. Jane was on the board of St Vincent’s College, Potts Point for 9 years and continues to be inspired by the mission of the Sisters of Charity in service to the poor.
Daniel was the Chief Executive Officer of JCA. He is a lawyer, working for 11 years as the general and corporate counsel at the Meriton Group, and also worked in development at the Ariadne Group. Prior to that Daniel worked at Freehills and spent a year on secondment at the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre. He has been a long-time volunteer at the Kingsford Legal Centre. Daniel has also held a range of positions on the boards of The Shalom Institute, The Hakoah Club and Emanuel Synagogue Building Committee.
Former CEO and now Board Member of The Bread & Butter Project, Peter has more than 25 years of CEO and senior executive experience with a track record in business turnarounds through effective strategy development leading to improved profitability. Peter’s experience extends across the building products, construction materials, home renovation, industrial and retail distribution, education and not-for-profit sectors, with former roles at Boral, B&D, Alesco, Blackwoods and Modern Star.
Willi is an experienced finance professional and retailer, having spent nearly 17 years at ALDI. Prior to leaving ALDI, he was the Group CFO and Company Secretary for the ALDI Australia Group. He currently holds positions as Board Member Brien Holden Foundation and Chair of the Audit and Compliance Committee. He is also a Member of the Audit and Compliance Committee at Brien Holden Vision Institute Limited.
Justin has over 25 years of food retail experience including in food production, owned and exclusive brand supply and retail operations, and is currently the Director of the Metro business within Woolworths. Woolworths has a strong track record with regards to inclusion and is a strong supporter of social enterprise suppliers. Justin’s role on the Board is to help unlock the many partnership opportunities that exist between Woolworths and The Bread & Butter Project while supporting the business direction and development.
Alfred is a respected researcher, teacher and community advocate. He is employed with Western Sydney University both as a lecturer of sociology for educators, and as a Senior Project Support Officer for Refugee, New and Emerging Communities programs. Alfred has extensive experience working with diverse communities and approaches life from a strength-based perspective as opposed to a deficit outlook.
Andrew is a seasoned communications professional with over two decades’ worth of communications experience, both in-house and on a consultant basis. As the Head of Content & Communications for Sydney-based marketing and PR agency Biased, Andrew brings wide-ranging proficiency in media, marketing and strategic communications to his role as a Board member, and has been the driving force behind The Bread & Butter Project’s public relations and marketing since 2019.
A veteran of the hospitality industry, David is a chef with a particular passion for pastry. He has always seen Bourke Street Bakery as more than a business and has nurtured its place as a community bakery. David is thrilled Bourke Street Bakery has been able to initiate something as exciting, bold and life-changing as The Bread & Butter Project.
Jessica is a researcher and writing and communications consultant. The majority of her career has been spent in international and local documentary and factual entertainment TV as a researcher, Associate and development producer.
Rachel is a food entrepreneur and former employment lawyer, now living in New York. After 15 years in the legal profession, working for Fairfax Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Rachel moved to the United States with her husband and family and is now pursuing her culinary career dreams by co-founding New York’s first sesame concept store, Seed + Mill. Rachel holds an Arts Law Degree from the University of Sydney (First Class Hons) and was one of the founding Directors of The Bread & Butter Project.
Sally has worked at the intersection of social entrepreneurship, business and philanthropy with the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE). Sally has also worked at Oxfam and has been a sustainability and communications consultant. She currently works as a senior advisor at The Westpac Foundation.