Where I will talk about all the ways you can make money as a vegan chef.

There are so many ways, it is hugely exciting to share this with you.

Acknowledgement to Country

I acknowledge the Midginbil people of the Bundjalung Nation as the Custodians of the Murwillumbah area where I live and support people with their health through food.
I pay my respects to the Midginbil Elders across time and wish to express my appreciation for your continued custodianship despite the injustices your community has faced. I have deep appreciation for the way you provide a harmonious balance between feeding the community and providing environmental conservation.
Always was and always will be Aboriginal Land. Jingi Wala.

About me 

I have been vegan for 10 years and vegetarian for 29 years before that.

I am a trained primary school teacher and taught in schools and a juvenile detention centre for 13 years.

I have a postgraduate certificate in nutrition.

I ran a vegan catering business for 12 years.

I operated a vegan cooking school for 10 years.

In total I have had my vegan food related business for 17 years and I plan to stay doing this for the rest of my working life. 

I am passionate about helping others to eat healthier and educating people on how to make healthy food choices 

I love running the vegan chef training, where people go on and create their own epic vegan businesses.

Ways to make money as a vegan chef 

Start out as a hobby. 

Making food for friends for their 

- weekly meals

- parties and gatherings

- children’s birthday parties

- holidays or vacations

- for their work contributions 

- for their bring-a-plate contributions

- meal trains for newborn babies or when someone has had an accident or is grieving. Not everyone can cook, so you could offer to cook for people who want to contribute to the train.

- Making food for charity fundraisers and school fundraisers. 

- Preparing food for charity or profit events, such as concerts and events at halls and venues in your town or city.

- Making food for any workshops you attend yourself, so you can fund the cost of your own workshop (I started doing this in my own business).

- Making food for the Greens campaign or Animal Justice Party and their events. 

This way you get known and people will start to hear about you. You can have a business card and an Instagram page to refer people to.

When you start your business as a hobby, you don’t have to give up your day job, and you don’t have to worry about your business being your sole income . 

Work for someone else.

In an established business 

- café

- restaurant

- catering business

- at a day care centre (some places want people who can cater for different dietary requirements)

- on cruise ships (in the dietary requirement departments).

Create your own vegan business 

(that is a brick and mortar business – has a venue attached)

- café or restaurant, (this is the business that you will need to invest some money into, especially if you are starting from scratch or you are buying an established business. You will need to get food licences and D.A. approval etc., (from councils). 

You can buy an established business 

or create your own café or restaurant.

or you could find a café that wants to offer pop-up dinners and you could go in 

two nights a week for example. 

- Start a food truck or food stall for markets, events and street parties 

- A bed and breakfast 

- A retreat centre. 

For these businesses to really show good profits, you need to commit for a long time. You cannot quit after a couple of years. You will bring in money to cover your expenses and pay your mortgage etc., but to see bigger profits, you need to be in the business for the long haul. You need to be following a real passion. Then you will see the financial, community and soul filling benefits.

Catering 

You can cater for a wide range of things; 

- events 

- weddings

- retreats

- workshops

- gatherings 

- family holidays

- workplaces that hold functions and have no idea how to cater for dietary requirements

- work functions 

- pop-ups – some venues have pop-up possibilities – for example, Coorabel Hall has a different caterer in every night, selling food, (this is a bit different to the other catering jobs as you don’t always know how many people will be attending, but you can always use a prepaid booking system)

- events like the Olympics, or sports events, where there is more emphasis on vegan food 

- at expos.

Private chef 

You can privately chef for 

- families

- individuals who do not have time to cook 

- work places 

- busy mums and dads 

- for NDIS clients, you can help them cook to be more independent or go in as a support worker and cook with them or for them

- on yachts and super yachts.

Meal delivery service

You can create meals to deliver to individuals or organisations.

You can create meals to sell in cafes or shops. 

You can create meals for people to come and pick up from a venue.

Products 

You can make products to sell to supermarkets, online, other food providers, to hotels, cafes and restaurants.

For example;

Sauces 

Dehydrated meals for camping 

Dips 

Cheeses

Meals

Cakes 

Chocolates

Pasta

Pickles

Burgers

Sauerkraut

Tempeh

Jams

The possibilities are only limited by your imagination! 

You can specialise in event cake-baking 

You can offer picnic hampers at tourist venues

You could have a sustainable make-your-own-meals product, where you have the food all chopped up for them and a recipe card.

Food gift packs and hampers.

Education 

 - Start up a business consulting chefs, on how to make sensational vegan food to put on their menus

- health department and education department, on getting healthy vegan food choices on menus and in the syllabus 

- start your own cooking classes. Ask doctors, medical centres, gyms, markets, restaurants and wellness centres if you can run events where you can do cooking demonstrations or classes

- teach people how to stock up their fridge and pantries in order to cook well 

- teach people how to cook plant based food for their dietary requirements 

- hold team building cooking classes 

Start a food blog, write a cook book or be a recipe creator

It is harder to make your whole living from this, but some people do. It is a way to leverage, and if you do it properly you can get a very good following.

You can approach other authors and write and develop recipes to go into their books. For example, the heart foundation, diabetes Australia or whichever country you are in, or the Low FODMAP and SIBO diets etc. 

Work in specialised areas 

For example; 

creating food, recipes, meal plans for pregnancy, newborn mamas, lactation, injury recovery, autoimmune diseases, cancer recovery, etc. 

How to become a vegan chef 

The Vegan Chef Training 

I run the vegan chef training each year.

Since last year and moving forward, it is an online program, so it is more accessible to more people.

If you want to hone your skills and become a fabulous vegan chef, who can create food that tastes sensational, as well as ensure it is fully balanced nutritionally 

- so people are really turned on to vegan food 

because 

- they feel full 

- satisfied 

- and that they are not missing out on any nutrients. 

Then the vegan chef training is a fabulous place to start.

What some of the graduate chefs have done or are doing now

Opened cafes - Boneless in Bermagui, Garden Eats in Dwellingup WA, Angie’s Spot in Townsville.

Worked for famous vegan restaurants - Smith and Daughters in Melbourne

Cooking for loved ones, helping them overcome health issues

Set up a coaching business for people with eating disorders 

Running cooking workshops and nutrition sessions in her local gym

Catering on yoga and meditation retreats 

Making tempeh to sell at the local markets

Running a market stall, selling breakfast and lunch snacks 
 
Private cheffing 

Published a cookbook and sold over 3000 cookbooks in 2 years 

Creating a product to help people cook well when travelling.

There are so many paths you can follow when you graduate from the Vegan Chef Training, because the skills, techniques, and processes you learn can be applied anywhere.

Here’s what you can expect to take away from our training: 

·     Exceptional knife skills

·     Developed a style of presenting food that is appealing to others to eat

·     Skills to develop recipes to meet all dietary requirements

·     Ability to plan menus and recipes

·     Food substitutions for meat products and the confidence to ensure all the essential nutrients are in the food and recipes you create

·     Put systems in place to set up your business

·     Skills and understanding of how to set up a commercial kitchen

·     Understand how to maintain a hygienic kitchen, following food hygiene standards

·     Be able to plan menus that will support client’s health and well-being, when following a vegan diet

·     Be able to design a product and set up systems to distribute your product.            

You can finish the vegan chef training, not only with fantastic chef skills, but also the skill set to begin setting up your own business, in whatever business you choose. 

The modules 

Vegan Foundation Cooking Course 

Raw Cuisine 

Ayurvedic Cuisine 

Macrobiotics and Wholefoods 

Fermentation 

Dietary Requirements 

Menu Planning 

Food Photography 

Faux foods 

Establishing a Business. 

Format 

18 x 3.5 hour sessions 

online via zoom 

Live, with me 

Group size is small 

Shopping lists, syllabuses and recipes sent to you digitally 

All sessions recorded

Next course starts on the 1st August. 

Pricing 

$6200 up front payment 

$6600 payment plan 6 x $1100 monthly payments

Pricing includes gst. 

We can book in a chat to see if it the right fit for you.