While MCEC is once again open to events, as a major contributor to the Victorian economy, the venue has also been exploring products and business model. As a wholesale food project, the Home Chef Series was able to continue throughout Melbourne’s recent snap lockdown as an essential service, showing the valuable contribution the partnership is making to the community.
As well as the economic benefit, MCEC is also supporting the community by providing spaces for local businesses such as Flinders + Co. to work during these uncertain times.
Flinders + Co’s Home Chef Series includes slow-roasted Wagyu beef with BBQ glaze, roaring forties lamb shoulder with green goddess dressing, free-range pork belly with granny smith apple sauce and Braised grass-fed beef cheeks with red wine jus. The products are now on the shelves at 35 Coles supermarkets across Victoria and NSW.
James Madden, Managing Director Flinders + Co. said “COVID has presented immense challenges to many businesses in certain sectors. Both Flinders + Co and MCEC have been heavily impacted. The Home Chef Series is a great example of how an open and collaborative brainstorming of ideas can lead to innovations that we never would have thought possible prior to the pandemic.”
“The idea of bringing a restaurant-quality product into a supermarket is not new – but COVID has been a catalyst that has spurred our two separate organizations on to innovate, and to turn the idea into a reality.”
