Chef’s Pantry ? I have heard the name but what do they do…

    Chef’s Pantry is a fresh vegetable processing and food distribution business situated in Braeside, Victoria, Australia: 30 minutes from the CBD. The company is a family run business, established in 1988 in Melbourne, Victoria We are a Proud Australian Processor and Manufacturer for the past 28 years. We work closely with our growers and suppliers to ensure quality products are delivered year round and supply over 90 tonnes of fresh products every week. Wherever possible we look to introduce and support sustainable and environmentally friendly practices. We are HACCP certified. Chefs Pantry supplies over 1,000 foodservice companies, restaurants, hotels, cafes, fast food outlets, QSR’s, food manufacturers, franchises and selected retail clients with a range of products that reduce labour, reduce wastage, improve efficiencies and control costs. We also offer products to the public. Chefs Pantry runs our own fleet of vehicles delivering to most parts of Victoria and send products interstate and to export markets daily. We offer over 8,000 fresh, frozen and dry food products and can source food products on request. One of our strengths is our Gluten Free and Vegetarian range, (as well a fructose free, lactose free, dairy free range ) of over 1,200 products (downloads section). Our company has a contract manufacturing division and we currently make a numbers of soups, stocks, jus, sauces, salads, vegetable burgers, rostis, meals and marinades, pastes and dressings. We also act as a central kitchen or commissary for a number of restaurants, franchises and retail groups.

    Chefs Pantry has five divisions

    • Fresh food processing,
    • Value added food manufacturing,
    • Marketing + distribution of fresh and frozen food products,
    • Contract manufacturing
    • Hospitality supplies

    Chefs Pantry offers a unique service into the hospitality industry. Approximately half of the business consists of processing fresh vegetables. The remainder consists of preparing fresh salads, soups, sauces, mash, antipasto products, pasta products, and distribution of our innovative and unique range of ready to use food products. The facility is a purpose built, fully registered food processing premises, and is licensed to export certain food products. The facility can process up to 250 tones of food products each week.

    Our Services Include

    The processing of vegetables and associated products to your specific needs,

    • The mixing and blending of vegetables and salad products,
    • A unique and evolving range of ready to use food products,
    • A quick response time (JIT – Just in Time management program)
    • Products can be packed to suit your batch size,
    • Contract made products,
    • Central kitchen facilities

    Benefits of Chef’s Pantry Fresh Products

    • Guaranteed fresh products,
    • One stop shop for a huge range of hard to find ingredients,
    • Consistent & clearly defined food costs,
    • 100% usable fresh product,
    • Improved consistency,
    • No spoilt product due to excess stocks,
    • Reduced labour costs,
    • Reduced liability costs,
    • Reduced knife injury,
    • Better utilisation of coolroom space,

    Fresh Cut Vegetable Shelf Life

    Harvested vegetables are alive, and continue to respire, grow and develop even after processing. Hence, great care is taken to supply all products in the best and freshest condition possible. Deterioration of prepared vegetable products is reduced by adhering to careful handling procedures, timely, efficient processing, and JIT delivery to the customer.

    All deliveries are scheduled too meet the requirements of clients. Having said that, consideration must be given to the fact that the fresh produce lines have a short shelf life. The goods must be harvested, chilled, delivered to the facility, pre-cooled, processed, packed, post-cooled, and delivered to the customer within 48-60 hours.

    Oxidation is the main cause for vegetables becoming unusable. There are a number of innovations currently being used by Chef’s Pantry to reduce the incidence of oxidation. These include natural vegetable washes (citric acids, chlorine dioxide etc.), specialized packaging, and fast chilling of products to increase shelf life.

    Shelf life varies from product to product; however, most fresh cut products have a 5-7 day shelf life. If the cool chain is correctly maintained the vegetable’s shelf life can be increased to up to 12 days. Chefs Pantry’s production team process and deliver all fresh cut vegetable products on the day they are manufactured. We do not work from a stock base and receive your order and prepare goods against each order.

    Quality Assurance

    Chefs Pantry’s Quality Assurance Program starts through a partnership with our suppliers to ensure raw materials meet agreed specifications. All produce is processed in accordance with tight quality standards and in compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices. Through a comprehensive training program, each employee takes ownership of their individual product checks and monitoring procedures. Chefs Pantry’s HACCP plan and supporting prerequisite programs ensures food safety integrates all disciplines of the plant starting with purchasing, continuing through receiving, quality assurance, production, sanitation, packaging, cold storage and delivery of the finished product.

    Commitment to Customers

    Chefs Pantry is out to set the industry standard in customer satisfaction through effective: communication – identifying and understanding your needs to come to an agreement on what we will do to fulfil them, performance – delivering what we promise, follow-up – keeping in touch to determine if we are meeting the agreed upon expectations, responsiveness – being flexible to your changing needs and going beyond policy when appropriate, and evaluation – conducting customer surveys to measure your satisfaction. Our commitment to you is not only superior fresh-cut produce and food products, but also as partners to provide solutions to problems that will save you time and money.

    A Word to Our End User Partners

    Our pricing philosophy will help you keep a handle on your food and labour costs. We take the peaks and troughs out of the constantly moving produce prices so you will know your costs at any given time or season. This will allow you to make accurate projections on your end. Fresh-cut produce will benefit your labour situation, too. Our buying power allows us to purchase in cost-effective quantities and our state of the art machinery allows us to process very efficiently. Our pricing reflects this and will save you money.

    Ordering

    Orders should be placed by 3 pm the day before. Certain lines require that customers place orders with 48 hours notice.

    Phone: 03 95804477

    Fax: 03 9580 3900

    After: Hours 0418 377 608

    Email: orders@chefspantry.com.au

    Delivery Information

    To ensure your delivery please place orders prior to 3pm Monday to Friday

    Chefs Pantry delivers from Monday to Friday

    CBD Melbourne and Suburbs deliveries are Monday to Friday

    Country + Interstate deliveries can vary depending on area. Please contact our sales team delivery details:

    Chef’s Dilemma

    The foodservice industry is facing many challenges. Skilled labour shortage and increased pressure on food costs are some of the most frequent problems kitchens face. The chef’s dilemma is how to juggle rising food costs plus rising labour costs and still maintain a quality and consistent product to your customers.

    Chefs have traditionally increased their labour to reduce their food costs and conversely raised their food costs to reduce their labour. This is the labour food playoff. Chefs have tended to work harder or longer hours, however, this is a short-term solution resulting in ‘burn out’ from long hours.

    Until now there have been few suppliers that have tried to address these issues simultaneously.

    Chefs Pantry has developed a product range and ready to use food program that can assist and reduce both labour and food costs. This program has been rolled out to many clients and proven to be very effective in combating labour, food costs and wastage. Benchmarks that have been achieved, coupled with well-costed menus, include 27- 30% food costs and between 16 – 18% labour (kitchen), and it should be noted that there is room to improve on these figures.

    Our chefs have developed an extensive range of products to:

    • meet the quality requirements of kitchens
    • reduce waste
    • address labour shortages
    • maintain consistency
    • improve labour utilization
    • reduce stress loads

    We have looked at menus from many hotels (both pubs + 5 star), restaurants and developed a unique range of products that covers most kitchens requirements.

    The main focus has been on the quality and consistency of products and as such products supplied to 5 star hotels are supplied to all our customers. We do not differentiate between clients; all products must meet the highest standard.

    The complete product range can be seen on the rest of the website –

    Products are continuously being added to the range and we listen to our client’s requirements both to improve our existing products and add to the range we offer.

    The food industry is going through rapid change, reliable and quality labour is harder to find, pressure is on the kitchen to perform more efficiently without compromising on quality, and food costs are consistently rising. Long and hard hours are being put in to address the costs issue. With Chef’s Pantry products, you will have a clear picture of the true costs of your menu.