FoodLab

Asma makes ma’amoul and other Palestinian specialities for markets and cafes around Sydney.

World Refugee Day celebrates the strength and courage of people forced to flee their home countries due to war, violence or persecution. We celebrate Asma’s story as she rebuilds as a new food business owner, and we also celebrate all other refugees in the FoodLab family and beyond who are building beautiful businesses.

📸👤 Ethan Smart
📸🥠 Jasper Avenue | Content Agency

Hello, we’re the new FoodLab.

On the one hand, we’ve changed. More graduates, more businesses launched, more people walking out of our kitchen as independent owners, employers, and community leaders in their own right.

On the other hand, we haven’t, and this new look reflects who we actually are. Proudly multicultural, handmade, full of life and movement and entrepreneurship. Built around one belief that will never change: talented cooks who get structure, tools, and a fair shot will thrive.

To the amazing team who understood exactly what we were reaching for and gave it shape. Thank you to brandkind — to the brandkind team, Irma, Amanda, Runjhun and Renita. Thank to so many in the community who worked with us and gave their input to shape this.

A new FoodLab era starts here.

Lately at FoodLab…

Most food businesses price from their costs. The ones that last price from the value their customer feels.

There's a difference between them, and once you see it you can't unsee it.

Example: two stalls at the same market, selling similar food. One scrapes by at $12. The other comfortably charges $18 and has a queue down the lane. Both have the same ingredients and same hours, but with very different results.

The difference isn't the food. It's what they're charging for.
We wrote about this in detail - including a full worked costing example, the mistake almost every food business owner makes, and the one question you can ask a real customer this week that will change how you think about your price forever.

How to Price Food Products in Australia (Start With Your Customer) How to price food products in Australia: a simple method that starts with your customer, a worked market stall example, and the one question to ask this week.

In the food industry, the margins are tight, the hours are long, and it can seem very difficult to grow. That's exactly why the most important ingredient in any food business is the person at the centre of it — you.

So we put together the 7 books we think every food business owner should read. The ones we come back to again and again - the ones that teach the skills that we genuinely believe in as a team here: seeing waste, building systems, leading people, and flow.

We've written up why each one matters, the order to read them in, and where to find the free and audiobook versions. We invite you to add your favourites to the list so we can all grow together!

Have a read here 👇

7 Best Books Every Food Business Owner Should Read (2026) The 7 books we give every food, café and restaurant owner in our Sydney training program - on efficient kitchens, systems, people, and staying sane. Most have audiobooks.

In 1945, Jessie Street was the only woman in the room when the United Nations was founded - and she made sure women’s equal rights were written into the Charter.

She spent her life standing up for people who were overlooked.

Today, the Jessie Street Trust chose FoodLab as their grant recipient for 2026. We’re shortening our program to 12 weeks, which means participants need stronger resources to keep building once the program ends. We’ll use this grant to do that, with a brand new digital business toolkit that equips them to price, plan and grow, so they have what they need to run their businesses well, not just cook well.

92% of FoodLab participants are women. Refugee, migrant, First Nations, women-led - building food businesses in one of the hardest industries in this country.

That’s the work, and we’re honoured to carry Jessie’s legacy forward.

💚

“The kitchen is my happy place.”

This is Luul.

She started with us nearly two years ago, cleaning the kitchen. Today she is the backbone of FoodLab - working as one of our chefs, and teaching our entrepreneurs how to use the equipment and scale their dishes in our kitchen.

Luul is from Eritrea and came here 13 years ago. She speaks Tigrinya, a language spoken by more than seven million people. She’s a mum of three, and she loves being in the kitchen.

Her famous injera makes everyone smile.

A kitchen is just a room with equipment in it. But Luul’s steadiness, her beautiful heart, her instinct to help the people around her — that is what makes this place what it is.

Two years in just a few week. We’re so lucky to have her.

💚

Annnnd we’re growing again!

Come and work for a team that is serving food that is changing lives every day.
Come and be a part of real change in Sydney.
Come and keep this kitchen as the cleanest in Sydney (really) and deliver delicious food 💚

🔗 in bio to apply.
🥮: (1) .ryazanova (2)
📸: .avenue