Training for cooks and chefs
State and Territory Hubs bring together cooks and chefs working in aged care kitchens to learn practical skills, share ideas and build confidence.
Participants learn from a Maggie Beer Foundation Chef Trainer and from each other.
The training focuses on the everyday challenges cooks and chefs face in aged care kitchens — helping teams improve flavour, nutrition and the dining experience for residents.
How does it work?
-
This is an online course, run over three weeks.
Each session takes 2 ½ hours.
-
Maximum 20 cooks & chefs per class
-
Each session is interactive. You will be asked to join in with group discussions.
-
We have designed coursework activities that you can do in your workplace.
Participants join three live online sessions and complete short activities in their workplace between sessions.
Sessions are interactive and participants are encouraged to share ideas, ask questions and learn from others working in aged care kitchens.
Participants commit to:
- Attending all three training sessions
- Completing short workplace learning activities each week
- Trying new ideas and techniques in their kitchen
- Sharing experiences and learning with other participants.
Homes support their staff by providing time to attend the sessions and complete coursework.
Course Content
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Flavour and aroma | Texture modified diets | Menu planning |
| Protein across the day | Food presentation | Resident engagement |
| Cooking techniques | Regenerating meals | Kitchen teamwork |
| Dining environment |
Table
- Week 1
- Flavour and aroma
- Week 2
- Texture modified diets
- Week 3
- Menu planning
- Week 1
- Protein across the day
- Week 2
- Food presentation
- Week 3
- Resident engagement
- Week 1
- Cooking techniques
- Week 2
- Regenerating meals
- Week 3
- Kitchen teamwork
- Week 1
- Week 2
- Dining environment
- Week 3
Hubs coming up
Open Hubs
Open hubs bring together cooks and chefs from aged care homes across the sector.
Many cooks and chefs in aged care work in small teams, so hubs provide a valuable opportunity to connect with others in the sector.
Participants can:
- learn from Maggie Beer Foundation Chef Trainers
- connect with peers working in other kitchens
- share ideas and experiences.
Open hubs are coming soon
Provider Hubs
Do you have 20 or more cooks and chefs across your organisation? We can deliver a Provider Hub for your team.
Provider hubs allow cooks and chefs from across your homes to:
- learn together
- share ideas and solutions
- build stronger connections across kitchens.
Contact us to arrange a hub for your organisation.
Optional practical cooking classes
For participants who have completed the virtual hub training, limited practical cooking classes may be available.
These sessions provide an opportunity to:
- practice techniques demonstrated during the course
- cook alongside Foundation chefs
- deepen practical cooking skills.
Practical classes are offered in limited locations and places are subject to availability.
A Taste of Home – coming soon!
A Taste of Home is a specialised hub short course designed to help cooks and chefs better meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse residents.
As Australia’s aged care population becomes more diverse, many residents have strong cultural connections to the food they grew up with. Food can provide comfort, familiarity and a sense of identity.
This course helps kitchen teams build the skills and confidence to create meals that feel familiar and meaningful for residents from different cultural backgrounds.
Participants explore practical approaches to:
- understanding cultural food preferences
- incorporating culturally diverse dishes into menus
- adapting recipes for aged care kitchens
- maintaining flavour and authenticity while meeting nutrition and texture requirements
- engaging residents and families in menu planning.
The course follows the same three-week hub format and includes practical workplace activities.
Hear from participants
Partnering with the Maggie Beer Foundation, it's really helped us focus on improvement as an organisation.
96% of past participants said they felt confident they could make changes to the food served in their aged care home because of this training.
Fabulous hosts. Very engaging and knowledgeable. Safe space to share and learn from each other. I would thoroughly recommend this program for anyone working in Aged care especially working around food.