Cafe hiding in old Sydney building fuelled by Woolworths and OzHarvest
At first glance, it doesn’t look like much, just a run down fire station. But inside, there’s a popular operation that exposes a huge problem.
Inside an old fire station in Sydney’s inner city, the building is filled with people who are eagerly awaiting a much-needed delivery.
From the outside of the building, you’d have no idea it is home to the Have A Chat Cafe, a place where locals who are struggling can swing by for a barista level coffee, access to legal aid and housing support, as well as arts and craft sessions and food deliveries.
When I enter the room, there are people sat in every chair and standing in every corner, from all different walks of life.
In an instant, everyone turned and looked at me, as I was armed with the package filled with food and vegetables from OzHarvest, a food rescue organisation.
Most weeks, I write about the dire state of Australia’s cost of living crisis. This is the first time I have seen the reality.
It’s no secret that Australians are finding it harder than ever to put — and keep — food on the table.
Foodbank’s 2025 Hunger Report, released in November, revealed that 20 per cent of Australians experienced “severe food insecurity” in the last financial year.
This is defined as skipping meals or whole days of eating due to an inability to afford food. It’s a frankly depressing realisation.
However Woolworths is doing its part to help ease this burden with its Christmas Appeal with OzHarvest.
From December 3 until December 26, every 50 cents donated will help OzHarvest deliver a meal. People can donate by rounding up their shop to the nearest dollar at self check-outs, purchasing a 50 cent token at the register, or buying Woolworths Dreamy Choc Chip Santa Cookies.
Tokens have been in store since November, and already thousands of meals have been provided. Woolworths said it will match all donations on December 6 and 7.
Brad O’Connor, Head of Hunger Relief at Woolworths, said: “We know the holidays can be stressful for families struggling to manage their budgets.
“For us, Christmas is about getting food to everyone, and we are committed to ensuring joy and nourishment are available in all communities.
“Our customers are wonderfully generous, and their support is essential to fund the urgent work OzHarvest does in feeding Aussies in need this Christmas.”
Meanwhile Ronni Kahn AO, OzHarvest’s founder, said the reality is many are struggling to put food on the table at the moment.
“We’re working closely with our national partner Woolworths to collect fresh, nutritious food from more than 550 stores, supporting 1500 frontline charities that are struggling to keep up with rising demand,” Ms Kahn said.
“OzHarvest’s Christmas appeal is critical, as every dollar helps deliver two meals to someone in need, and we’re incredibly grateful to the Woolworths team and their customers for helping us feed more people than ever before.”
Woolworths and OzHarvest were kind enough to invite me along to experience what an average day on the job looks like.
I was paired with Phil, who has been an OzHarvest driver for close to 10 years after decades in finance. He talks me through the fact we are doing a “mini run” — just two stores — so I can get an understanding of it from start to finish.
We head out on the truck and hit two stores in Marrickville — the Metro and the regular store. Inside the cool room there is a stack of stuff waiting for us. It’s items that the store isn’t able to sell — either near its use by date or the box has been damaged.
Part of Phil’s job is quality control, so he makes sure that nothing is off or mouldy. There are lot of fruit and vegetables with about a quarter not making the cut.
There was also chicken and pantry staples in the mix — a collection of name and home brand items.
As we leave, Phil explained to me that OzHarvest is in constant contact with stores in order to make sure that what people who rely on the organisation are receiving high quality items — not scraps, as they deserve better than that.
He explained that after the weekend is usually the most fruitful in terms of a haul.
That paid off at the larger Woolworths store, where there was something like 10 crates waiting for us. Phil clearly takes his job seriously, meticulously looking over every item.
“If I wouldn’t eat it, why would I expect someone else to,” he said to me.
The store’s manager also is incredibly proud of the work she has done to get the store to a point where nothing is turned away. She said there is always room for improvement but the store was 99 per cent of the way there.
His hard work — and that of the dedicated Woolworths staff — clearly pays off when he arrive at Have A Chat. People mill about, eager to see what they will have to cook with this week.
Laurie Murphy is the co-ordinator of the cafe on Tuesdays, saying the whole point of the organisation was to create a safe place for people thanks to Homes NSW and the Department of Housing.
It’s been operating for 22 years.
“On a Tuesday we have a cafe operating — and it’s a classy cafe. We do really good coffee, I was a professional barista,” he told news.com.au.
“People can come here and have a great coffee and a cake for $2. We’ve created a safe space. It’s very inclusive.”
For over a decade, every Tuesday, OzHarvest makes a delivery. The Have a Chat team then pop it in bags for everyone, with Mr Murphy saying everyone was “blessed” by the experience.
“They just love and we love it. Everyone that is involved with this community centre are volunteers — there is no one paid at all — and so we want to give back to the community,” he said.
“This is one way that we can do that.”
He said the organisation loved OzHarvest — and Woolworths — and Homes NSW for helping them do that.
“It’s an incredible thing to be doing. These days everyone is doing it tough. I was just speaking to one of my volunteers and they were say all this really good food they bought before — they can’t afford to now,” he said.
“And yet here, through OzHarvest and Woolworths, our community gets the opportunity to have and indulge in items they can no longer afford.”
Originally published as Cafe hiding in old Sydney building fuelled by Woolworths and OzHarvest
