After collapsing six months ago, gourmet meal delivery platform Providoor relaunches today with a new team and concept for diners in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Melbourne chef Shane Delia, founder of Maha and its casual offshoots, launched Providoor in 2020 amid the COVID-19 lockdowns, delivering finish-at-home meal kits from leading restaurants including Supernormal, Monopole and Restaurant Dan Arnold.

The business went into external administration in April with debts of more than $6.3 million, including almost $4.4 million in unused gift vouchers. At the time, Delia told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald: “The only reason it happened is because we lost the confidence of an investor, and they wanted to pull their money out.”

The brand has since been acquired by Sam Benjamin, founder and managing director of Seventh Street Ventures, a Sydney venture capital firm with investments in music publisher Rolling Stone Australia and delivery-only food business Kaspa.

In response to questions about unused gift vouchers, Benjamin said existing vouchers would not be immediately honoured. He instead invited voucher-holders to get in touch. “In due time we’ll understand how to best serve everybody … We’ll find a way to make it right,” he said.

A former customer of the platform, Benjamin described Providoor as “a true innovator and servant of the industry”. But he hasn’t been afraid to take it in a slightly different direction.

For now, Providoor will deliver dishes created (but not cooked) by celebrity chefs and food personalities, including lasagne from Italian-Australian TV presenter Silvia Colloca, a mushroom burger from Matt Preston and white-chocolate cheesecake from Anna Polyviou. Other chefs on the roster include Manu Feildel, George Calombaris and Luke Nguyen.

In time, restaurants and more chefs will be added, with all dishes prepared in-house by the Providoor team.

There are now two arms to the platform: Providoor Frozen, delivering heat-at-home meals in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and Providoor Local, offering hot, ready-to-eat dishes in Sydney only to start, where the business has four production kitchens.

“You’ll be able to order three or four different dishes from chefs you’ve seen on TV,” says Benjamin.

Dishes that reheat well will be available through Providoor Frozen, while those that are best freshly prepared will be reserved for Providoor Local.

Through the ghost kitchens he runs under the Kaspa brand, plus extensive travel and research, Benjamin has spent the last three years road-testing processes, equipment and delivery times (“10 minutes is the sweet spot”) to hone the meal-delivery experience for customers.

By choosing a “more approachable” price point than the original Providoor, he hopes the new iteration will be just as suited to weeknight dining as it is special occasions. “For frozen, the most expensive [item] is probably $40, and it will feed two,” he says.

Providoor Frozen orders will arrive the next day in Sydney if a customer orders before midday, while there is a three-day lead time in Melbourne and Brisbane. Sydneysiders can place Providoor Local orders via the UberEats app or through Providoor’s website.

providoor.com.au