Australia’s first social enterprise bakery, The Bread & Butter Project, has graduated its latest group of bakers. This year, fourteen refugees achieved accreditation.
The latest graduation brings the total of people The Bread & Butter Project has trained as professional artisan bakers in the last decade to nearly 80.
With the majority of graduates originating from Afghanistan and Ukraine and the remainder from Iraq, Iran, Rwanda and Tibet, the cohort’s countries of origin align with recent figures published by The UN Refugee Agency, which indicate Afghanistan (6.1 million) and Ukraine (5.9 million) rank second and third, behind Syria, as the countries with the highest population of global refugees, which totalled 36.4 million in mid-2023.
Trainees are recruited into The Bread & Butter Project’s program – often shortly after they arrive in Australia – where they receive hands-on training in the company’s Marrickville bakery and a TAFE Certificate II in Baking, as well as tutoring in English.
The Bread & Butter Project CEO Eva Rabanal said learning thee new skills while simultaneously working with other refugees helped the trainees navigate a new country.
“The end result is that the trainees and our team become like a de facto family, and these connections are always very clear during the graduation ceremony.
“We are now actively working to help our graduates find gainful employment, and we ask any bakeries or hospitality businesses seeking highly motivated and professional bakers to contact us, so that we can assist our graduates in securing suitable roles,” said Rabanal.
Dorna Jannesar, originally from Iran who received her official baker’s cap at the graduation event said her experience with the organisation has impacted her entire life.
“It’s hard for me to believe I’ve been with The Bread & Butter Project for more than a year, first as a trainee and now working as a full-time pastry baker.
“The team has been like a supportive family, and they have helped me to grow both my career and my language skills, as I build my new life in Australia,” said Jannesar.
As a social enterprise, The Bread & Butter Project operates as a commercial business, with 100 per cent of the company’s profits channelled into creating opportunity for refugees and asylum seekers.
