February 27th, 2026Cooking up help for region’s young people

Cooked Initiatives is expanding its hospitality program helping local and vulnerable youth with new vans and menus.

The program, established in 2023, started food van operations as a youth training program offering affordable food in the Hepburn Shire with its base of operations in the front yard of the Daylesford Masonic Hall in Vincent Street.
Established by Pathway Essentials, a Daylesford support organisation that provides services for vulnerable young people, the vans also attend markets and festivals, providing a safe and supportive space for participants to develop their hospitality skills
Director Vladimir Keca, with over 20 years’ experience in teaching, social work and community services working extensively with youth to improve educational outcomes and personal wellbeing, is excited by what’s on offer this year.
“The program has been successful and is growing. We will be relaunching the Cooked Food website in March with our new vans and menu and we are now doing the Daylesford Sunday Market and the Creswick Market every third Saturday.
“It has grown from one van to several, and we also have a music studio. We will also be holding a series of alcohol-free DJ sessions at the masonic hall during the March long weekend.”
These type of programs with their therapeutic approach are vital for young people aged from eight to 25, who may otherwise fall through the cracks within the standard social and educational systems.
Many of the participants have complex support needs, trauma histories, extensive care teams and behavioural issues and are in great need of schemes such as Cooked.
To manage this, Cooked has more than 30 staff in various roles from clinical and outreach support to hospitality trainers. They are also supported within a network of social support bodies such as Berry Street Child and Family Services, Child and Family Services, Youth Justice and the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
“I have spent my adult life working in educational and community settings as an outreach teacher, it’s been my calling,” Vlad says. “I have seen what works and what doesn’t and for many of these kids, especially for boys, the education settings didn’t fit them and they just couldn’t succeed in this system.
“The most important part of the training here is to have these kids out in the community. And often community support of the program and the kids involved is simply through basic interaction.”
The success stories, from ongoing employment to confidence building, coming out of this program gives Vlad real satisfaction.
“To know that we have created positive outcomes, that helps me feel, when I wake up in the morning, that I can do this.
“Because it is a relentless task with a lot of complexity. But we care about our people first and foremost and, small steps or big steps, every bit of progress is a success story.”

Above, Cooked program trainer Rose Foulds with director Vladimir Keca

Words & image: Tony Sawrey