The History of Blak Cede
We often get asked questions such as “Where did the idea of Blak Cede come from?” and “How did Blak Cede start?”; however, the answer is not as straightforward as people expect. The truth is, it has been a long and arduous journey, full of hurdles, transformation and perseverance. Yet, the principle of why Blak Cede exists has always remained the same which is to keep our community healthy through culture.
Dead or Deadly (2009 to 2017)
The history of Blak Cede cannot be told without noting its origins within Waminda’s Dead or Deadly program. Beginning in 2009, Dead or Deadly has morphed and grown into a successful program with four main components; (1) physical activity and exercise, (2) nutrition, (3) smoking cessation and (4) chronic disease prevention and management. Women access the program for a range of reasons including social inclusion, weight loss, parole and bail conditions, chronic disease management, exercise and nutritional information.
During the Dead or Deadly sessions, women would share similar stories of struggling with impractical diets or exercising a lot without seeing any change. So, during the cook-ups, the team started exploring healthy and accessible foods that would keep women full without having to eat large amounts of processed carbohydrates like bread. In fact, this is where the original idea of our popular Deadly Medley granola was created, as a delicious and nutritious alternative. These sessions embodied a holistic approach to health and well-being and demonstrated the importance of cooking together to strengthen connection to community and support for one another. This was not without its own set of challenges though. Because of the holistic nature of the program, it was really hard to get Dead or Deadly funded. Therefore, the idea was born for Waminda to have its own unique program that was centred around food, nutrition, community and culture.
Nyully Tucker (2017 to 2019)
Tying in with the needs identified by women in the Dead or Deadly program about nutrition and healthy foods, Waminda established its social enterprise development project in May 2017, known then as Nyully Tucker. This project was set up to provide employment pathways for Aboriginal women by forming a catering service honouring fundamental cultural values. In the beginning, Nyully Tucker started with three employees and grew its presence through word-of-mouth. The women worked incredibly hard to provide nutritious and delicious food for internal Waminda program support, external commercial catering and community fundraising events using ingredients grown at our traditional garden located in Terera. Some people might also remember the $5 feeds for Waminda staff to promote discussions about health and nutrition at work and home. Since then, we have stayed true to our vision of creating new employment opportunities for other Aboriginal women who seek a culturally safe workplace that respects and understands their commitments to family and community whilst offering training and further education pathways. After only just over 12 months of operation, Nyully Tucker employed seven staff and was successfully operating a pop-up café/canteen-based service, providing food for the construction staff and contractors working on the expansion of the South Coast Correctional Centre through a two-year partnership with Lendlease.
Nyully Cooking Alive/Blak Sheep (2019 to 2021)
After the partnership with Lendlease concluded, Nyully Cooking Alive extended our vision of making nourishing food with local ingredients for Aboriginal women and their families to thrive as part of Waminda’s holistic well-being services. The Nyully kitchen, situated at Yila Nunawar Gunyah, hosted targeted yarning circles alongside the Dead or Deadly program, preparing and delivering meals for staff and community who were working to reduce their diabetes, chronic disease, health risks and wanting to fuel their body with nourishing food. This approach, in collaboration with Dead or Deadly, saw significant improvements and reversed the effects of Type 2 diabetes for community members. Also, working with Bulwul Balaang improved the knowledge and skills of young women, as well as providing them with wholesome meals during their program sessions.
During COVID-19, Nyully Cooking Alive continued to prepare and cook over 3,000 meals that were distributed throughout the community to families in isolation. These services were in partnership with Two Good Co; a social enterprise that creates high-quality food and products, employment opportunities and professional development education for women who have lived experience of homelessness, domestic violence and complex trauma. Two Good Co was instrumental in helping us foresee the direction of Nyully Cooking Alive by giving advice on funding avenues, broadening our network, promoting us and supporting us economically through the sale and distribution of our products in central Sydney. We also used to buy a lot of their frozen meals for Waminda’s DRAW program (Diabetes Remission for Aboriginal Women). We still maintain a positive relationship with the team at Two Good Co and recognise their contributions to getting us to where we are today.
During this time, the Nyully kitchen was approved and upgraded as a certified hospitality kitchen, which meant we could expand our social enterprise, commence external catering and continue using fresh, locally sourced ingredients to contribute to the wellness and healing of our communities.
Also in 2020, we were approached by Mickey Kovari who offered a range of resources and services to build our business capacity. He also happened to be one of the founding directors of Native Foodways, a social enterprise dedicated to strengthening the native food system in a way that is regenerative, culturally respectful and mutually beneficial. Thus, a partnership with Native Foodways opened up an array of opportunities to meet and discuss with local property title owners about supporting Nyully Cooking Alive and our third social enterprise initiative, Blak Sheep. It was part of establishing Blak Sheep where our team trialled and tested several food products with intentions to venture into retail and wholesale streams. Whilst the business name ‘Blak Sheep’ seemed clever at the time, when it came to trademarking the name it just didn’t seem to represent the staunchness of what we trying to achieve in terms of reclamation, truth-telling and self-determination; hence the name Blak Cede was composed.
Blak Cede (2021 to pre-cafe)
In April 2021, Waminda executives attended the Nowra leg of Change Fest, which aimed to bring together representatives from community organisations and members from surrounding affluent communities to a workshop that discussed collaborative solutions that address systemic challenges. It was at this event that JJ and Richard from Winderong Farm approached the Waminda executives to ask what could be done to drive substantive change and create meaningful connections. After visiting their property located in Kangaroo Valley, a valuable partnership with Winderong Farm blossomed whereby Waminda had the opportunity to grow and harvest traditional bush foods on Country with a vision of developing a nursery.
Blak Cede saw significant development in its first 12 months, with the renting of a warehouse space in South Nowra for wider-scale production of products. We purchased an industrial-size packing machine that continues to aid the mass production of Blak Cede products. Blak Cede started working towards the launch of its e-commerce store and aspired to have the warehouse space fully functioning in product development, distributing to local and national stores, highlighting the significance and vital importance of having more Aboriginal-owned and led enterprises.
However, there was a deliberate decision to hold off launching the online store at that time when an opportunity to open a cafe was presented to us; a chance to secure a space that was too good to pass. For a long time, there were conversations about doing pop-ups, a coffee van and an eatery at Waminda’s Gudjaga Gunyahlamia Birth Centre. We had always talked about the idea of a cafe and how amazing it would be to have somewhere in the centre of town but we weren’t looking for a cafe location, until…our good friend Amit Patel, the owner of The Cake Store offered us to purchase his business and move into the shop located at 39a Kinghorne Street Nowra. We knew that it would be a viable business decision and the security of a council-owned building meant a long-term investment for an establishment.
To take Blak Cede to the next level, Blak Cede partnered with Silent Cofounders to rebrand and relaunch the enterprise. They spent a significant amount of time with Waminda leadership looking at the whole business plan to redevelop our strategic direction and solidify our purpose. It was also recommended by Silent Cofounders that we work with Waanyi and Kalkadoon woman Keisha Leon who leads Cause/Affect; a multidisciplinary creative studio. In collaboration with our team, Keisha created a new set of graphic design elements that drew inspiration from references in bold cultural critique, and standing bold and staunch in Blak Cede’s values and identity. The original artwork ‘Majestic Awakenings’ by Michelle Ashby from Jerrinja was woven into the brand, with respect to its original design and story.
It was necessary to increase staffing dramatically before the cafe opened so in February 2024 we hosted an Employment Information Night where Aboriginal women from community who were interested in working for Blak Cede could come and have a yarn with existing staff about the program and see what positions were available. This session was a great success and the team quickly grew to 20 staff members before the cafe had even opened. We anticipated a busy launch so it was important to provide the staff with enough training and education so they felt confident once the cafe doors opened to the public. Angie Prendergast-Sceats, owner of Angie’s Food in Kangaroo Valley provided incredible mentorship for our kitchen staff and worked quite closely with the team to design and engineer a menu that privileges Aboriginal knowledge systems. Also, Tony and Monique from the Kangaroo Valley General Store provided essential training to our front-of-house Blak Cede staff.
In terms of further education pathways, Waminda supports the aspirations of any staff member to grow their formal education portfolio. For example, Shaylee Meehan who is now a Blak Cede senior staff member and products manager, started her journey at Waminda in 2020 through a trainee program that supported her to complete a Cert III in Business via Kiama Community College. We encourage all our staff to complete their Food Safety Certificate through TAFE NSW and pursue any other training courses that are relevant to their role, especially our baristas. Other than formal training, most of our staff gained rich educational experience through knowledge-sharing opportunities such as with Native Foodways, Booderee National Park and Sydney Botanic Gardens whereby they brought down native bees for our team to complete a Beehive course.
Blak Cede (once the cafe opened)
On Friday 19th April 2024, Blak Cede Gunyah cafe and shop officially opened its doors to the community and we were blown away by the immense love and support shown by so many people, both Koori and non-Koori. Immediately we knew the space wasn’t big enough, so only four weeks later we secured the shop next door to expand both the kitchen preparation space and seating area for customers. It took a while but we received the Complying Development Certificate in November with anticipation that the renovations would be completed before the end of the year. This expansion will not only double our seating capacity and create a more efficient retail space for us to sell merchandise and products but also allow hosting more events at night. Along with the recommencement of catering services, attending market stalls at community events, centring Kareela Ngura traditional garden as the cultural hub feeding the cafe, and finally launching the online store, the growth of Blak Cede has been tremendous and it’s really coming together, to what we envisioned it to be. Therefore, it is important to continue supporting Blak Cede staff so they don’t feel too overwhelmed from the rapid growth and to develop a formula for ongoing training.
The growth of Blak Cede is where it is today, thanks to the ongoing support from the wider community and philanthropic funding. The biggest hurdle is that it costs a lot of money, at least twice as much as a normal business because of the social enterprise component in terms of the training and investing more in extra staff. All our staff are either casual, part-time or full-time employees of Waminda and we have had young Koori girls complete their high school work experience with us too. Getting it funded and keeping it supported as a social and cultural enterprise has been an ongoing challenge. With additional funds raised, Blak Cede can strive to provide ongoing pathways and employment for local Koori women in our cafe, e-commerce space, traditional foods garden and farms and continue producing our delicious Blak Cede products. Expanding our catering services and product lines is part of our vision, along with advertising globally and developing firm foundations that will allow us to create a safe space for practising culture through holistically sharing knowledge and wellness.
