Following a historic vote, a new nationally based peak body, Australian Culinary Federation (ACF), will now represent Australia’s professional chefs, cooks, apprentices and culinary students.

Previously the ACF was made up of separate and largely autonomous state/territory chapters, which shared a common ACF branding.

“Following a nationwide ballot of all ACF members, there was unanimous support to replace these chapters with a single unified national body to better represent member interests.”

Following a nationwide ballot of all ACF members, there was unanimous support to replace these chapters with a single unified national body to better represent member interests.

“Australia’s chefs will now have a single national voice and a single nationally-based membership organisation to represent them,” says ACF National President Karen Doyle.

“This will ensure consistency of message in our nationwide advocacy and will deliver even better outcomes for our members.

“It also recognises the well-known fact that chefs may move across Australia and beyond in the course of their careers. Their ACF membership will stay with them and will eliminate duplicated administrative and procedures that existed separately in each state/territory.”

In its history, the ACF has already delivered many outcomes for its members including centralised membership management, establishing a head office with paid employee, and establishing young chef’s clubs in each chapter.

“We look forward to building on this proud heritage and delivering even better results for our members across Australia,” says ACF Secretary/General Manager Deb Foreman.

“The main challenge at present impacting our members, and the hospitality industry in general, is obviously COVID,” Karen Doyle adds.

“A single national ACF voice is absolutely essential to effectively represent the needs of our members in these challenging times.”