What We Do

Teaching & Training Programmes

Helping those with disabilities to live with confidence and resilience, teaching and training them how to grow food and cook.

Then - if they choose, we work with them to develop sustainable, employable skills, investing in their learning by offering transition employment.

We are a Living Wage Enterprise!

Healthy Lunches In Schools

Ka Ora, Ka Ako - We’re a provider of the Governments Healthy Lunches in Schools Programme. We work through our wider community supporting tamariki and addressing the social issues of food insecurity.

We offer a range of delicious and affordable lunch options delivered to tamariki across Murihiku. If you would like your school to offer our kai, please let us know.

Commercial Catering Services

From on-site catered functions at our venue for up to 120 guests to delivered catering for all occaisions.

We're more than happy to arrange catering to suit all your wants and needs.

About Us

Koha Kai is a registered Charity (Registration #CC54490), established in 2015.   We began as a small group of people, many of whom had various disabilities.  We were seeking a way to support the development of skills that would empower people to become independent and autonomous within their own lives.  We chose to position our teaching programme within schools, so that through our learning, we would be able to offer an affordable and valued lunch service to the children of those school communities.  In learning how to grow kai and cook hearty, wholesome meals to support the nutritional needs of children, of elderly and disabled people, we began to understand that all people can contribute valued and valuable services to our community.

Our commitment to sustainability and Papatuanuku mean we source recyclable, compostable and biodegradable packaging. Food scraps nurture our market gardens to produce the compost we need. We have year round production of vegetables, thus supporting our garden to plate concept.

Koha Kai works together with local suppliers first and engages with local charities and businesses to support our Murihiku economy.

We continue to work alongside our community with a number of groups to ensure each person is able to access fresh vegetables from Community Gardens around not only Waihopai but Murihiku also. We believe it is important for everyone to have “food security’ and are always seeking ways in which to enable our hapori to feel empowered by what they are able to achieve.

 

Since 2014

104 +

Koha Kai Trainees

Have been through our Teaching Programmes - expanding their knowledge and employable skills - continuing to gain velocity and growth

34

People Employed

Delivering Lunches, Community Kai, Catering and Teaching
One Third of our staff have come through our training programmes

8 + 2

Schools Onboard

Through Ka Ora Ka Ako and within our Local Community

3,500 +

Meals Provided during Lockdown

Gaining velocity as we grow our Community Meals supporting Elderly and Disabled

What our Graduates say:

“Working with Koha Kai has had such an impact on us. We’ve built our confidence, received sincere encouragement and practical support, and now feel ready to take every opportunity and overcome hurdles.”

“I don’t like buying too many vegies from the shop, because they don’t seem real.  I like real food.  I like going to the garden, preparing your garden, getting your kai, plating it up, that’s what I learnt from the Koha Kai team.”