Hong Kong community kitchens seek electronic way to find food donors

Community kitchens will be able to reach out to more needy people under a government initiative to set up an electronic platform that will help them find food donors and make their operations more efficient.

The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund Taskforce, set up two years ago with HK$500 million to help tackle poverty through innovative ideas, will allocate a "seven-digit" sum to the organisation with the best proposal to bring the platform into practice.

Community kitchens take food donations like fresh meat and vegetables from places such as markets and restaurants. They then cook meals in their own kitchens and distribute them to low-income people.

Patricia Lau, deputy head of the government's Efficiency Unit, which provides secretarial support to the task force, said one problem community kitchens often faced was their search for the nearest food donors.

Transporting donated food from Hong Kong Island to Sham Shui Po, for example, would incur a high transport cost.

"Through the platform, community kitchens will be able to find out that, for example, a hotel in this or that district is willing to donate 10 boxes of potatoes. Then nearby kitchens can pick them up," Lau said.