Fifteen restaurant and its associated charity was a concept originally created by British chef Jamie Oliver in London in 2002 when he realised he could use his skills and energy to offer disadvantaged and marginalised young people with tough backgrounds an opportunity to train to be chefs.
Jamie Oliver founded the original Fifteen restaurant in London and put young people at its heart. Since 2002 two further restaurants opened in Amsterdam and Cornwall. Melbourne, Australia was the fourth restaurant in the growing Fifteen ‘family'.
On 6 June 2008, the offices of Fifteen Melbourne was burned in a fire lit by its former manager Kevin Stralow. Stralow caused over (AUD)$1 million of damage to the premises to hide thefts which funded a gambling habit. He was found guilty and is currently awaiting sentence.
It reopened as The Kitchen Cat in January 2011. Its role as a commercial restaurant that trains disadvantaged youth will remain, but the newly coined Stepping Stone Foundation - formerly Fifteen Foundation (Australia) - will involve other Melbourne restaurants.
Famous quotes containing the word fifteen:
“You watched and you saw what happened and in the accumulation of episodes you saw the pattern: Daddy ruled the roost, called the shots, made the money, made the decisions, so you signed up on his side, and fifteen years later when the women’s movement came along with its incendiary manifestos telling you to avoid marriage and motherhood, it was as if somebody put a match to a pile of dry kindling.”
—Anne Taylor Fleming (20th century)