Cookaborough
Cookaborough is an Australian online marketplace connecting consumers with 100+ local cooks and food businesses offering ready-made meals, while also serving government-funded buyers through Support at Home and NDIS integrations across seven states and territories.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersMelbourne, Australia
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Cookaborough does
Cookaborough is a privately held Australian online marketplace, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Melbourne, that connects consumers with local cooks, commercial kitchens, butchers, caterers and restaurants offering ready-made meals for pre-order and delivery or pickup. The company operates cookaborough.com.au as a two-sided platform hosting 100+ partner food businesses across Victoria, NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory; each partner operates its own storefront with weekly rotating menus, allergen and ingredient disclosure, and individual pricing typically ranging from roughly $10 for sides and soups to $18–$24 for main meals and up to $55 for premium dishes. The platform also supports government-funded meal programs — Support at Home (SaH) for eligible senior Australians and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for self- or plan-managed participants — under a B2B2C model in which Cookaborough acts as intermediary between local food businesses and care providers, coordinating the 30% co-pay structure with SaH.
The core technology is a web-based marketplace supporting storefront management, pre-ordering windows, gift-card issuance and redemption, and billing coordination with care providers; the business generates revenue through commission/transaction fees on orders processed via the platform. Distribution is entirely online and domestic, with customer acquisition driven by SEO on cookaborough.com.au, email newsletters tied to follow-the-cook functionality, organic social, gift-card gifting, and referral partnerships with SaH care providers, NDIS plan managers and My Aged Care. The company employs 11–50 people, has no disclosed funding beyond a May 2021 seed round (Flying Fox Ventures, Possible Ventures), and runs an additional revenue-adjacent product in the form of digital gift cards available in $100, $150, $200 or custom denominations redeemable across all partner businesses.
Cookaborough firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Cookaborough
- Legal name
- Cookaborough
- Website
- https://cookaborough.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Cookaborough is an Australian online marketplace connecting consumers with 100+ local cooks and food businesses offering ready-made meals, while also serving government-funded buyers through Support at Home and NDIS integrations across seven states and territories.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Cookaborough industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Food Marketplace
- NAICS
- Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251), Food Service Contractors (72231)
- SIC
- Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Local Chef/Restaurant Meal Boxes & Marketplace Prepared Meals (CRAHAJAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Restaurant Meal & Prepared Food Delivery (CRAFAFAB), Prepared Meal Subscriptions (Chef-Prepared, Recurring) (CRAHAJAD)
Keywords
Where Cookaborough is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Melbourne
- HQ country
- Australia
- HQ region
- Oceania
Markets served
Cookaborough business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel, Others
Revenue model
- Platform Commission/Transaction Fees: Cookaborough charges food businesses a fee to list and sell their meals through the platform, taking a commission on transactions processed through cookaborough.com.au
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Marketplace pricing by individual food businesses |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Support at Home subsidized meals |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Cookaborough product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Cookaborough operates an online two-sided marketplace platform that connects over 100 local cooks, food businesses, commercial kitchens, butchers, caterers, and restaurants with consumers seeking ready-made meals. The platform enables pre-ordering through individual cook storefronts with weekly menus, home delivery or pickup, and also facilitates government-subsidized meal orders through Australian Support at Home (SaH) and NDIS programs, where eligible recipients pay only 30% of meal costs upfront.
Product overview
Cookaborough is a marketplace platform connecting customers with local cooks and food businesses across Australia. The platform enables pre-ordering of ready-made meals through a network of partner food businesses, with products and services including a core marketplace platform, gift cards, Support at Home (SaH) meal programs for eligible senior Australians, and NDIS meal services for participants with disabilities. The platform features numerous partner food businesses including FairFeed, Eastwoods @ Home, C Si Bon, Katering at Home, Local Kitchen Co, The Wanderlust Chefs, Marci, Compliments of the Chef, Poppet's Pantry, Pippa's Kitchen, Wattlebanks @ Home, Northside Grocer, An Di, Green Pantry Kitchen, Good 4U Meals, Lucas Brothers Butchers, and B&E Real Food, among many others across Australia.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Cookaborough Marketplace Platform An online two-sided marketplace platform that connects customers with over 100 local cooks, food businesses, and commercial kitchens across Australia to pre-order ready-made meals for delivery or pickup. Customers browse individual cook storefronts, view weekly rotating menus, allergen and dietary information, and place orders through cookaborough.com.au.
- Cookaborough Gift Cards Digital gift cards available in $100, $150, and $200 denominations (or custom amounts), redeemable with any food business on Cookaborough Australia-wide.
- Support at Home (SaH) Meal Program A meal-access program for senior Australians with Support at Home government funding. Eligible recipients pay only 30% of meal costs upfront, with the remaining 70% invoiced to Care Managers via Cookaborough's coordination with approved food businesses.
- NDIS Meal Services Meal services for NDIS participants (self-managed or plan-managed) that enable them to use their NDIS funding to purchase ready-made meals from approved local food businesses on the Cookaborough platform.
Companies that use Cookaborough
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Cookaborough technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Cookaborough partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Support at Home Care ProviderscoreCookaborough acts as intermediary connecting local food businesses with Support at Home care providers. Care providers approve eligible recipients who can then order from participating food businesses, with 70% of costs covered by government funding and customers paying only 30% upfront. Cookaborough manages the platform connection and billing coordination with care providers.
- NDIS Plan ManagerscoreCookaborough enables NDIS participants (self-managed or plan-managed) to use their government funding for ready-made meals from approved local food businesses on the platform.
- 100+ Local Food BusinessescoreOver 100 local cooks, food businesses, butchers, caterers, and restaurants list and sell their ready-made meals through the Cookaborough platform. Each operates their own storefront with individual menus, pricing, and delivery zones.
- My Aged CarecoreCookaborough refers potential Support at Home customers to My Aged Care for eligibility assessment and care needs determination.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Cookaborough competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- YouFoodz: Australian ready-made meal brand offering fresh, chilled pre-prepared meals direct to consumers. Comparable because it competes for the same dinner-occasion wallet in Australia and sells prepared meals in the same price range as Cookaborough's partner cooks.
- Lite n' Easy: Long-established Australian prepared meal subscription service focused on portion-controlled, ready-to-eat meals. Comparable because it serves the same Australian consumer use case of convenient, pre-made dinners and also caters to government-funded seniors and NDIS participants.
- Marley Spoon: Listed meal-kit delivery company operating in Australia. Comparable because it competes for the same household dinner occasions with chef-designed recipes and also offers ready-made meal options through its Dinnerly brand.
- Dinnerly: Value-positioned meal-kit service operated by Marley Spoon in Australia. Comparable because it competes head-to-head for budget-conscious households seeking convenient, ready-to-cook or ready-made dinners.
- My Foodie Box: Australian meal-kit and ready-made meal provider. Comparable because it operates in the same local prepared-meal category with chef-designed, fresh and frozen meal offerings across Australian geographies.
- Chefgood: Australian chef-prepared, ready-to-eat meal delivery service. Comparable because it sells freshly prepared, nutritionist-designed meals direct to consumers, overlapping with Cookaborough's partner cook offering.
- Goldbelly: US-based marketplace connecting consumers with artisan and chef-prepared foods shipped nationwide. Comparable as a curated food marketplace business model, though Cookaborough focuses on local delivery rather than national shipping.
- ezCater: US corporate catering marketplace connecting workplaces with local restaurants and caterers. Comparable because it operates a two-sided marketplace for prepared food transactions, similar in structure to Cookaborough's B2B2C meal program with care providers.
Broad incumbents
- HelloFresh: Global meal-kit leader with significant Australian operations. Comparable as a broad incumbent in the home meal replacement category, with scale advantages in supply chain, marketing, and brand recognition versus Cookaborough's marketplace.
Regional players
- Eativity: Australian online food marketplace aggregating local producers and prepared meal makers. Comparable because it uses a multi-seller marketplace model similar to Cookaborough's to surface local ready-made meals to Australian consumers.
Market position
Strengths1 record
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks1 record
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Cookaborough social profiles
Digital presenceCookaborough financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Cookaborough leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Cookaborough funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Cookaborough M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Cookaborough
What does Cookaborough do?
Cookaborough operates an online two-sided marketplace platform that connects over 100 local cooks, food businesses, commercial kitchens, butchers, caterers, and restaurants with consumers seeking ready-made meals. The platform enables pre-ordering through individual cook storefronts with weekly menus, home delivery or pickup, and also facilitates government-subsidized meal orders through Australian Support at Home (SaH) and NDIS programs, where eligible recipients pay only 30% of meal costs upfront.
Is Cookaborough a public or private company?
Cookaborough is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Cookaborough founded?
Cookaborough was founded in 2018. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Cookaborough based?
Cookaborough is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, in the Oceania region.
How does Cookaborough make money?
One revenue line is on record: platform Commission/Transaction Fees.
Who are Cookaborough's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are YouFoodz, Lite n' Easy, Marley Spoon, Dinnerly, My Foodie Box, Chefgood, Goldbelly and ezCater. HelloFresh is listed as a broad incumbent. Eativity is listed as a regional player.
Does Cookaborough have an API?
No public API is recorded for Cookaborough.
What industry is Cookaborough in?
Cookaborough's product category is Online Food Marketplace. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRAHAJAI, Local Chef/Restaurant Meal Boxes & Marketplace Prepared Meals, with a secondary code of CRAFAFAB, Restaurant Meal & Prepared Food Delivery. Its NAICS code is 72251 and its SIC code is 5810.