What Plate It Forward does

Plate It Forward is a Sydney-based social enterprise restaurant group founded by Shaun Christie-David, operating four themed venues: Colombo Social (Enmore, Sri Lankan), Kyiv Social (Chippendale, Ukrainian), Kabul Social (Sydney CBD, Afghan), and Kolkata Social (Newtown, Bengali). Each venue is staffed predominantly by members of the represented diaspora or other underrepresented community members, providing paid training and employment pathways as the operational mechanism for the company's mission to break cycles of inequality through hospitality. The group also operates corporate, wedding, and production catering across Greater Sydney, function venue hire, team-building experiences under the Plate Up Together brand, and a calendar of themed events including high teas, seasonal feasts, and guest-chef pop-ups.

The business model is primarily transactional, pay-as-you-go dine-in revenue from individual customers (A$35-A$130 per cover range) supplemented by catering contracts, function hire, gift card sales (via SquareUp), and donations. Reservations are processed through the SevenRooms platform; the underlying technology stack is standard hospitality SaaS rather than proprietary. For every booking and set menu ordered, meals are donated to people experiencing food insecurity, and the Harvest² partnership with Dilmah Tea and the MJF Charitable Foundation extends this impact to 2,700+ children across 23 rural Sri Lankan schools. Revenue is not publicly disclosed and no external funding rounds have been identified; the company appears to be founder-owned and self-funded, with growth financed through operational cash flow and venue-by-venue rollouts between 2020 and 2024.

Customer segments include ethically-motivated individual diners, corporate clients seeking CSR-aligned catering, and event planners booking private functions; the customer base is structurally fragmented with no dominant anchor enterprise account. Distribution is entirely domestic within Greater Sydney, and the company's growth trajectory to date has been driven by sequenced venue openings, new product lines in catering and team-building, and curated marketing partnerships with chefs and brands.

Name

Plate It Forward

Legal name

Plate It Forward

Website

https://plateitforward.org.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Plate It Forward is a Sydney-based social enterprise operating four diaspora-themed restaurants (Colombo, Kyiv, Kabul, Kolkata Social) that employ refugees and marginalised community members, complemented by catering, function hire, and team-building services. Revenue comes from pay-as-you-go dine-in, catering, events, gift cards, and donations across Greater Sydney.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Enterprise Restaurants

NAICS

Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Caterers (722320), Food Service Contractors (722310)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Ethnic & Regional Cuisine Restaurants (THAFACAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Chef’s Table & Tasting Menu Restaurants (THAFACAG), Hotel & Resort Banqueting (In-House Catering) (THAHAKAC)

Keywords

• Social enterprise restaurants
• Ethical catering services
• Themed cultural dining
• Function venue hire
• Team building dining

Headquarters

HQ city

Alexandria

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Restaurant Dining: Revenue from three restaurant venues (Colombo Social, Kyiv Social, Kabul Social) offering Sri Lankan, Ukrainian, and Afghan cuisine respectively. Customers dine in-house with table reservations managed through SevenRooms.
2. Catering Services: Corporate, event, wedding, and private function catering services. Includes office catering, production catering, and full-service events with food, drinks, and staff.
3. Private Events and Functions: Venue hire for celebrations, corporate gatherings, and special occasions across restaurant spaces including semi-private dining and exclusive venue hire options.
4. Donations and Charitable Support: Accepts donations to support meal programs and employment pathways. For every booking and set menu ordered, meals are donated to people in need.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Plate It Forward operates four themed dine-in restaurants in Sydney (Colombo Social, Kyiv Social, Kabul Social, Kolkata Social) serving Sri Lankan, Ukrainian, Afghan and Bengali cuisines. It supplements restaurant revenue with ethical catering for corporate, wedding and private events, function venue hire, and team-building experiences, while running a meal-donation program that contributes a meal to people in need for every booking or set menu ordered.

Product overview

Plate It Forward is a social enterprise operating a portfolio of themed restaurants across Sydney, including Colombo Social (Sri Lankan), Kyiv Social (Ukrainian), Kabul Social (Afghan), and Kolkata Social (Bengali). The company offers catering services for corporate events, weddings and private functions, team building experiences through Plate Up Together, and operates special dining events including high teas, themed dinners, and pop-up series. All operations support the company's mission to create meaningful employment for people facing barriers to work and provide food security across Greater Sydney.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Colombo Social: Sri Lankan restaurant in Enmore serving authentic and reimagined dishes with creative cocktails
• Kyiv Social
• Kabul Social
• Kolkata Social
• Harvest²
• Plate Up Together

Products and services

• Colombo Social Sri Lankan restaurant in Enmore (159 Enmore Rd) serving authentic and reimagined Sri Lankan dishes paired with creative cocktails, with cultural storytelling and social impact focus.
• Kyiv Social Ukrainian restaurant in Chippendale (202 Broadway) combining traditional family recipes with modern twists on classic Kyiv dishes, staffed almost exclusively by recently arrived Ukrainian refugees.
• Kabul Social Afghan restaurant in Sydney CBD (Shop J15/60 MetCentre, Margaret St) helmed by female refugees from Afghanistan, sharing recipes and traditions of Kabul passed down through generations.
• Kolkata Social Bengali restaurant in Newtown (528-528A King Street), Chef Ahana Dutt's expression of Bengali cuisine through a third culture lens, guided by heirloom family recipes from Kolkata to Sydney.
• Plate It Forward Catering Ethical catering service offering corporate, event, wedding and private catering with social impact. Provides office catering, production catering, corporate drop-offs, and full-service events with food, drinks and staff across Greater Sydney.
• Functions & Event Venues Function venues across Sydney locations for intimate gatherings to milestone celebrations, offering semi-private dining and exclusive venue hire for celebrations and corporate gatherings.
• Plate Up Together Team bonding experience designed for corporate groups to enjoy shared dining at Plate It Forward venues while supporting the social mission of creating employment pathways.
• Donations Program Donation program supporting Plate It Forward's mission to provide employment pathways and food security across Sydney.
• Kabul Catering Catering offering tied to Kabul Social, bringing Afghan cuisine and traditions to corporate and private events.

Quantifiable outcome

• Meals donated to support local food security for every booking
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered minor, flagship and core.

• Toby Wilson (Rico's Tacos, Ghostboy Cantina)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 15 March 2026Live fire popup event at Kyiv Social laneway. Taco king and Ghostboy Cantina founder brought cult Mexican-inspired concepts to the Ukrainian venue.
• Olympic Meats (Tim Cassimatis)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 March 2026Live fire popup event at Kyiv Social laneway. Olympic Meats founder Tim Cassimatis brought cult BBQ concepts to the Ukrainian restaurant for a one-day takeover.
• Shishir (Table Tok)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 March 2026Zero-waste, intuitive cooking collaboration at Kolkata Social. Seven-course Holi celebration dinner featuring Bangali flavours and traditional storytelling.
• Dilmah TeaflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership between Plate It Forward, Dilmah Tea, and MJF Charitable Foundation creating the Harvest2 program. Supports 2,700+ children across 23 rural schools on Sri Lanka's East Coast through nutritious school meals, organic gardens, and community food programs. Every Colombo Social High Tea booking donates 10 meals to the program.
• MJF Charitable FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Plate It Forward and Dilmah Tea for the Harvest2 program supporting rural Sri Lankan communities with school meals and food security initiatives.
• SevenRoomscoreTechnology or IntegrationOnline reservation and booking platform used across all Plate It Forward venues for table reservations and event experience bookings.
• SquareUpcoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment processing platform powering gift card sales and payment infrastructure for the organisation.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Merivale: Sydney's largest hospitality group operating dozens of restaurants, bars and event venues across the CBD and eastern suburbs. Comparable on operating multi-venue themed restaurants and large-scale function/event business in the same city.
• Three Blue Ducks: Multi-venue Sydney/Byron restaurant group with farm-to-table and event-led programming. Comparable on portfolio-of-venues approach, premium event pricing and Sydney Inner West/inner-city footprint, though without the refugee-employment social mission.
• Doltone House: Sydney-based event and catering/banqueting venue operator with multiple heritage locations. Comparable on the function venue, weddings and corporate catering side of Plate It Forward's business.

Direct peers

• Lankan Filling Station: Sydney-based Sri Lankan casual restaurant concept with multiple locations. Directly comparable to Plate It Forward's Colombo Social sub-brand on cuisine and customer base.
• The Tuckshop Co: Australian social enterprise catering company donating meals to people in need. Directly comparable to Plate It Forward on the meal-donation mechanic and corporate catering channel.
• Lentil As Anything: Australian pay-as-you-feel social enterprise restaurant chain operating multiple venues across Sydney and Melbourne. Most direct comparable on social-enterprise mission, multi-venue model and food-with-purpose positioning, although pricing model differs.
• Poly Restaurant: Ukrainian and Eastern European restaurant in Sydney serving comparable cuisine to Kyiv Social, with similar community-and-heritage storytelling approach in the same city.

Emerging players

• Ghostboy Cantina: Sydney cult Mexican-inspired pop-up and venue concept (Toby Wilson / Rico's Tacos). Comparable as a recurring pop-up/collaboration partner already featured at Kyiv Social, illustrating the Sydney chef-collaborator scene Plate It Forward draws from.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/plate-it-forward

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Plate It Forward