Brewing Change: Cafe One in Cairns is transforming lives
Discover how Cafe One in Cairns transforms lives with hospitality training, community connection and creative cooking programs that break the cycle of homelessness.
About Café One
Most of us start the day with a freshly brewed cup of coffee, but at Café One in Cairns, each pour is like a fresh start. Mission Australia’s Café One is a social enterprise that helps break the cycle of homelessness by providing hospitality skills, professional training and social connection.
Skills and training
The busy mobile café is more than a coffee stop — it’s a place where people with lived experience of homelessness and disadvantage can build brighter futures. Through a 24-week paid traineeship program, Café One offers trainees the chance to develop practical skills, gain valuable work experience and earn a Certificate I in Hospitality.
Our aim is to help people break the cycle of homelessness by giving them hard and soft skills to get back into the workplace.
— Barb, Program Manager
Watch: Welcome to Café One
Cooking groups building community
But the impact doesn’t end there. Weekly cooking groups provide connection for residents living in transitional housing, where they learn to prepare creative and nutritious meals using limited resources — even a humble rice cooker.
Led by Nicki, a Mission Australia Support Worker, and Lance, a former Café One trainee, these sessions bring people together, foster a sense of community and inspire culinary creativity with dishes like risotto, pancakes and a crowd-favourite chicken noodle soup.
Try the recipe: Asian chicken noodle soup in the rice cooker
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- I litre of salt reduced chicken stock
- 1-2 packets of 2 minute noodles
- ¼ barbeque chicken shredded
- 2 spring onions peeled and sliced
- 2 stalks of celery (optional)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon crushed garlic (optional)
- 1 teaspoon crushed ginger (optional)
- 1 chilli sliced (optional)
- Shredded ham (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare all of the ingredients cutting, slicing and dicing as required
- Place all of the ingredients in the rice cooker and turn to cook
- Allow to simmer. The longer you leave it on warm the better the flavours will be
- Remember to regularly stir your soup
If you prefer you can make the soup, without the pasta, and leave it to simmer.