How it all began - TRANSFORM HEALTH

In the 1800’s Sydney’s Wentworth area West of the city was developed from an estuary of small streams and mangroves into abattoirs, tanneries and boiling down works. Roughly 200 years later the swamp has been transformed. Wentworth Park is comprised of green grassy ovals full of Europeans playing soccer on the weekends, play-parks with children screaming in delight as they run from nanny’s, a monstrosity of a dog racing stadium in the middle and an elevated train track that runs from the inner west into darling harbor and the city…

In the hills above the park lays Glebe, gradually gentrifying, it is mostly comprised of an extended housing commission development for pensioners and those struggling within our contemporary market based society.

The year was 2008 and every Sunday at precisely 4:45pm, Daryl an 86 year old pensioner, who had been living in the same small two-bedroom house on the hill just above Wentworth park for 58 years would sit in his cracked and faded leather arm chair, listening intently for the sound of a rusty red bike flying down the hill. Daryl’s left leg was no good but he was determined to stand up and raise a wave just in time to salute the rider who would be flying down the hill. They had never met but Daryl was determined to prove to himself every week that he was still quick enough to get up and wave to anyone he wanted to. A classic aussie battler.

The captain of the rusty-red speed machine was a tall, thin yet athletic, young university student from regional NSW, named Jordan. Jordan became thoroughly pleased with himself every Sunday as he maximised the life in that old rusty red bike, pushing it far beyond its limits down the hill in Glebe towards the Asian fresh food markets in Haymarket. At 5pm the markets closed and everyone was in a desperate panic to sell their produce as they were closed Mondays and Tuesdays and the food would go off in the humidity inherent in areas surrounding mangroves. It was a weekly migration of the cunning, eager for a bargain, hungover, they would wait drowsy and tired, often starving having not eaten in days ready to maliciously negotiate prices and stock their fridges for the week ahead.

Jordans meager earnings from a casual Turkish restaurant waiters income allowed for $30 a week for food, the majority of his income would go on rent, the remainder on socializing and beer. New to Sydney, he was trying to meet as many people as he could. Jordan only knew a couple guys from school who were deeply entrenched in second year college activities and only available from midnight until 4am on a Thursday morning at The Gross Hotel in Newtown.

Motivated to go into business for himself back in Canberra while he worked in Canberra’s best restaurants, it was half way through his studies, following a classic heart wrenching breakup Jordan decided he needed to find himself and moved to the big smoke in search of opportunities to start a business. He didn’t know what business that would be but he knew he wanted to work for himself and having studied a critique of capitalism he wanted to do something constructive that added value.

Meanwhile, a gentle, laid back and optimistic best mate, Elliot was studying food security and agricultural sustainability in the heart of our nation’s capital at Australia National University. Living with two mates in Curtain, a suburb aptly named after former Labour, war-time Prime Minister, John Curtin. Despite Eliot’s laid back nature and his ability to chill with the best of them, a reputation was emerging alongside his culinary talents.

As Elliot’s studies came to a close the prospect of becoming a trusted, diligent and responsible employee, at the expense of forgoing Kevin-o-seven’s student stimulus package seemed unattractive. Inspired by the great Labour PM John Curtin, Elliot packed his bags, determined to support Labour in another war, a war with the Liberals, he moved to Sydney to continue his studies with a Masters in Sustainability and continue partaking in multiple stimulus packages.

Barristering with the best of them on weekends for income, he spent his days off of study, laying motionless on the white sand of Bondi, testing his theories regarding humans and photosynthesis, dreaming of the food he would cook that evening for his housemates.

It was now 2014, the boys were living in Bondi. Jordan had become a personal trainer and started a company geared at helping people model out their lifestyles and perform better day to day called Transform Health. He had a couple of trainers working with him as well as a dietitian. Elliot now not welcome at centerlink, was a working man designing recipes and doing logistics for a food-tech startup in Surry Hills.

Jordan became worried at Elliots hipster ways. Working in Surry Hills he started hanging out with a bad crowd of hipsters. Essentially harmless, it was their laid back attitude and communist values that caused Jordan angst. Not knowing what to do, Jordan turned to his books for inspiration. History had shown that radical behavior happens at radical times. Now was such a time, and a radical idea had spawned. Jordan would convince Elliot his life was going nowhere and that he needed to move now. They would diversify the business and create a catering company designed at improving people performance at work and stop the excuse of ‘shitty work event catering food’.

Food was a love shared. Ever since the two were schoolboys they would finish their Lake Burleigh-Griffin rowing training, sneak past Elliot’s dad, Bill, who hated Jordan eating his food, to cook extravagant breakfast. Over mouthfulls of scrambled eggs, roasted peppered tomatoes and sautéed mushrooms with truffle oil, they would debate the best way to cook different meats, cut tomatoes, how to get the ultimate toasting on toast and other such things.

While the other boys of the Bondi house, Tomek a meticulous Pollack banker and Dakes a dreamy, buff party boy, were away at the FIFA Brazilian World Cup, the plan was put into action. Meals sourced, designed and cooked by a dietitian, cook and personal trainer were delivered into the City and Eastern Suburbs on Thursdays.

This soon became too much so the boys expanded and left the beach to move into the gaybourhood kitchen in Darlinghurst. Cementing daily catering contracts with some forward thinking large companies, providing dietitian approved, delicious daily lunchbox delivery and catering private events, Transform Kitchen is now Sydney’s most delicious, healthy, fresh catering service that feeds performance in your workplace.

Transform Health provides personal and private group training for individuals and organisations. Transform Dietetics provides dietetic consults, health screens and seminars to individuals and work teams. Lastly, Transform Executive provides wellness packages combining health questionnaires, nutritional and exercise advice, health screens, fitness training, cooking demonstrations, corporate fitness challenges and ongoing support to industry leading businesses.