Ringwood restaurant showcases disability employment

A Ringwood restaurant has teamed with MatchWorks to host an evening of disability employment promotion, which has been described as a “raging success”.

A group of eight MatchWorks Disability Employment Services  clients participated in the evening at The Cellar Door last week. They worked in both front-of-house and kitchen roles to serve more than 40 guests with a three-course meal.

MatchWorks Ringwood site manager Matt Petrucci said three clients had already been employed with The Cellar Door, and the dinner was an opportunity to raise awareness for other potential employers.

“The idea of the dinner was to raise awareness on how a client with a disability can have a positive impact on the workplace,” Matt said.

“The dinner was a fantastic opportunity for MatchWorks clients to impress the restaurant managers and to showcase their skills to guests. A mixture of community based organisations as well as employers were there who said they now have a greater awareness. I am already looking forward to hosting another similar event in future given the outstanding success.”

The Cellar Door business manager Andy Emans said the partnership with MatchWorks had been a life-changing experience.

“After meeting with and employing three MatchWorks job seekers, we really believed in the work that MatchWorks does and would recommend their services wholeheartedly to other employers. The dinner was a way of showing how wonderful MatchWorks is and to also try and break down the barriers for other employers,” Andy said.

“We are making our new employees Emily, Jake and Daniel feel welcome, valued and encouraged, and we try as much as possible to do that with all of our staff at The Cellar Door.”