by Andrea Louise Thomas
Somerville chef and hospitality trainer, Marlene Hoff, has been quietly changing lives for years, serving up nutrition for the body, mind and spirit. Everything she does comes from a place of care, respect and service to her local community. Marlene has worked in many kitchens, taught countless budding chefs and run a number of successful businesses, but more importantly to her, she has warmly welcomed people with disability into her workplaces providing them with meaningful, paid, supported work.
Her latest venture is Lily’s Dog Treats, under the umbrella of not-for-profit, The Supported Kitchen INC. They produce healthy handmade treats for dogs, cats and chickens sourced from 100% Australian ingredients that are shelf-stable and have no preservatives. Her factory kitchen is also a social enterprise where people with disability, women in crisis and people with mental health challenges are trained to work to the highest professional standard. Philanthropic donations could help set up supported kitchens across Victoria.
Her factory kitchen is also a social enterprise where people with disability, women in crisis and people with mental health challenges are trained to work to the highest professional standard.
It irks Marlene that people already struggling with marginalisation are not given a fair go in the workplace. “They can enrich the world in a quite different way if only they are given the chance,” she says. In fact, she prefers these kinds of employees. “They are excited to come to work, are almost never off sick and are no more difficult to train than anyone else. Things might need to be adjusted to accommodate a special need, but otherwise it’s the same, except these employees are super keen,” she says.
Lily’s Dog Treats is named after Marlene’s late, great, beloved Golden Retriever, Lily. Having some serious health issues, Marlene had to make all of Lily’s food. It gave her the opportunity to do some valuable research into what animals can and cannot eat. Some things that might be healthy for people are lethal for animals, such as, chocolate, caffeine, onions, sultanas and avocado.
Marlene reinvests profits from Lily’s Dog Treats back into the business to enable even more opportunities for peninsula people with disability to earn a living wage, enjoy a professional life filled with a sense of purpose, and have the opportunity to be part of a community of like-minded people. Workers who are not keen to handle food make dog coats and bandanas instead. All products are sold at local markets, online and stocked by 60 Mornington Peninsula and South Gippsland shops.
Lily’s Dog Treats was born from a previous business in Somerville, the 100 Mile Foodie Café which Marlene founded in 2021. There she taught people with disability professional level food handling, coffee-making and customer service skills in a safe and supported way. Lots of customers came with their dogs so they got specially made treats too. Unfortunately, Marlene found customers were not very kind to employees with disability. So, she set up a safe, inclusive workplace with Lily’s Dog Treats.
The factory in Somerville where the treats are made is kitted out as a commercial kitchen, a place where Marlene is very much at home. She’s taught small group cooking classes to all ages and abilities for years. She even taught refugees and new Australians how to shop, cook and qualify to work in Australia.
Marlene is probably best known for starting the 100 Mile Foodie brand in 2013 to encourage people to buy fresh local produce, meat and eggs sourced within 100 miles of her Somerville home. She was flabbergasted to find that the average food basket had travelled 70,000 miles before reaching Australian stores.
Passionate about supporting Mornington Peninsula growers and producers, Marlene also encourages people to eat more sustainably by reducing their food miles. She started cooking classes and catering services celebrating peninsula produce. In fact, she was responsible for getting the official Mornington Peninsula Produce stamp onto local packaging.
Marlene pivoted away from a successful career in international banking at 35. It was a bold move, but that decision has benefitted thousands of people and changed perceptions about the abilities of children, refugees, new Australians and people with health and social challenges because Marlene genuinely cares about people. She has helped some of her workers to set up their own successful microbusinesses.
Marlene has worked in high-end restaurants, at kids’ camps, in kitchen gardens and commercial kitchens. She had a take away meal business and Zoom cooking classes during COVID.
Now, in addition to Lily’s Dog Treats, Marlene teaches cooking where participants share the meal they make. She also runs disability social groups through 100 Mile Foodie. “Real poverty is social isolation,” she says.
The one constant across all of her work is kindness. Marlene leads from the heart. Her compassion and respect for people of all ages and abilities is a game changer. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone approached the world this way? That would be a real treat.
First published in Peninsula Essence Magazine June 2026.
