Community Update:

Supporting a Sustainable Future for Distinctive Options

This Friday, 10 October 2025, we will farewell five of our much-loved social enterprises: DO Honey, The Goodwill Gardener, DO Good Wood, DO Food Project Café (Gisborne), and DO Experiences.

 

These enterprises have always been far more than businesses. Over the past three years, they have been safe, welcoming places where people with disability, families, staff and community members came together to create opportunities, build skills, and form lasting friendships. Each enterprise leaves a legacy that will remain part of Distinctive Options’ story.

 

The decision to close these enterprises has been one of the hardest in Distinctive Options’ recent history. As a for- purpose organisation, our mission has never been about profit but about creating meaningful pathways and opportunities for people with disability. Every decision we make is guided by this commitment, which is why this outcome has been so deeply painful for everyone across the Distinctive Options community, participants, families, staff and supporters alike.

 

However, despite their enormous social value, the enterprises have been operating at a financial loss of approximately $1 million in the past year, with further losses in previous years. After a careful and thorough review, it became clear that continuing them would place our broader services, and with them, the long-term sustainability of Distinctive Options, at risk. Our responsibility is to safeguard the organisation so we can continue delivering vital supports to more than 350 participants who rely on us every day.

 

Each of our social enterprises has been supported through NDIS participant funding, which helps provide the staffing and supports needed for people with disability to participate in employment. Alongside this, we have relied on commercial income from customers purchasing products and services. However, despite the dedication of our teams and the loyalty of our customers, commercial income has not grown to a level sufficient to offset the costs of running all these businesses combined.

 

We remain deeply committed to our mission of creating meaningful opportunities and inclusive communities, continuing to operate our four remaining social enterprises alongside our Employment Pathways program. While this is a difficult chapter, it also reaffirms the strength of our values: putting participants first, working with care and compassion, and ensuring we will be here for people with disability for decades to come.

 

We will be sad to farewell a small number of staff this Friday, and we thank them sincerely for their dedication, care and contribution to our community. At the same time, we are encouraged that a number of staff have been successfully redeployed into other services, ensuring their skills and commitment remain within Distinctive Options. We are also heartened that the majority of our supported employees will continue to access other DO services, while we work closely with them and their families to explore long-term employment pathways.

 

Importantly, these changes do not affect our core disability support services or our four remaining social enterprises: the DO Food Truck in Sunbury, and our three Bairnsdale-based enterprises, The Brew Crew Café, Banksia Fine Foods, and our Gardening service. Distinctive Options remains fully committed to empowering people with disability to live meaningful, self-directed lives. We will also continue to explore new ways of partnering with community, government and business to create sustainable, long-term models of inclusive employment, alongside our core support services and Supported Independent Living programs.

 

We know that this news has brought with it a range of emotions; sadness, disappointment and concern, and we acknowledge how difficult this change is for many people connected to our social enterprises. To everyone who has visited the café, purchased honey or wood products, engaged a gardening service, or taken part in one of our experiences, thank you. You have been part of something special, and together we have shown what inclusion in action truly looks like.

 

As we close this chapter, our commitment is clear: to support every person through this transition and to shape a future where sustainable, participant-centred opportunities continue to grow and thrive.

 

For those who would like to learn more about our work, our impact and our financials, we invite you to read our 2023 - 2024 Annual Report here.