Local Kitchen Co: SA food empire born from butter chicken
By Giuseppe Tauriello
The Advertiser - National Business Network
August 10, 2026
From humble beginnings cooking ready-made meals for friends and busy families at her home kitchen in 2019, Sarsha Harvey is quietly building a food empire.
With five retail stores across Adelaide and Port Elliot, Ms Harvey’s Local Kitchen Co is gearing up for the opening of a new flagship outlet in the expanded Adelaide Central Market precinct, and she has ambitious plans for further expansion in South Australia and a potential move into new markets interstate.
It’s been a whirlwind rise for Ms Harvey, who spent time working in the pharmacy, sales, hospitality and tourism industries before pursuing her passion for food and cooking.
Her entrepreneurial journey began when she started cooking her favourite meals for friends and school community members who were busy with work and family.
Encouraged by friends, in mid-2019 she posted on Facebook, and within a week 15 orders for her specialty – butter chicken – came through. After expanding her menu and setting up a website, Covid hit, and that’s when the business really took off.
“When restaurants closed, people still wanted a quality meal on the table – and they wanted to support local while they did it,” Ms Harvey says.
Local Kitchen Co is opening a new store in the revamped Adelaide Central Market.
“I was cooking out of my home kitchen and word spread fast. What began as helping a few busy families quickly turned into something much bigger."
“We outgrew the home kitchen almost overnight. Finding and moving into a commercial space was a big leap – but it was the moment Local Kitchen Co became a real business.”
Ms Harvey opened the first Local Kitchen Co kitchen and retail outlet at Malvern in 2021, later expanding the network with additional stores at Parkside, Glenelg and Modbury, and the most recent launch at Port Elliot last December.
She said the expansion into the Fleurieu Peninsula had supported the business’s rapid growth in serving subsidised meals to NDIS-supported customers and those with Support at Home packages under the federal government’s in-home aged care support program.
“This segment of the market will continue to grow, particularly as retirees, our ageing population and people living with disability seek out cost-effective nutritious meals,” Ms Harvey says.
“Our population is ageing and the demand for ready-made meals is only heading one way. And it’s not just older Australians – it’s anyone who’s time-poor or dislikes cooking and doesn’t want to compromise on food that’s healthy and genuinely tastes good.”
Buoyed by the early success at Port Elliot, Ms Harvey is looking to expand into other regional areas and potentially interstate.
Showcasing fresh, locally-sourced and premium produce, Local Kitchen Co supplies meals of all sizes to thousands of South Australian families, older couples and singles each week.
With the business close to outgrowing a second kitchen, it recently relocated its main kitchen operations, distribution and headquarters to a new site at Brooklyn Park, previously built for disability services provider Bedford Industries.
“Brooklyn Park changes what’s possible for us. We can scale up production dramatically, and its central location means our home deliveries can reach more of the state,” Ms Harvey says.
“The new site gives us room to grow and extend our reach across South Australia, so we can finally serve the communities calling out for us. “
