About MealwardCarrum Downs, Victoria

Software for the people feeding our parents.

Mealward is an all-in-one, fully customisable meal operations platform built for Australian residential aged care. We started by replacing the paper meal matrix — today we give every role what they need in one login: ordering and kitchen for floor staff, a family portal for relatives, tasks and AI for coordinators, and integrations and governance for IT and auditors.

Try the live demo See pricing [email protected]

The story

Why we exist.

Australian residential aged care moves around 2 million meals a week. Most of that runs on paper, whiteboards, and the muscle memory of a head chef who’s been there 14 years.

When that chef takes a holiday, breakfast falls over. When NACA came in and asked "show me the audit trail for resident 4-12 over the last 30 days", the chef looked at a stack of paper and quietly resigned.

We started Mealward because we believe the people doing the actual feeding deserve software that respects how hard the job is. PCAs and GSOs taking orders shouldn’t have to type. Chefs shouldn’t have to chase tickets. Auditors shouldn’t have to wait. Residents shouldn’t have to repeat their preferences.

Boringly: that’s the whole product.

Founder

Luke Ferguson

Operator, builder, and the person who replies on in-app support tickets. Based in Carrum Downs, Victoria.

[email protected]

0418 739 437

Where we are

2 Northumberland Court, Carrum Downs VIC 3201

ABN 17 977 307 913. ABN available on every invoice.

June 2026

What the platform does today.

Mealward is no longer just a digital meal matrix. One product covers kitchen, care staff, families, managers, and IT.

Meal operations

Bedside ordering, live kitchen counts, companion meals, IDDSI textures, HELF alcohol billing, and 14-day menu cycles.

Family & coordination

Family portal with two-way messaging, push/email/SMS notifications, and staff task tracking — all in one login.

In-app support

Staff report bugs from Help; Mealward replies in a conversation thread. No support ticket lost in email.

Governance & IT

Audit CSV, data retention, webhooks, REST API, external viewers, passkeys, and Australian-hosted RLS isolation.

What we believe

Four things, no more.

Residents first.

Every feature has to make sense to the 87-year-old in chair 12 before it ships. If a PCA or GSO can't explain it in one breath, it goes back.

Boring on security.

Hosted in Sydney. Encrypted at rest. Audit-trailed. We will be the dullest vendor in your security review and we are proud of that.

Built next to care staff.

We sit on shift, not in head office. Every screen has been pressure-tested at 7:30 am Wednesday breakfast - the worst possible time.

Honest about AI.

We use AI where it helps - rostering meals to dietary tags, predicting popularity. We don't use it where it doesn't, and we will never auto-decide a clinical thing without a human signing.

How we got here

The short version.

2024

First field visit

Sat through a full breakfast/lunch/dinner cycle at a 100-bed facility in regional Victoria. Counted 23 separate paper handoffs between order, kitchen, and PCA delivery.

Early 2025

First prototype

An iPad that took an order, a printer that printed a kitchen ticket. Replaced the 23 handoffs with 2 taps.

Mid 2025

Pilot rollout

Three facilities. Breakfast service tightened from 90 minutes to 55. Texture errors dropped to zero in week two.

2026 onwards

NACA + scale

NACA lifted the floor on what kitchen and dining systems have to evidence. We were already there. Now we go to the next 50 operators.

We'd like to feed your residents.

Pilot is 30 days, free, and only converts to a paid plan if breakfast service gets faster and texture errors go to zero. Both have happened every time so far.

See how the demo works View pricing