Scarf – dinners with a difference

Melbourne community initiative Scarf is a not-for-profit enterprise that offers a place for those hungry for a feed or hospitality skills. The community organisation aims to embody the concept behind its name – a scarf being an item of apparel that’s warm, comforting and flexible as well as an expression of one’s personality or culture.

Scarf was founded by Hannah Colman and Jess Moran, who both work in hospitality and came up with the idea after being asked how to break into the industry. Hannah sees Scarf as a way to provide relevant, hands-on experience and industry connections, which will hopefully lead to employment for marginalised young people.

At a Scarf dinner people wanting to gain hospitality experience handle Front of House, while professional chefs do the cooking, lending their expertise along the way.

“It’s a unique dining experience because just by coming along to a Scarf dinner, you’re a key player in the training process. As a diner, you are the catalyst for the trainees to practice the skills that they’re learning in the program as well as increase their confidence.”

Each Scarf program requires a small group of hospitality professionals to volunteer as mentors each Monday night for ten weeks.

“We have amazing trainers, all of whom are hospitality professionals. Huen from Collingwood World runs our bar training, we do cocktail training with Andy from Cookie while our formal service training is led by Jonny from Gigibaba and Simon from Easy Tiger.

We do coffee training at Di Bella Roasting Warehouse in North Melbourne, and beer and cider training at Little Creatures Dining Hall in Fitzroy. Having these training sessions held in different places means our trainees get an opportunity to train and work in some of Melbourne’s best venues.”

If you’re after a meal that tastes (and feels) good scarf it down at the next dinner. To find out more about Scarf visit scarfcommunity.org.