Become a Trainee Become a Mentor Become a Scarf Champion Donate
Spring Scarf Dinners will run on Wednesday nights from 11 October - 29 November. Scarf trainees and mentors will serve a set menu designed and cooked by the experienced Noisy Ritual kitchen team. Bookings open soon! Read more
Scarf Champions play a critical role in a young person significantly growing their knowledge, skills, confidence, networks, and ultimately, their job readiness. Find out more today! Read more
Scarf provides training, mentoring and paid work experience opportunities to young people (18-28 years) seeking protection, and those from refugee or migrant backgrounds facing barriers to work. Read more
Hospitality professionals with big hearts take on this important volunteer role, to share their knowledge, skills and networks with Scarf Trainees to help them increase their confidence and job-readiness. We're recruiting mentors for Spring Scarf '23 now! Read more
At Scarf, we transform the lives of young people seeking protection, and those from refugee and migrant backgrounds, by getting them into work while adding flavour and heart to the Melbourne hospitality industry. Whilst volunteering with the refugee community in 2009 - 2010, Scarf co-founders Hannah Colman and Jess Moran observed firsthand how hard it can be for newly arrived young people to find jobs, despite having a great attitude and a willingness to take on anything!
Scarf has impacted over 300 young lives since we began running programs in 2010. Watch our videos to hear directly from graduates.
Vision: A society which embraces diversity, celebrates connected communities, and has equitable employment opportunities for all. Mission: To create a nourishing, supportive and inclusive space for trainees to gain confidence, skills, knowledge and networks. To foster connections in the hospitality industry to create equitable employment opportunities.
The below statistics are current at 19 May 2023
total programs3 x Skill Up with Scarf Programs6 x Tasting Plate Programs28 x 10-week Seasonal Programs
total graduates27 x Skill Up with Scarf graduates87 x Tasting Plate graduates194 x 10-week Seasonal Program graduates
Scarf Dinners & events This includes 261 Scarf Dinners and four Do More Than Dine fundraising events.
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hours of wellbeing and job readiness supportThrough our trauma-informed framework, we provide individualised support to trainees and graduates with a focus on wellbeing and boosting job readiness.
hours of paid work experienceWe pay Scarf trainees and graduates Restaurant Industry Award wages for their work with us, and provide professional references.*
partner restaurantsWe're so grateful to the Melbourne restaurants who've supported us by hosting Scarf Dinners - we literally couldn't do it without them!
mentors & trainersHospitality professionals volunteer to provide awesome, industry-standard training and mentoring to participants, who consistently rate the mentoring support as key to building their confidence.
diners servedScarf diners are essential to our model, creating a real-world restaurant experience for trainees, and financially supporting our social enterprise.
*Lack of recent work experience and local references are consistently identified as two of the most significant barriers to employment for newly arrived refugees, migrants and people seeking protection.
Hear from more Scarf graduates.
2020 marks Scarf's 10th birthday and we've collaborated with artist Olana Janfa to create something really special. Read more
We're excited and honoured to welcome Thi Le, owner and head chef of Anchovy, into the fold as a Scarf Ambassador. Read more