Scarf Dinners provide essential income for our programs, and work on a ticketed system. In order to make a booking for a Scarf Dinner, you'll need to pre-pay, use your Scarf Seasonal Pass, use a Scarf Dinners Gift Card, or a combination of any of these.

Scarf takes a pre-payment of $45 per person (covering a set menu of entrée and main) for each "ticket" you're booking. These tickets are non-refundable and generally cannot be transferred to another date*. If you are unable to attend the Scarf Dinner for which you have booked, you are welcome to offer your ticket/s to somebody else. 

We do not need to take pre-payment for any tickets you're booking which are covered by a Seasonal Pass or Gift Certificate (as these places have already been paid for!) However, any additional tickets for this booking will need to be pre-paid through our website. We respectfully request that if you're dining on a Seasonal Pass or Gift Card, you provide us with at least two week's notice if you need to change the date of your booking, to give us the opportunity to fill these spaces. 

If you have any queries or concerns about this policy, please email [email protected].

*We can make an exception on changing the date of your booking with enough notice - ideally two weeks, so that we have time to fill these spaces. 

NB. This policy was introduced in March 2016 due to frequent last-minute cancellations which were significantly affecting our bottom line and threatening our program’s viability.

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Why do I have to pre-pay for a Scarf Dinner?

As a social enterprise, we have myriad operating costs, including paying award wages to our trainees and our small, dedicated team. We also pay our partner restaurants for confirmed catering numbers, which must be provided in advance. Scarf Dinners are a unique experience which involve lots of people - Scarf trainees, mentors and staff; our partner restaurants and their chefs; and you, our awesome diners. Having a set amount of pre-booked, pre-paid seats means each Scarf Dinner is patronised by the right amount of people to ensure that: 

(1) Scarf trainees get industry-relevant learning experience in a busy restaurant

(2) the partner venue’s kitchen can adequately prepare food and manage orders on the night

(3) Scarf customers have a fantastic dining experience, and 

(4) Scarf remains a viable and sustainable social enterprise.

The chefs from Scarf’s changing partner restaurants design the Scarf Dinner menu and cook on the night. This is a business relationship between Scarf and our partner restaurants, and we must confirm catering numbers with the chefs so they can adequately prepare and staff each dinner. 

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Cover photo: Peter Tarasiuk