A Night of Connection, Impact and Hope

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On Thursday 9 October, we marked a huge milestone — Scarf’s 15th Birthday — with an unforgettable, joy-filled celebration at Rupert on Rupert, presented by OpenTable with additional support from Archie Rose Distilling Co, Mount Zero Olives and Daylesford & Hepburn Mineral Springs Co. About 130 guests joined us to celebrate 15 big years of transforming lives through hospitality, and even a couple of weeks on, we are still buzzing from the night! 

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Before we get into reflections from the night, a reminder that whilst we've had plenty of support to help us get to 15, keeping a small charity / social enterprise afloat is still a challenging feat! Here are two ways you can support Scarf today, to ensure we can continue transforming lives through hospitality. 

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1. Book a Scarf Dinner

We're so excited to run our next seasonal Scarf Dinners at Lankan Tucker in Carlton. The Winter Scarf '26 trainees will take care of the front-of house, with support from Scarf mentors, while the experienced Lankan Tucker chefs take care of the food! 

Find out more and book your spot

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2. Donate or Become a Scarf Champion

Whether you make a tax-deductible donation or step up as a Scarf Champion, your support helps us transform young lives by funding hospitality training, mentoring, and paid work experience opportunities. Thank you for making a difference to those facing barriers to work. Donations made between 1-30 June 2026 will be doubled thanks to Scarf partners! 

Support Scarf here

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Now... back to the party! It was a night that perfectly captured the spirit of Scarf: delicious food, great drinks, live music from graduates, laughter, heartfelt stories and community connection. Guests enjoyed plentiful canapés from three incredible guest chefs — Mark Hannell (Reed House), Viveik Venoharan (Dutch Rules Distilling Co & winner of Good Food's Young Chef of the Year 2026) and Francesca Giorgi Monfort (Frankie’s Pies) — alongside a generous grazing table featuring produce and treats from Loafer Bread, Mount Zero Olives, Savour and Grace, Tom Sarafian, Long Paddock Cheese, Amma’s, Molli, Common Ground Project and Heide Kitchen.

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Scarf graduates ran the floor and the bars, serving beautiful cocktails from Archie Rose Distilling Co and other beverages from our wonderful partners NON, Unico Zelo, Stomping Ground Brewing Co and Daylesford & Hepburn Mineral Springs Co. We enjoyed beautiful birthday cake from Gingersnap Patisserie and Mali Bakes, and sweet treats from Hamed Allahyari and Luther’s Scoops.

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Two legends, Scarf Graduate Maher and long-term mentor James, MC'ed the night like absolute pros, and guests heard inspiring stories from Scarf graduates, partners and mentors. A highlight was hearing from 2013 Graduate Erfan, who managed various venues before becoming a co-owner of People's Coffee five years ago, and recent graduates like Kimiya and Georgio who've both been helping create drinks lists at their respective workplaces, Atria at The Ritz-Carlton and The Fitz Rooftop. CEO and Co-founder Hannah Brennan shared some moments from the early days of Scarf, and updates on our growing programs and our plans to expand trainee opportunities in 2026, including through our new ‘Scarf Foundations’ program and the return of Skill Up with Scarf.

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Video: Roger Ungers. Another video, including speeches and Q&A with Scarf graduates, is coming soon!

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The night also acted as a fundraiser to help us grow trainee numbers in 2026 — and we’re thrilled to share that, thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, we raised $18,223! These funds will help us provide over 600 hours of paid work experience for Scarf trainees in 2026. This amazing result came through ticket sales, drink purchases, a lively raffle, and an online auction, which featured artwork from Olana Janfa and Marc Martin, and prizes donated by Starward, NOMAD Sydney, Cut Throat Knives, Allpress Espresso, The Whisky List, Archie Rose Distilling Co, and many more generous partners and friends.

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After 15 years, Scarf has supported 375 young people to graduate from our programs, with more than 70% in jobs within six months. Together, we’ve delivered 25,400 hours of training, 13,100 hours of paid work experience, and close to 300 events in 45 partner venues.

We’re so proud of how far we’ve come — and so grateful to everyone who’s made this possible. But to keep growing and supporting more young people into meaningful work, we need your ongoing support. But there are a couple of easy ways to do this! Simply book a Scarf Dinner or make a tax-deductible donation today, and you'll be directly supporting young people who face barriers to employment. 

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From the bottom of our (very full) hearts, thank you you to everyone who celebrated, donated, volunteered, cooked, sang, poured drinks and shared in this milestone with us. Here’s to the next 15 years of opening doors, creating opportunities and transforming lives through hospitality 🥂 

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All photos in this news piece: Laura May Grogan. See more event highlights in this collection of photos.

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A trip down memory lane: Scarf promotional postcards across the years. 

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Scarf across Melbourne: Madeleine Wiblin created a stunning map which showed the close to 50 Scarf Dinners locations, and our current work experience partners. 

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Scarf graduates, mentors, team, board, diners, partners and volunteers just after we sung happy birthday (the cakes were in front of us but we couldn't quite fit them in shot!)