Scarf borrows restaurants to provide relevant hands-on hospitality training and mentoring to marginalised youth who face barriers to obtaining fair access to training and work opportunities.

We recently held a couple of dinners at the lovely Union Dining in Richmond and last year’s Spring Scarf season saw us operating from Easy Tiger and Three Bags Full.

We’re very excited to announce details about our Winter Scarf season, which runs from Monday 14th May – Monday 16th July. We’ll be operating dinners from two fabulous venues – Libertine in North Melbourne, and Jorg in Fitzroy North. More details are in the ‘Dinners’ section. Bookings will be open soon – sign up to our mailing list to get the latest details.

Our Mission: To provide marginalised youth with hospitality knowledge, skills and experience in an encouraging space where individuality is seen as an asset. To foster social and professional networks so that these young people have the confidence and connections to get the job they want.

What’s in a name… A scarf is an article of apparel that’s warm and comforting, friendly and flexible, secure and reliable. It can be crafted, knitted, woven or printed. It can be reassuringly modest or outrageously extrovert. It can be an expression of one’s personality or culture, or a show of support for a team or cause.

In 1950s America, people used to use the expression “scarf it down” at the dinner table, which means to eat voraciously, especially when time is of the essence.

Peter and Muna - wine education during Autumn Scarf 2011

What We Do

Hospitality training and mentoring

Scarf’s hands-on hospitality training and mentoring programs make relevant training available to marginalised youth, allowing them to build skills, confidence, and social networks, as well as streamlining their path to employment in the hospitality industry.

We invite young people who face barriers to fair training and employment opportunities to be front-of-house trainees in our program. These young people might be new migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, or Australian youth who are passionate about working in the hospitality industry, but unable to find work.

Our mentors are people who currently work in the hospitality industry. The mentor’s role is to provide relevant, up-to-date knowledge about the industry while the trainee builds their skill base. The mentor also provides a connection into the hospitality industry, which is often the key to finding employment.

Our 10-week programs see us running afternoon training sessions (wine education, formal service practices, cocktail training, beer education, coffee making and more), which are followed by a dinner service. During our Monday Night Dinners, Scarf trainees get hands-on experience in a real restaurant environment whilst being guided by their mentors.

We work with each trainee on an individual basis, to help them find the style of dining that suits them, and then assist them in finding relevant, meaningful employment.

“Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.” – Article 23 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Scarf Dinners

Scarf Dinners form part of our 10-week hospitality training and mentoring programs.

We borrow restaurants from generous, like-minded people who allow us to use their venues outside their normal trading hours.

We offer a two-course set menu for $35 per person, which is cooked by the wonderful Ricky Holt. We provide a high quality dining experience to our customers, which our trainees and mentors are proud to be part of. Dining at Scarf is a unique experience. As a Scarf customer, you’re integral to our model of training – you are the catalyst for the trainee to practice their skills and increase their confidence. We invite you to give feedback when you’ve finished your meal, which allows the trainee to get instant feedback and helps them to set their own goals throughout the program.

If you’d like to get involved at Scarf and see what we’re all about, the first thing you should do is come for dinner! See us in action and decide if our organisation is one that you’d like to lend your skills to. Remember, as a customer you play a very important role in the training process. We rely on many wonderful people who volunteer their time and skills in order to make our programs work.

We are currently recruiting trainees and mentors for Winter Scarf, which will run every Monday from 14th May until 16th July. Please contact Kim (kim@scarfcommunity.org) for more details.

If you currently work in hospitality and would like to become involved as a mentor or trainer, we’d love to welcome you to the Scarf family! If you’re a young person facing barriers to training and work, or if you work with marginalised young people who you think would be appropriate for Scarf’s training program, please get in touch with Kim –

kim@scarfcommunity.org

If you are interested in volunteering with Scarf, and have skills in the area of fundraising, multimedia, video-making, writing, knitting, or anything of that sort, or if you have any media or sponsorship enquiries, please get in touch with Hannah –

hannah@scarfcommunity.org

The whole Spring Scarf team at Easy Tiger

Scarf exists with support from many people, organisations and businesses. Our supporters include:

red + white and Mezzanine wine distribution

Little Creatures Brewing

Di Bella Roasting Warehouse

Natural Tucker Bakery

Larsen & Thompson Tea

Mt Zero Olives

Daylesford and Hepburn Mineral Springs Co

The West Winds Gin

Calendar Cheese Company

Team Scarf

Kim Riggs – General Manager

With years of experience working in a variety of hospitality venues both in Australia and abroad, Kim started with Scarf as a volunteer trainer in the 2011 Winter program and then became a mentor in the 2011 Spring program. Kim has successfully completed an Advanced Diploma of Business Management at William Angliss, a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, a Certificate IV in Front Line Management and a Certificate III in Food Handling Wine Making.

Kim is an avid gardener, a passionate cook and a deft hand at knitting scarves (and other wooly items). Kim’s role as the general manager of Scarf sees her recruiting trainees, trainers and mentors for programs, coordinating training sessions, organising lovely venues for Scarf to operate in, and about one hundred other tasks. Kim joined the Scarf management team in March 2012.

Hannah Colman – Marketing and Communications

Hannah is a Swinburne Multimedia (Media Studies) graduate, grammar stickler and occasional poet. Hannah works in restaurants because she loves food and enjoys the social side of hospitality. Recently, mentoring residents of Atherton Gardens Estate in creative writing and journalism led to editing *bespoken magazine – a platform for the voice of marginalised community members to be heard in the media.

Hannah co-founded Scarf with Jess Moran, and takes care of Scarf’s marketing and communications, including sponsor relations, as well as working as a mentor during programs. Hannah is particularly interested in fostering the creative, crafty Scarf community. She also spends time gently reminding people that Scarf is not an acronym. (In this case, it’s just a warm, comforting show of support and an expression of culture.)

Scarf’s Board of Directors

Noel Batrouney

Noel was appointed a director of Scarf in April 2010. Noel holds degrees in law and economics and is a member of CPA Australia. He is a partner with Hall & Wilcox lawyers, and practises mainly in commercial dispute resolution.

Noel is a volunteer tutor with AMES and is interested in assisting refugees to fully engage in the community.

Jana Favero

Jana is the Communications Manager and the Community Team Leader at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC).  In these roles, Jana is responsible for social marketing, communication and advocacy activities as well as overseeing the delivery of the eight community engagement programs.

Jana has extensive experience working in the private and not-for-profit sector in leadership and marketing roles in Melbourne and London. Jana transitioned from the private to the not-for-profit sector by undertaking a management role in Mongolia on an income generation project for three years.  Jana has also worked in India developing social marketing strategies for increasing the effectiveness and acceptance of women as political leaders.

Jana also has a keen interest in the development of future leaders and works as a tutor and mentor to students at The School for Social Entrepreneurs.

Jess Moran

For the past ten years, Jess has worked front-of-house in many well-regarded restaurants in Melbourne and on her home turf – the Mornington Peninsula. She also has a passion for wine, and in 2009 undertook a wine course where she made a few dozen bottles of Pinot Noir! They weren’t bad! Jess is a School for Social Entrepreneurs (2010) fellow, and is currently studying a diploma of Youth Work at RMIT.

Jess co-founded Scarf with Hannah Colman in 2010. In March 2012, Jess handed over her role of General Manager to Kim Riggs. Jess has been working with adolescents in the child protection system for the past two years and is currently a Youth Support Worker at Melbourne Citymission. Jess is passionate about creating opportunities to re-engage young people in the workforce and the wider community.

Sheelagh Purdon

Sheelagh brings to the Scarf board extensive experience in assisting disadvantaged job seekers to enter the workforce. In particular she has worked with asylum seekers, refugees and people with disabilities. She has also worked with employers to understand their needs and develop approaches to equip them to recruit and successfully employ disadvantaged people.

Sheelagh has substantial experience in management development and work place change and has assisted many organisations to focus and fine-tune their operations to meet changing environments.

Recently, Sheelagh moved from her role working in Employment at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (which she held for five years) to begin her current role as the Community Speaker Coordinator at the ASRC.

Kellie Watson

Appointed as a Scarf director in May 2011, Kellie is currently employed as Production Manager at FareShare. She has broad experience within the hospitality industry in both hands-on and management roles, including the chef manager at Libby Reid Catering.

Kellie strongly believes in the ability of grassroots organisations to positively change equity and access to employment. Kellie can be called upon to man the Scarf “back of house” in emergencies.

Winter Scarf

We’re very excited to announce the dates and venues for our Winter Scarf season! As usual, we’re offering a fabulous two-course set menu for $35 per head, which will be prepared by Ricky Holt.

We will be operating Scarf Monday Night Dinners at:

Libertine – 500 Victoria St, North Melbourne

on Monday 14th May, 21st May, 28th May, 4th June, 11th June

and

Jorg – 203 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy North

on Monday 18th June, 25th June, 2nd July, 9th July, 16th July.

Bookings are essential. Please email Caitlin – bookings@scarfcommunity.org to book in.

We are now selling Scarf Dinner gift certificates. If you would like to purchase a gift certificate, email hannah@scarfcommunity.org. Please see the News section for more details.

At the helm in the Scarf kitchen is Ricky Holt, who for twenty years ran the Rathdowne Street Food Store. Ricky’s approach to food is that seasonal, local and fresh is always best.

Here’s a sample two-course ($35 per head) menu that Ricky served during Spring Scarf 2011:

Spring Scarf

Entrée

Bouillabaisse – mussels, scallops, prawns and salmon in tomato, fennel and saffron broth

Asparagus, sherry vinaigrette, poached egg, crisp prosciutto, fried herbs

Goat’s cheese “mille feuille”, roasted pumpkin and pomegranate molasses puree, toasted hazelnuts

Main

Tea-smoked chicken, maple syrup and cinnamon glaze, salad of bok choy and grilled white peach

Seared beef, swiss brown mushrooms, cornichons, capers and red wine sauce, rice pilaf

Garam masala roasted vegetables, homemade naan, labne, mango chutney

Please note that Scarf is fully licensed – no BYO! We have a fabulous drinks list available on the night, courtesy of red + white and Mezzanine wine distribution, Little Creatures, The West Winds gin and Daylesford and Hepburn Mineral Springs Co.

Restaurants we’ve operated from:

Union Dining

Easy Tiger

Three Bags Full

Rumi

Mixed Business

Bistro Flor

Mama Ganoush

New York Tomato

Scarf was started by a group of young, hospitality professionals. Most of our skills were learned on the job.

In the hospitality industry, learning on the job is an integral part of the training process, which is why our programs have such a strong hands-on focus.

We believe that the most effective learning takes place in the middle of a busy service – when you’re about to take a customer’s order, the phone is ringing, there are coffees that need to be made, and there is a bell ringing in the kitchen, meaning that hungry customers are waiting for their food! So, what do you do first?! At Scarf we help our trainees figure it out!

Laurel, Muna and Syed set the dining room at Bistro Flor

Our unique program provides a safe space for our trainees to learn and practice their skills – with a mentor always close at hand to guide them and answer any questions. Our Monday Night Dinner customers are a very important part of the training process, and we strive to provide a quality dining experience for them. Without customers, Scarf trainees wouldn’t get the chance to practise their newly learned skills in a fast-paced environment that replicates the industry.

All our trainees are individuals with different skill levels and different needs. We realise that not all of our trainees will want to work in a formal service environment once they have completed a Scarf program. Our aim is to provide a safe learning space and a positive workplace environment. We aim to foster relationships between trainees and mentors, so that our trainees have the opportunities and connections to get the job they want, in the area of hospitality which is right for them.

Once the Scarf trainees figure out which area of hospitality is most relevant to their personality and skill level, we assist them in finding the right job for them.

The Scarf hospitality training program includes trainee positions for:

Front of House (wait staff)

-       introduction to formal service

-       wine training (4 week wine course with Jenny Polack)

-       coffee training (at the Di Bella Roasting Warehouse)

-       resume writing and interview practice

-       bar training – basic spirits

-       cocktail training at Cookie

-       beer and cider comparative tastings at Little Creatures Dining Hall

-       actual hands-on experience (serving customers)

We provide a program in which our front-of-house trainees can gain the skills and connections required to head into meaningful employment in the hospitality industry.

Abiel and Andy - cocktail training at Cookie