Introducing Mount Zero Hero Hannah Brennan from Scarf.
For someone who has never heard about Scarf can you tell us about what Scarf is and your role there?
We're a social enterprise (with charity status) which aims to get young people into hospitality through training, mentoring and paid work experience. Scarf trainees are young people from asylum seeker, refugee and migrant backgrounds who are keen to start their working lives in Australia. We partner with heaps of amazing hospitality businesses (including venues and producers) to run awesome training programs and events, so that we can create lots of safe and supported learning and mentoring opportunities, and real-world, paid work experience. I'm the CEO and I'm also a co-founder so I've been around from day dot. My role is pretty varied, and sees me looking after partnerships, funding, social impact and a few other bits and pieces!
Describe Scarf in 6 words?
An open door, leading to possibility.
With food and hospitality at the heart of Scarf, tell us some of your most memorable food moments at Scarf events. What memories have stood out for you personally?
Every restaurant we partner with does things differently and that's one of the things I love most about Scarf Dinners. When you come to a Scarf Dinner or another Scarf event, you're always supporting trainees or graduates to gain paid, front of house work experience, but we're always moving restaurants, so the menu is always changing! A stand-out moment was our Autumn '24 Scarf Dinners at Rumi... the feast that Joseph and the team cooked up was so delicious and so generous; and our diners loved it. We've also run dinners at Bhang a couple of times, and their food is always so vibrant and flavoursome. We're about to head to Lankan Tucker for our Winter '26 season and I've just had a sneak peek at the menu which looks so good!
What is your favourite thing to cook at home?
Right now I love to cook pancakes with my 4 year old daughter... she's going through a big "helping" phase in the kitchen and it's something fun we can do together. When I have a bit of time I love to make pasta from scratch, especially ricotta and spinach ravioli with sage and butter sauce.
If you hosted a potluck dinner with the Scarf team, what would you bring?
I might cook a mushroom risotto, using lots of Mount Zero EVOO and heaps of parmesan. And some delicious bread, which would ideally be sourdough from Loafer (with plenty of extra EVOO to dip it in!)
Tell us how the Mount Zero community can get involved and support Scarf?
Join us for a Scarf Dinner or event (check out our events calendar to see what's coming up!) We'd also love people to make a tax-deductible donation if they're in a position to do so (if made in June, it will be doubled thanks to Mount Zero and other Scarf Partners). Donations help us keep increasing trainee opportunities to meet growing demand. Also, if you're interested in becoming involved as a mentor or work experience partner, please reach out to us... we'd love to hear from you!
For a delicious cocktail recipe by the team at Scarf head here.
