PROJECT MISE EN PLACE
Melbourne Food & Wine Festival (MFWF) is Australia’s biggest celebration of drinking and dining.
Across 10 days and 200 unique events, the March 2025 program was stacked with local and international talent from Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver from acclaimed London restaurant St John to 18 of the country’s best bakeries teaming up for the Baker’s Dozen.
Then there’s MFWF’s signature events: The World’s Longest Lunch hosted by Curtis Stone kicked things off, serving 600 metres of tables in Kings Domain. Two days later, Julia Busuttil Nishimura doubled down with World’s Longest Brunch in Royal Botanic Gardens.
With hundreds of front of house staff brought in for these two events only, MFWF sought out a partner to provide uniforms, which was key for a cohesive service at this scale.
We’ve long admired what MFWF has done for hospitality, putting restaurants, chefs and the craft on a stage unlike any other in Australia. When the opportunity came about to be part of the festival, we jumped at it. We had so many clients involved as it was, so making our involvement official seemed like an obvious choice.
- Andrew Toole, Director of Worktones
PROCESS NOTES
Worktones pitched two similar but slightly differentiated looks for the events. Noting that both events were hosted outdoors, the uniforms had to be breathable and suit the garden settings.
Worktones also started work on merchandise for MFWF, a process that involved sending samples and exploring ready-made and bespoke options.
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Worktones chose the Off-White Dynamo Shirt for both events, paired with the bib-style Natural Mo for the Lunch and the waist-style Natural Taffy Apron for the Brunch.
Continuing with the Natural colour theme,
MFWF had a bespoke Commuter Tote Bag made and screen printed with their logo and the 2025 campaign artwork using the line “Feed Your Curiosity”. They also used Worktones’ ready-made Blank Dad Caps with their brand embroidered on the front in white.
These are signature pieces of Worktones - even the bespoke Commuter Bag is based on a longtime existing block of ours. It’s a moment of pride for us to point to the team serving these iconic events or the guests walking away with the merch and see Worktones represented. They looked great and it was a pleasure to work with and attend MFWF.
- Andrew Toole, Director of Worktones
