The festival has a board of management and is supported by a small team who are responsible for the coordination of its events, in close collaboration with Victoria's food and wine industry.

2012 Australian individuals in attendance included: Peter Gilmore, Ben Shewry, Darren Purchese, Dan Hunter, Matt Skinner, Luke Burgess, Max Allen and James Halliday AM.

The 19th Melbourne and Food and Wine Festival was attended by more than 350,000 people with over 250 events[citation needed] over 11 days.

The Festival was book-ended by two events: Internationally known individuals in attendance at the 2011 event were: Nigella Lawson (GBR), Elena Arzak (ESP), Roy Choi (USA), Margaret Xu (HKG), Pedra Miguel Schiaffino (PER), Atul Kochhar (GBR), Rachel Allen (IRL), Telmo Rodríguez (ESP), Zakary Pelaccio (USA), Jean-Guillaume Prats (FRA), Chris Salans (INA), Warren Gibson (NZL), Thorsten Schmidt (DEN), Anna Hansen (GBR), Brett Crittenden (GBR), Bompas & Parr (GBE), Angela Hartnett (GBR), Alexa Johnston (NZL), Hisako Ogita (JPN) Australian born individuals in attendance at the 2011 event were: Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer, Will Studd, Gabriel Gaté, George Calombaris, Mary Calombaris, Ben Shewry, Philippe Mouchel, Anna Gare, Jude Blereau, Paris Cutler, Cath Claringbold, Rosa Mitchell, Anthony Ross, Sally Wise, Alla Wolf–Tasker, Adrian Richardson.

In 2010, the large-scale cooking class, known as the "Langham Melbourne Masterclass" included chefs David Chang (Momofuku, New York), Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy) and Claude Bosi (Hibiscus, London), and winemaker Gaia Gaja (Angelo Gaja's daughter).