Three tonnes of hummus set to be served at Australian Open

What does three tonnes of hummus look like? Chef Charlie Carrington will find out over the next two weeks as he runs a pop-up version of his local Israeli restaurant, Lomah, at the Australian Open.

"I reckon we'll need that much hummus, plus two or three tonnes of salad," he says. "I've ordered 10,000 pitas."

Carrington's humungous hummus effort is part of the "Best of Victoria" offering at Grand Slam Oval, alongside other Melbourne dining favourites including Mr Miyagi and Mamasita. The chef expects to feed 20,000 people over 14 days.

"The sheer volume is full on and crazy," he says. "It's nerve-racking, but it's a great opportunity too. This is Australia's biggest event."

Last year's Australian Open welcomed 780,000 fans who drank 160,000 coffees and 15,000 glasses of champagne. More than 145,000 ice-creams, 15,000 souvlakis and 28,000 pizzas were served.

This year the volume of food will be even bigger. Tennis Australia's chief revenue and experiential officer Richard Heaselgrave is targeting 1 million patrons.

"We don't regard this as a Victorian tennis tournament," he says. "We are aiming to be the greatest sports and entertainment event in the world. The tennis is tremendous, but we ask ourselves, 'could we be Australia's biggest music festival, could we create a theme park for families, could we create a food experience that people would want to fly in for?' That's the future of major events and only worth it if all those experiences are as good as Roger and Rafa playing on centrecourt."

The Australian Open has a massive raft of hospitality partnerships covering various price points and cuisines. An all-female chef series includes meals by cookbook doyenne Donna Hay and Bangkok-based chef and restaurateur Bo Songvisava, while Rockpool and Nobu are running full-service pop-up restaurants alongside Margaret Court Arena.

Premium Chinese restaurant Sun Kitchen will serve banquets including lobster with golden egg sauce and Szechuan spicy lamb ribs – and that's over the same period that they welcome the Year of the Rat at the flagship 400-seat Albert Park venue.

New for 2020 is Late, an after-dark bar and jazz venue atop the Tennis Australia headquarters, with views of the precinct and city. Zara Madrusan's The Everleigh and Bar Margaux are among five bars with two- or three-day residencies. "We are super excited," she says. "The tennis brings Melbourne to life when everyone is a bit sleepy."

Far from fearing that the pop-ups will cannibalise custom to the venues, Madrusan sees them as valuable awareness raising exercises. "They allow us to communicate our concepts to new audiences. There'll be overlap – people will come to the bars the next night."

Melbourne's three-hatted Attica will run its first takeaway stall, too, serving ant-and-avocado tostadas, and kangaroo kransky sausages with Davidson plum sauce. Pastry fans can seek out limited-edition Lune croissants.

And there's even a hidden bar that no one will be told about (they will simply have to stumble upon it by chance, like many of Melbourne's best secret watering holes).

"I want people to unravel it like a present," Heaselgrave says. "If you love tennis, that's super, we'll embellish your day. But even if you don't love tennis, it's still an amazing event."