Case Studies / Kitchen by Mike — National Gallery of Australia Café
National Gallery of Australia • From 2026
Redefining what a café in a cultural institution could be.
Australia’s most important art museum needed a café that lived up to its cultural status. The brief was to create a food offer that could serve thousands of visitors a day — tourists, students, patrons, and dignitaries — while staying true to the NGA’s standing as a national institution. The risk was that a restaurant brand might lose its authenticity in such a formal, high-traffic environment.
Approach
In partnership with Trippas White, I licensed Kitchen by Mike into the NGA café, bringing in the canteen-style service and seasonal menus that had become our signature. This was more than a food offer — it was about embedding an ethos: honesty, generosity, and producer-driven food, expressed in an institutional setting without compromise.
Guests could experience the same warmth and quality that made KBM a cult favourite, but in a completely different context.
Outcome
The NGA project redefined how cafés within cultural institutions could operate — not just as functional spaces, but as destinations in their own right.
It proved the scalability and resilience of the KBM brand, setting a benchmark for licensing into galleries, museums, and government venues across Australia. More importantly, it showed that cultural institutions could serve food that was seasonal, sustainable, and joyful, without ever losing sight of accessibility.
