Gallery seeking new café

OVERLOOKING Lydiard Street, the café space within the Ballarat Art Gallery, formerly Kittlety’s, is seeking a new operator.

While the Gallery is currently closed due to pandemic restrictions, gallery director Louise Tegart said her team are pleased to offer the commercial opportunity to develop a partnership with a new proprietor.

“We’re looking for somebody that has an alignment with the Gallery in terms of our mission which is to make art accessible to everybody,” she said.

“Some might consider it to be a challenging time to be entering a new business arrangement but it’s also a really great opportunity.

“We had Kittlety’s here for five years, so these opportunities don’t come up very often.”

Although the café will operate as a separate entity, Ms Tegart said there are a variety of ways it would reap benefits from being an integrated part of the Gallery experience.

“We welcome over 200,000 people through the Gallery a year so there’s a ready-made audience for their business along with the marketing opportunities that come with being a part of the institution,” she said.

“Another benefit of the space is the physical location of being right in the centre of town, in the most historical part of Ballarat.

“The café is just as much part of the experience of the Gallery as the exhibitions, the shop and public programs are.”

In addition to the café, the potential operators will also have access to the extensive commercial kitchen at the Camp Street side of the building specifically for catering the Gallery’s social events.

Although the proprietor will have access to both the café and extra kitchen space, Ms Tegart said she hopes they will bring something else to the table.

“The café should be able to attract people not solely because it is a part of the Gallery but because it has great atmosphere, great food and great coffee on its own,” she said.

Expressions of interests are now open and must be lodged at eprocure.com.au/ballarat or posted to Louise Tegart, Director, Art Gallery of Ballarat, PO Box 655, Ballarat, 3353 by 4 September.