MANAGEMENT at the MAC has said a decision to bring its café bar back in-house has made the arts venue more financially stable.
The eatery had been operated by a subcontractor since 2012, but management took over the operation last November. Since then, The MAC has established relationships with a series of local suppliers, including Draynes Farm, Man Made, Barra Bakehouse and Bailies Coffee.
Commercial director Áine McVerry said: “In the early days it was perhaps natural that we would concentrate on the delivery of contemporary arts and outsource our catering service, and that was quite successful.
“We now have a full understanding of what our customers want to eat or drink when they come to the MAC either for a show or purely for the catering and I think that we are best placed to meet and even grow that demand.
“Not many people realise that the MAC is a charity and our café bar is an essential source of income so every penny spent by our customers helps us to keep connecting people with art,” she said.
“We are at the heart of the Cathedral Quarter which continues to lead the renaissance of Belfast and it is important that we meet the demands of our customers, old and new.
“So we have now brought in a new team, launched our new Christmas menu, taken on board new suppliers and we are determined to make our café bar work better for the MAC and our customer base.”
The commercial director confirmed that taking the catering in house had been part of the MAC’s strategy.
“Like other vital services, the arts sector has felt the financial strains of austerity and the tightening of the public purse,” she said.
“We will always make as strong a case as we can that the arts are a service just like infrastructure, education and health, and deserving of public funding and public support.
“A city that values its cultural offering is one that is outward looking, progressive and ambitious – and that’s exactly the sort of society that we all want to live in.
“That mission is central to the MAC’s ethos. At the same time though we are keenly financially aware and are making strides towards a model of sustainability that involves not only public funding but increasing our own means of income through corporate relationships, commercial activity and thinking entrepreneurially about how we run our organisation and the services we provide.
“We regard taking the café bar in-house as a huge opportunity for us, both in commercial terms and in the interests of better aligning the MAC’s warm and welcoming brand with all areas of the business.”
