‘The Chadstone effect’: Thousands flock to sample Melbourne’s newest food mecca
By Jessica Yun
Crowds hit Melbourne’s Chadstone shopping centre on Thursday to get a taste of a heaving new food and dining mecca that blends the atmosphere of a farmer’s market and restaurant dining with shopping.
An estimated extra 40,000 people at the official opening of Chadstone’s latest food and dining precinct picked their way through more than 50 vendors to gawk at displays of fresh produce, sample deli meats and try cheese carved from a giant parmesan wheel as butcheries and fishmongers jostled with patisseries, a champagne and oyster bar, and a high-end florist.
Chadstone usually attracts about 60,000 shoppers on a Thursday, but centre manager Daniel Boyle estimates that swelled to 100,000, more typical for a weekend.
“Most people crave experiences. If I think about bricks and mortar retail, the benefit will always be to see it, try it, taste it and take it away,” he said.
“When you come in, you can experience more than that very functional shop. That could be a retail shop now, coupled with food shops, something for the family, something for yourself. Whether it’s dining, entertainment, you can do multiple things, best in class, all under one roof.”
Market Pavilion spans 26,500 square metres – larger than the Melbourne Cricket Ground – representing an extra 10,000 square metres added by gutting part of the building used as back-of-house and loading dock space and reconstructing it.
Opening after two years of development and refurbishment, the pavilion includes vendors such as Melbourne pastry institution Brunetti Oro, That’s Amore Cheesery, Amalfi Pizza & Pasta, Champagne & Oyster Bar, Hank’s Bakery, Flowers Vasette, and dozens more.
Cookbook author Julia Busuttil Nishimura held a cooking demonstration paces away from Leaflab, an indoor herb garden. Also present are regular grocery stalwarts such as Baker’s Delight, Aldi and Liquorland Cellars.
Children pressed themselves up against glass displays of giant carcasses and legs of beef showcased by Vic’s Meats, a Sydney-based premium butcher known for supplying high-end hatted restaurants such as Quay, Bennelong, Vue De Monde, Sixpenny, Entrecote and more. The outlet is Vic’s Meat’s first Melbourne outpost.
“Love it or hate it, the Chadstone effect is just massive,” said Vic’s Meat chief executive Anthony Puharich, who said he was approached by property developer and Chadstone co-owner John Gandel to set up shop.
“It’s the biggest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere. It’s one of the top five shopping centres in the world. It’s got this aura about it.”
Anthony Puharich (left), CEO of Vic’s Meats, and restaurateur David Mackintosh of Amalfi Eatery, two of the new food vendors at Chadstone.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Artisan chocolatier Koko Black has opened its second Chadstone store in the precinct, attracting long queues starting from 6am that wrapped outside and around the new flagship store.
The Melbourne-founded chocolate brand, which slid into administration and then was bought by Grill’d co-founder Simon Crowe, is in a period of growth after acquiring Chocolatier Australia and its new manufacturing facility that will allow Koko Black to quadruple production capacity.
Why set up a second store in Chadstone? “It’s all about foot traffic,” said Koko Black chief executive Rory Gration. “People come to Chadstone, and they might only shop one end, or they might be at the department store end, or they might come to the food end.
“You do see that with a lot of other retailers [that] have multiple stores in Chadstone, so we’re really comfortable with the choice. The foot traffic in this area today has been amazing.”
Even as Australians are cutting costs on grocery bills, Gration said demand for the hand-made chocolates had held up, aided by a national footprint of 20 stores that allow customers to experience the premium brand.
The new Koko Black store also features a chocolate-making station, with employees busy preparing decadent hot chocolates, iced chocolates and chocolate-dipped strawberries. Another section of the store displays rows upon rows of chocolate truffles. Customers can personalise their chocolate blocks with a message for the recipient.
“People aren’t just coming to buy a bit of chocolate,” says Gration. “They’re coming for that cocoa experience, and so that’s allowed us to have a different type of conversation, as opposed to, ‘Oh, that’s about a price.’”
Crowds started queueing at the new Koko Black store in Chadstone’s Market Pavilion at 6am on Thursday.Credit: Joe Armao
Market Pavilion’s other services also boost Chadstone’s technology credentials. A “food concierge” allows customers to free themselves of heavy grocery bags by offering to store them in fridges for up to four hours so shoppers can keep browsing. At the food concierge desk is an AI recipe generator where customers can input their favourite cuisines, ingredients and any allergies to generate curated recipes that source ingredients from the pavilion and what’s in season.
Market Pavilion is the second dining precinct to launch in a major capital city this week after the $20 million food hub Hay St Market opened on Wednesday in Sydney’s Paddy’s Markets.
The reporter travelled to Melbourne as a guest of Vicinity Centres.
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.