Spanning two floors and featuring industrial indoor and outdoor spaces along with a spectacular sky- roof, the bustling urban eatery is set to become a world-class food destination that will entice the senses, inspire passion and creativity, and immerse customers in the theatre of food. According to Centre Manager of Robina Town Centre, Mr Glen McAnulty, “The launch of The Kitchens marks another significant milestone in the evolution of Robina Town Centre as we continue to deliver our customers with an outstanding shopping, dining and entertainment experience.”

“We have shared a rich 20-year history with the Gold Coast and have grown to understand that, for our customers, food is synonymous with celebration and social interaction between family and friends. This enduring passion for great fare and authentic dining experiences was our inspiration behind The Kitchens’ concept and we are thrilled that the community will be at the heart of it, while fresh food will be at its soul.”

With culture foregrounding The Kitchens offering, live, local music, film, theatre and art through an ongoing events program will serve as a spotlight for the Gold Coast’s incredible wealth of talent in a space that the community can call their own. Gone are the days of buying goods and services; the new way to achieve differentiation is giving consumers sensory experiences through entertainment and a compelling, enriching atmosphere. Two people who are helping to bring this vision to life, Curator Daniel West and Chef-in-Residence Sam Gowing, know you can successfully mix business with pleasure and shared with us exactly how it’s done.

Tell us about your involvement and locating it in Robina – is it designed to activate this community and surrounds?

Daniel West: “The Kitchens is the culmination of a long-term vision that recognised the pivotal role fresh food plays in our modern lives and, particularly, in our local community – inspired by a concept to create an urban food mecca here on the Gold Coast – a food playground that not only supports and showcases local producers, suppliers, chefs and restaurateurs, but also appeals to both local and visiting food lovers.”

“We wanted to design a space that is educational, inspiring and always activated, ultimately creating a bustling urban marketplace
that will transform the local food scene and deliver a new way for the community to eat, drink, meet, sip, cook and play.”

Sam Gowing: “Jemma Gawned (Naked Treaties) planted the seed, and I thought, “Wow, that is an interesting spot.” I acted on my entrepreneurial twitch and rang QIC. It was one of those opportunities where if you don’t act, you don’t know. I’d been to the Robina shopping centre as my partner lives in Helensvale, and that part of the precinct had not been developed. As it was accessible for me, I got excited – it’s only an hour from Byron Bay (where Sam is based). I’m a Melbourne girl and it takes an hour to get from Fitzroy to St Kilda; so, that is a no brainer up here!”

“My work is quite specialised – not many people can hold the stage, cook and tell jokes, if I say so! And, it all happened within 48 hours. Daniel said, ‘it was as if you were here in the meeting yesterday when we said we needed someone’. It was as complicated and as simple as that. You gotta reach out and find that opportunity, if it is meant to happen, it will happen quickly and that is what happened with The Kitchens.

Are people wanting experiential-style shopping, and if so, how is this delivering it?

Daniel West: “We understand the importance of delivering our customers with an outstanding shopping, dining and entertainment experience, and the launch of The Kitchens – the first development of its kind in Australia – reinforces our commitment to doing so.”

“In addition to the incredible fresh food offer, the food playground will also feature a myriad of activation stations that customers can interact with during their visit.”

“From cooking demonstrations and workshops in the purpose built open kitchens, to live musical performances, art installations and outdoor cinema experiences, visitors will be immersed in an outstanding line up of entertainment suited to all ages.”

Sam Gowing: “Yes, it’s called ‘gastronomic tourism’, I talk and write about this prolifically. Australian cuisine as an entity, as a life, is finally coming into its own. We’re no longer borrowing from the French, not just reinventing Italian dishes, South-East Asian and the Pacific Rim – and I’ve been teaching and working with Southeast Asian cuisine for 20 years. We are starting to really build a gourmet flavour that is becoming uniquely Australian, using native ingredients – as we should – and showing a duty of care to move away from highly imported superfoods.”

Tell us more about the Australian love affair with food, coffee and drink?
Daniel West: “People have forever connected over food, whether it’s at the family dinner table, in the vegetable garden or at the local markets. We are harnessing this shared love of food at The Kitchens and inviting locals to connect with the chefs and tenants, but also connect with each other and celebrate the seasonality of fresh, local produce in a community style setting.”

Sam Gowing: “My partner’s been in the entertainment industry for a long time and he says, “Food is the new rock ‘n’ roll and chefs are the new rockstars!” Cooking shows like Masterchef have heavily influenced younger people to cook. We’re moving from a place of voyeurism, into actioning. That is what I see as my role at The Kitchens. People are literally coming to a demo accidentally; they are just writing down what I say. Then they go and look around – maybe go into Woollies – and they buy all the ingredients. There’s no shopping lists, the intention is for them to write it down.”

“I love that three people (locals) have done that in such a short space of time and sent me photos. They said, ‘I never thought to put that and that together. I never had shaved beetroot!’ That is how we know we are doing our job; we are being actioned by the consumer.” “A lot of locals living in Robina are in the surrounding 10km and they are like, “we are just so happy we’ve got somewhere to go – aren’t we lucky? And, it’s free parking. Pacific Fair is not free parking’.”

What has the feedback from suppliers and customers been like so far?
Daniel West: “We have already received incredible feedback from our local customers who have watched The Kitchens come to life over the past 18 months. We understand that food is synonymous with celebration and social interaction between family and friends, so we anticipate that this world-class fresh food and dining destination will become the ultimate community epicentre.”

Sam Gowing: “That the food that is amazing! The other feedback is with the tastings. People like this, it’s a free part of the activation process. They are resonating with the ‘theatre of food’ and drawn in by the cooking stage set-up. It’s part of my role to bring them in, and stop them in their tracks when they are walking past. High-end cooking knowledge has been elitist and glamorised.

Now, we are making food accessible to the consumer and at price points they can afford.” “There is a variety, range of flavours and unique offerings. People can chat to anyone of the seven butchers about what he is doing for example. Being able to connect to the producer means they don’t have to go to a farmer’s market. We are finally providing them with a sense of community; people are
encouraged to go and sit on communal tables, and chat to the person nextdoor in a contemporary beautiful marketplace.”

“It’s all about conversations, as people are looking for connection. Shared plates are really important, we need to look at that and come back to sense of extended family, instead of a nuclear family.