In a cultural sector where every visitor touchpoint matters, the way food, experience and commercial strategy work together has never been more critical. Jeroen Schuijt, MYA’s Director of International Management Consultancy, advises cultural institutions worldwide on visitor experience and commercial performance. In the piece that follows, he offers a personal view on the changing landscape of the cultural sector and what it takes to build stronger, more sustainable models.
I found myself on the Millennium Bridge today, looking towards Tate Modern, a place that shaped my career and my approach to leading commercial operations in the cultural sector. It reminded me how much can be achieved when purpose and performance work hand in hand.
During my years heading Tate Catering, we embedded sustainability long before it became a sector expectation, and opened the new Tate Modern with a food and beverage strategy built around audience insight, distinctiveness and operational discipline. That experience showed me something vital: cultural venues thrive when their commercial strategy is as bold as their artistic vision.
Today, UK cultural institutions are under more pressure than ever: rising costs, changing visitor patterns, recruitment challenges and the need to diversify revenue without diluting identity. The margin for error is small, but the opportunities for smarter, more resilient models are huge.
Through MYA, I now work with national museums in Wales and cultural venues across the Middle East, and increasingly with partners around the globe, helping teams align visitor experience, food and beverage, and commercial strategy. We’re always looking to build new relationships with cultural institutions and organisations that want to think differently about their commercial offer.
As I’ve moved into consultancy, I’m excited by the chance to support cultural venues as they navigate this moment of change. If your organisation is reworking its visitor journey, sharpening its food and beverage offer or searching for a clearer commercial spine, I can help, drawing on experience as both an operator and a consultant, and a history of turning complex operations into efficient, profitable models.
If this challenges you or sparks a conversation, get in touch.