Museum Of Food And Drink (mofad)

What Museum Of Food And Drink (mofad) does

MOFAD (Museum of Food and Drink) is a New York City-based nonprofit cultural institution founded in 2013 and operating as the city's first dedicated food museum. The organization designs and presents interactive, multi-sensory exhibitions that explore the culture, history, science, production, and commerce of food and drink, with a curatorial emphasis on storytelling around migration, identity, and community rather than on ingredients. Its flagship venue is located at 55 Water Street, 2nd Floor in DUMBO, Brooklyn, with a secondary legacy site at 65 Bayard Street in Williamsburg used for earlier programming. The museum has produced more than 25 exhibitions over its history, including notable shows such as Flavor: The World to Your Brain (featuring a Smell Synth Machine and an EEG-based Brain Wave Bloom Machine), African/American: Making the Nation's Table (with the Harlem Needle Arts-commissioned Legacy Quilt), CHOW: Making the Chinese American Restaurant, and the current Street Food City. MOFAD extends its reach digitally through a partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies' Bloomberg Connects mobile app and through the Legacy Quilt Digital Project.

MOFAD generates revenue through a mix of ticketed general admission ($18 adult, $12 discounted, $10 youth, free under 5), tiered K-12 school tours priced from $75 to $560 per class depending on school type (Title I, NYC DOE, Private) and class size, memberships offering free general admission, individual donations routed through Veevart and GiveButter, and institutional grants. Its customer base spans individual food-culture enthusiasts, K-12 educational institutions (with 500+ schools educated cumulatively), and food-insecure community members served through SNAP-resource partnerships with organizations like Community Roots Charter School. Operating status is mixed: the museum is active programmatically and digitally, but the flagship exhibition space is currently closed to the public pending announcement of the next exhibition.

Name

Museum Of Food And Drink (mofad)

Legal name

Museum of Food and Drink

Website

https://mofad.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

MOFAD is a New York City nonprofit operating the city's first food museum, delivering multi-sensory exhibitions, K-12 school tours, and digital content that explore food culture, history, and science for general public visitors, schools, and community partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Museum Services

NAICS

Museums (712110)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Museums (e.g., Maritime, Aviation, Sports, Music, Film) (THAJADAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Science & Technology Museums (THAJADAD), Food, Market & Culinary Culture Tours (THAJAAAG)

Keywords

• Interactive food museum
• Culinary exhibitions
• Food culture education
• Museum visitor experiences
• Multisensory installations

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. General Admission Tickets: Visitors pay for entry to exhibitions. Current pricing: $18 general admission, $10 youth (ages 5-13), $12 discounted, free for children under 5.
2. School Tours and Educational Programs: Paid guided tours for school groups with pricing tiers based on school type (Title I, DOE, Private) and class size.
3. Donations: Individual donations supporting exhibitions, education, and research. Accepts donations through their Veevart donation platform.
4. Membership Program: MOFAD Members receive free general admission, discounts on program tickets, and other benefits.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

MOFAD operates New York City's first food museum at 55 Water Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn, offering interactive, multi-sensory exhibitions that explore the culture, history, science, production, and commerce of food and drink. The museum sells general admission tickets, offers educational school tours, runs a membership program, and provides a digital experience through the Bloomberg Connects mobile app.

Product overview

MOFAD (Museum of Food and Drink) is New York City's first food museum offering a unified visitor experience centered on interactive exhibitions that allow guests to see, smell, touch, and explore food culture. The core product is the physical museum experience at 55 Water Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn, complemented by the Bloomberg Connects mobile guide app for virtual exploration, Student Tours educational program, and a Membership program. Key exhibitions span current shows like Street Food City and past signature exhibitions including African/American: Making the Nation's Table (with its Legacy Quilt), CHOW: Making the Chinese American Restaurant, and Flavor: The World to Your Brain. The Legacy Quilt also extends into a digital story-gathering project. MOFAD also produces programs like MOFAD Talks and past virtual series available on YouTube. The museum preserves and elevates stories of food and drink through small, multi-sensory exhibitions focused on the culture, history, science, production, and commerce of food.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MOFAD Museum Experience New York City's first food museum offering interactive, multi-sensory exhibitions that allow visitors to see, smell, touch, and explore different cuisines and food culture stories.
• Student Tours Guided educational tours for K-12 schools featuring age-appropriate lesson plans exploring food systems, history, and cultural significance. Tours offered on weekday mornings with tiered pricing for Title I, DOE, and private schools.
• Bloomberg Connects Mobile Guide Free mobile app allowing global audiences to virtually explore MOFAD's current and past exhibitions via QR code scanning with collectible bookmarks.
• Street Food City Exhibition Exhibition showcasing generations of New York's mostly immigrant street food entrepreneurs and the iconic dishes they introduced to the city's cultural and culinary landscape.
• African/American: Making the Nation's Table Exhibition Exhibition exploring African American contributions to American cuisine over 400+ years, featuring the Legacy Quilt and restored Ebony Magazine Test Kitchen.
• CHOW: Making the Chinese American Restaurant Exhibition Exhibition tracing the nearly 170-year history of Chinese American restaurants, featuring the Curtain of Many installation of 7,250 Chinese takeout boxes and KitchenAid Culinary Studio.
• Knights of the Raj NYC Exhibition Immersive after-hours exhibition and dining experience capturing the stories behind Bengali migrants who brought curry to New York City restaurants.
• The Legacy Quilt 14-foot tall, 30-foot wide handmade quilt with 406 blocks honoring African American food and drink producers who shaped American cuisine.
• Feasts and Festivals Exhibition Photography exhibition in partnership with SAVEUR presented by Roland Foods, featuring never-before-exhibited photographs of annual festivities, religious rituals, and special occasions.
• BOOM! The Puffing Gun and the Rise of Cereal Exhibition MOFAD's first mobile food education experience featuring a functioning 3,200-pound puffing gun from the breakfast cereal industry with live demonstrations and tastings.
• Flavor: Making It and Faking It Exhibition Debut exhibition of MOFAD Lab featuring tasting and smelling adventure exploring what 'natural' and 'artificial' flavoring really mean in the $25 billion flavor industry.
• Flavor: The World to Your Brain Exhibition Sensory exhibition exploring brain responses to food flavors, featuring the Smell Synth Machine and Brain Wave Bloom Machine, designed by food scientists and culinary anthropologists.
• World Food Photography Awards Exhibition Photo exhibition co-curated with World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi®, showcasing award-winning food photography capturing street food vending across the world.
• MOFAD Membership Program Recurring membership program offering free general admission to exhibitions, discounts on program tickets, and other benefits for members.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500,000+ people reached through exhibitions and programs
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• World Food Photography Awards / Bimi®coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 December 2025MOFAD partnered with World Food Photography Awards sponsored by Bimi® to present a curated selection of award-winning food photography images as part of the Street Food City exhibition. This was the first time images from the Awards were shown in the United States.
• Brooklyn Bridge ParkminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2024Exhibition supporter for the Flavor: The World to Your Brain exhibition.
• The Africa CentercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2024Hosted the African/American: Making the Nation's Table exhibition at the Aliko Dangote Hall from February-July 2024.
• Harlem Needle ArtscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Harlem Needle Arts created the Legacy Quilt for MOFAD's African/American exhibition. The 14-foot tall, 30-foot wide handmade quilt composed of 406 blocks honors African American food and drink producers who shaped American cuisine.
• Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and CulturecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Received the Ebony Magazine Test Kitchen for display. The 1970s state-of-the-art kitchen was rescued from demolition and refurbished by MOFAD before being transferred to the Smithsonian's NMAAHC.
• Soul City ArtscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 July 2018MOFAD partnered with Soul City Arts and Mohammed Ali to present Knights of the Raj NYC exhibition exploring the history of curry in New York City and Bengali migration stories.
• Words Beats & LifeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 July 2018Cultural organization partner for the Knights of the Raj NYC immersive exhibition and dining experience.
• SAVEURcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 November 2017MOFAD partnered with SAVEUR magazine to present Feasts and Festivals exhibition featuring never-before-exhibited professional photographs from SAVEUR archives of annual festivities, religious rituals, and special occasions. The partnership included a program series with talks, demos, and special events.
• Roland FoodsminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 6 November 2017Roland Foods presented the Feasts and Festivals exhibition alongside SAVEUR, supporting the photography exhibition and program series.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies / Bloomberg ConnectscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBloomberg Philanthropies partnered with MOFAD to create the Bloomberg Connects mobile app, a free digital guide making MOFAD's exhibitions accessible globally. The app showcases cultural organizations worldwide and allows virtual exploration of MOFAD's current and past exhibitions.
• Community Roots Charter SchoolminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal DUMBO charter school working directly with student families who may lose SNAP benefits. MOFAD supports families through grocery gift card donations.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• The Africa Center: NYC cultural institution that hosted MOFAD's African/American exhibition and partners on programming. Comparable as a cultural center serving overlapping audiences with food/cultural programming and shared community orientation.
• Color Factory: Immersive experiential museum with multiple locations featuring interactive installations. Comparable to MOFAD as a competing single-category experiential attraction competing for the same discretionary cultural-tourism spend in NYC.
• Museum of Ice Cream: An experiential concept museum centered on a food-themed immersive experience with multiple US locations. Directly comparable to MOFAD as a competing food-themed experiential museum targeting similar consumer audiences.
• The Soul City Arts: Cultural organization partnering with MOFAD on the Knights of the Raj NYC exhibition. Comparable as a small NYC cultural organization producing curated story-driven exhibitions on migration and identity themes.

Regional players

• Tenement Museum: NYC-based cultural museum telling stories of immigration and identity through preserved historic spaces. Comparable as a NYC story-driven cultural museum using site-based exhibitions for educational impact and ticket revenue.
• New York Transit Museum: Brooklyn-based cultural museum telling NYC stories through physical exhibits and educational programs. Comparable as a Brooklyn-based story-driven museum with school programs and ticketed exhibitions.

Broad incumbents

• Exploratorium: San Francisco science museum pioneering multi-sensory interactive exhibits including taste and smell experiences. Comparable as a museum pioneering sensory-based interactive exhibits, particularly relevant to MOFAD's Flavor exhibitions.
• Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture: Federal cultural institution that received MOFAD's restored Ebony Test Kitchen. Comparable as a cultural institution exploring African American history including culinary contributions, with significantly larger scale and reach.

Others

• James Beard Foundation: Nonprofit culinary arts organization whose American culinary Hall of Fame recognized MOFAD-affiliated curator Dr. Jessica B. Harris. Comparable as a food-culture and culinary-heritage nonprofit with overlapping curatorial network and audience.

Emerging players

• Eataly: Italian marketplace combining food retail, dining, and educational experiences. Comparable as a multi-sensory food-themed experience blending commerce, education, and culture, though operating at much larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/mofad
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCUb6z-yPpWP7oWDV4road1Q
• Facebookfacebook.com/MOFADinfo
• Instagraminstagram.com/mofad/?hl=en
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/museum-of-food-and-drink

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Museum Of Food And Drink (mofad)