Nina's

What Nina's does

Nina's Cucina is a privately held, family-owned Italian-inspired café and catering business operating out of Melbourne's northern suburbs in Victoria, Australia. The flagship café is located at 2 Graystone Court, Epping, with a second site at 3B Newlands Road, Reservoir. The business serves walk-in retail customers at the café and provides off-premise catering for corporate functions, birthdays, and private events across Metro Melbourne (with delivery fees applying beyond the immediate vicinity and minimum spend requirements on weekends). The food menu centers on homestyle Italian fare such as panini, Cartocci, lasagne, arancini, and pastries, supplemented by gluten-free options; the beverage program is anchored by an exclusive arrangement to be the only café in Epping serving Allpress Espresso coffee, alongside a Prana Chai and Tea Drop partnership.

The business is owned and operated by Luke, who founded it inspired by his grandmother Nina (a WWII Malta survivor whose Italian-cooking legacy is the brand's namesake), with his mother-in-law Anna (also known as Nina among Italian friends) serving as chef and co-creator of the menu. There is no parent company, no external investors, no disclosed funding, and no headcount data in the public record; ownership and operations appear to be a single-family unit. The underlying technology footprint is minimal: a Wix-hosted website (ninascucina.com.au) functions as the catering enquiry channel and menu showcase, and the business does not publish an app, mobile platform, or API.

Revenue is generated through two streams: point-of-sale food and beverage sales to walk-in café customers (one-time transactions) and quote-based catering services for events (professional services, with minimum spend thresholds and delivery fees). Customer concentration is diffuse across local individual consumers, corporate clients, and private event hosts. Marketing is conducted primarily through the website and organic social media, with explicit community-oriented positioning toward Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Disability, LGBTIQA+, and newly arrived communities. No revenue, pricing, employment, or financial-performance figures are publicly disclosed.

Name

Nina's

Legal name

Nina's Cucina

Website

https://ninascucina.com.au

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Nina's Cucina is a family-owned Italian-inspired café and off-premise catering business in Epping and Reservoir, Melbourne, serving walk-in retail customers and corporate/private event hosts with homestyle food, gluten-free options, and exclusive Allpress Espresso coffee.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cafe and Catering Services

NAICS

Limited-Service Restaurants (722513), Caterers (722320), Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Dessert Cafes (Coffee + Desserts) (THAFADAH)

Keywords

• Italian cafe dining
• Event catering services
• Specialty coffee retail
• Homestyle Italian food
• Gluten-free food options

Headquarters

HQ city

Epping

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Food & Beverage Sales: Direct sales of food and beverages to walk-in café customers, including panini, Cartocci, lasagne, arancini, pastries, and specialty coffee. Transactions are one-time purchases at point of sale.
2. Catering Services: Catering services for events including corporate functions, birthdays, and other occasions. Services are quoted and delivered to client locations, with delivery fees applying for Metro Melbourne and further areas. Minimum spend requirements apply for weekend catering.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Nina's Cucina runs a walk-in Italian-inspired cafe in Epping, Victoria, serving panini, Cartocci, lasagne, arancini, pastries and gluten-free options alongside Allpress Espresso coffee and Prana Chai/Tea Drop teas. The business additionally offers event catering services for corporate functions, birthdays and private occasions, delivering food and beverage to client locations across Metro Melbourne with delivery fees beyond the immediate area.

Product overview

Nina's is a hospitality business consisting of two distinct offerings: a cafe and a catering service. The cafe (Nina's Cucina Cafe), located in Epping, Victoria, serves homestyle Italian-inspired food such as panini, Cartocci, lasagne, arancini, and pastries, with gluten-free options, alongside Allpress Espresso coffee and Prana Chai & Tea Drop specialty teas. The catering arm (Nina's Catering) extends the cafe's food and beverage offering to off-site events across Metro Melbourne, servicing occasions ranging from birthdays to corporate functions. Both offerings are unified under the Nina's brand identity of inclusive, family-style hospitality.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Nina's Cucina Cafe Walk-in cafe in Epping, Victoria serving homestyle Italian-inspired food including panini, fresh Cartocci, lasagne, arancini, pastries, and gluten-free options, paired with Allpress Espresso coffee and Prana Chai/Tea Drop specialty teas for local individual consumers.
• Nina's Catering Quote-based catering service for corporate functions, birthdays, and private events delivered across Metro Melbourne, with delivery fees beyond the immediate vicinity and a minimum spend requirement for weekend bookings.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Allpress EspressocoreOthersAllpress Espresso is a premium coffee roaster. Nina's is the only place in Epping to get Allpress Espresso coffee, providing a unique selling proposition and exclusive access to quality specialty coffee that differentiates the café from competitors.
• Prana Chai & Tea DropminorOthersPartnership with Prana Chai and Tea Drop to offer premium tea options alongside their coffee selection. This partnership complements the coffee offering and provides variety for non-coffee drinkers.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Manchester Press: Established Melbourne café serving specialty coffee and a Mediterranean/Middle-Eastern leaning food menu — comparable in café format, all-day menu structure and inner-Melbourne customer demographic.
• The Hardware Société: Well-known Melbourne café serving specialty coffee alongside a Mediterranean-leaning all-day menu — comparable in café format, menu breadth and customer demographic to Nina's.
• St. Ali Coffee Roasters: Melbourne specialty coffee roaster with a flagship café serving all-day food — comparable premium specialty coffee positioning and café-plus-roastery model to Nina's Italian café model.
• Pellegrini's Espresso Bar: Long-standing Melbourne Italian espresso bar serving traditional Italian fare and coffee — comparable heritage Italian-café positioning to Nina's Cucina in Melbourne.
• Axil Coffee Roasters: Melbourne specialty coffee roaster and café operator with multiple sites — comparable in that they combine roasting/branded coffee with café service and brand-led specialty coffee, overlapping with Nina's Allpress-led positioning.
• Brunetti: Iconic Melbourne Italian café and patisserie serving espresso, pastries, panini and full Italian meals — directly comparable to Nina's Cucina's Italian café + coffee + pastries offering in the same category and city.
• Laurent Bakery: Multi-site Melbourne café and bakery serving pastries, meals and specialty coffee — comparable café-plus-pastry offering and broader Melbourne specialty-coffee customer base.
• Tivoli Road Bakery: Melbourne suburban café and bakery serving all-day food and specialty coffee — comparable small-format independent café targeting local foot traffic in a similar inner-suburban trade area.
• Orlo: Melbourne suburban café serving all-day brunch-style food and specialty coffee — comparable small-format independent café targeting local foot traffic and premium-coffee drinkers.

Emerging players

• Black Star Pastry: Australian café and patisserie brand with a strong identity around signature desserts — partial overlap with Nina's pastries/dessert + café offering, though operating at multi-site scale and headquartered in Sydney.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ninas-cucina

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Nina's