NAB News

Set foot in il Mercato Centrale, the new multi-level Italian food hub in Melbourne’s CBD, and you will be transported to Italy.

il Mercato Centrale is an artisan market franchise, founded in Florence in 2014 by restaurant entrepreneur Umberto Montano. The appetite for the business offering grew and il Mercato Centrale opened additional stores in Rome, Turin and Milan.

Backed by NAB as a lender, Melbourne is the first international outpost for the concept and was brought to life by founders Eddie Muto and Harry Chua, and Gary Patikkis, General Manager of il Mercato Centrale Australia.

Experience-driven retail

il Mercato Centrale offers an immersive experience to customers that delivers the authenticity of Italy in central Melbourne.

“We don’t just sell food and beverages, we sell experiences. When you walk through the doors at 546 Collins Street, you walk into an Italian journey – we want people to feel as if they’re in Milan or Florence or Rome,” Mr Muto said.

Growing through customer feedback and collaboration

Like any new business, launching and finding its rhythm has not been without its challenges, but evolving the customer proposition based on customer needs and feedback has been critical.

“It’s hospitality. There’s always going to be challenges. But listening to the customer and understanding their needs is in our DNA at il Mercato Centrale.”

NAB’s role as Australia’s largest business bank

NAB has been a supportive partner to the founders of il Mercato Centrale, from concept to launch.

As Australia’s largest biggest bank NAB provided $48bn in new business lending in FY24.

“We knew we could do something big here in in Melbourne and we knew the building was ideal for it, and all we needed was a banking partner and and NAB were able to jump on and understand our vision,” Mr Muto said.

Mr Patikkis said NAB has been instrumental in advocating for il Mercato Centrale and acting on the voice of the customer.

“NAB’s been fantastic from day one. They’ve spent time educating themselves about how we operate and what our needs are, and a lot of banks don’t take the time for that,” he said.

“We’ve been very fortunate to have a banker who has a chef background, so we were speaking the same language. They’ve (NAB) actually recommended initiatives. They’re working on things in the pipeline for the future that we could trial here. I couldn’t have a better partner than NAB for this project.”

The Godfather of pasta

CEO of Invidia Foods and an artisan within il Mercato Centrale, Angelo Sperlinga has been making pasta all his life.

“I’m probably known as the Godfather of pasta. We started back in 1995 in a small shop with my parents and my sister in Lygon Street, where we manufactured pasta,” said Mr Sperlinga, who is also a NAB customer.

il Mercato Centrale provided a fresh opportunity for Sperlinga’s business to grow and expand. He works alongside his daughter Amanda, Branding and Operations Director for Invidia Group.

Since launching at il Mercato Centrale, the pasta vendor is pursuing a growth strategy to increase its offerings.

“To be part of a centre of excellence in Melbourne like il Mercato Centrale, where we can create the best opportunity for customers to taste our food, it’s great. It is an honour to be here because it gets us to showcase what we have and it gets us to be part of this great environment.”

Feedback the key to becoming the most customer-centric company in Australia and NZ

Like il Mercato Centrale, dedication to improving customer outcomes through customer feedback is at the heart of NAB’s strategy evolution to become the most customer centric company in Australia and New Zealand.

“To enable this strategy involves creating a feedback rich environment; a space for customers and colleagues to share what is and is not working so we fix things or make them better,” Mr Irvine said.

“A whole-of-bank approach for listening to, learning from, and acting on the voice of the customer and frontline colleagues ensures issues getting in the way of delivering for customers can be raised easily and fixed faster.

“Customers need to be the everything of who we are and how we operate,” Mr Irvine said.

View NAB’s 2024 Full Year Results announcement.

NAB CEO Andrew Irvine reflects on NAB’s 2024 Full Year Results and delivering for customers – watch the video interview.

Learn more about NAB’s vision to become the most customer centric company in Australia and New Zealand on NAB News.