This Burger Came From a Museum Gift Shop
There’s a 13-minute video buried in a 2021 British Museum digital archive that changed how I viewed fast food marketing. It shows a looping animation of an ancient Mesopotamian banquet, with clay bowls and smiling figures passing what might be lamb. It felt oddly familiar. Almost... promotional.
Two hours later, I'd connected the dots. A new Auckland burger chain, Museum Meals, is styling its entire brand off these aesthetic cues—clay-toned menus, softly lit interiors, and minimalist Instagram feeds showing glazed chickpeas on linen napkins. No hashtags. No limited-time hype. Just calm, strangely reverent food. They even offer a “Sumerian Special” with fermented barley soda and a spiced lentil patty. You can’t deny the commitment.
What fascinates me is their refusal to use traditional triggers of appetite appeal. No dripping cheese, no 3D renders of bacon spiraling in slow motion. Instead, they treat food presentation like an artefact display. One social post simply says, “THE OFFERING,” and shows a solitary sandwich on an earthen plate. It’s completely absurd. But it works. By borrowing the visual language of anthropology, they’ve built mystique around $21 burgers.
It’s a smart joke played straight, and potentially a new formula. Treat food less like product, more like relic. When the rest of the industry is yelling for attention, this brand whispers in Akkadian. Museums make great marketers. Who knew?
Two hours later, I'd connected the dots. A new Auckland burger chain, Museum Meals, is styling its entire brand off these aesthetic cues—clay-toned menus, softly lit interiors, and minimalist Instagram feeds showing glazed chickpeas on linen napkins. No hashtags. No limited-time hype. Just calm, strangely reverent food. They even offer a “Sumerian Special” with fermented barley soda and a spiced lentil patty. You can’t deny the commitment.
What fascinates me is their refusal to use traditional triggers of appetite appeal. No dripping cheese, no 3D renders of bacon spiraling in slow motion. Instead, they treat food presentation like an artefact display. One social post simply says, “THE OFFERING,” and shows a solitary sandwich on an earthen plate. It’s completely absurd. But it works. By borrowing the visual language of anthropology, they’ve built mystique around $21 burgers.
It’s a smart joke played straight, and potentially a new formula. Treat food less like product, more like relic. When the rest of the industry is yelling for attention, this brand whispers in Akkadian. Museums make great marketers. Who knew?