Local restaurant to open second location in Memphis Art Museum

By Sophia Surrett – Reporter, Daily Memphian

April June 25, 2026

Libro is opening a second location, this one inside the new Memphis Art Museum Downtown.

The $222 million museum, which is opening in December, announced the news Thursday, June 25. 

John-Paul Gagliano, co-owner of Libro in Novel in Laurelwood, Tonica Midtown and Downtown as well as Ecco, said he is excited to move into the restaurant space at the Memphis Art Museum. The new Libro is expected to open January 2027.

Zoe Kahr, executive director of the Memphis Art Museum, said they wanted to choose a Memphis family to operate a restaurant in the roughly 4,600-square-foot space. 

“The Gaglianos have long been known as innovators in dining, bringing the city so many beloved spots, and bringing that to Front Street is exactly the ambition we wanted on this campus,” Kahr said in a statement. 

The new museum, which will be the latest version of the current Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, is expecting 400,000 guests a year after its grand opening Downtown. 

“We’re going to be catering to people from all around the world who come in and are Downtown,” Gagliano said. “We’re getting a platform to be able to be, in a sense in my eyes, nationally recognized.”

Gagliano said he thought the opportunity was “too good to be true” at first. 

“They’re paying for the buildout; they’re paying for the restaurant equipment,” he said. “They are paying for almost everything. They’re like, ‘Ultimately, we just want a good operator in this location.’”

John-Paul Gagliano, co-owner of Libro in Laurelwood, Tonica Midtown and Downtown as well as Ecco, said he is excited to move into the restaurant space at the Memphis Art Museum. (Courtesy Memphis Art Museum)

He was also hesitant initially because he had recently opened Tonica Downtown in October 2025. Though the restaurant group began as a family business with his mother and brothers, Gagliano and his mom, Sabine Bachmann, are now 50/50 owners. 

“I’d be out on the line to open another restaurant,” he said he thought. “It would be hard to maintain, so I really need this to work with my terms. If they accept the terms that I want, then I’m happy to move forward on that.” 

Gagliano said they signed a memorandum of understanding in early June, and the deal includes a rent that fluctuates based on revenue. That helped with his decision to take the project on, as did the museum’s underground parking. 

“That gave both of us skin in the game,” he said about the fluctuating rent. “My biggest thing is, again, working with somebody like we’re, at the end of the day, a team. I got that sense of community instantly while working with them.”

As part of the deal, Gagliano also has the right of first refusal on catering any large event MAM hosts. 

The space is being designed by Nashville-based Dryden Studio with a double-height dining room, a 20-seat bar and both indoor and outdoor seating. 

Gagliano said business Downtown is event-driven. He’s noticed fluctuations in foot traffic since Tonica opened on Front Street in October, and he had to take that into account when considering opening a new restaurant in the area.

“One day you’ll have a slow day. ... The following day, it’s so busy. It’s really hard to gauge business Downtown, but I’m learning,” he said.

“We’re going to be catering to people from all around the world who come in and are Downtown,” John-Paul Gagliano said. “We’re getting a platform to be able to be, in a sense in my eyes, nationally recognized.” (Sophia Surrett/The Daily Memphian file)

When asked by the museum about what concept he’d like to operate as MAM’s anchor restaurant, Gagliano said Libro was “screaming my name” with its casual yet upscale vibe.

“I don’t know what it is about the Libro concept that just seems to work extremely well,” he said. “I don’t ever see Libro being its own unique standing building. I hope to create the same culture we have at Libro at Laurelwood (at MAM), just a step up.”

Although it’s the same concept as the restaurant in Laurelwood, Downtown’s Libro will be “its own unique experience being in a museum,” Gagliano said. It will also have a grab-and-go section.

Kahr said the restaurant will be an integral part of the museum and will have “its own entrance and its own life in the street.”

“Memphis Art Museum is somewhere you come for the art and also for a long lunch, a glass of wine after work or a Saturday night out,” Kahr said.