SUMMARY
An effort which can be conducted by the local government of Kupang city, Indonesia, to maintain its economic growth is by optimizing the role of creative industries of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). One of the well-developed MSMEs in Kupang city is a culinary business. Interestingly, almost 70% of the culinary industry in the city is dominated by menus from outside rather than maintaining a typical menu of East Nusa Tenggara province which is processed creatively. The business development model of this industry tends to be partial, not integrated yet with policymakers, and other businesses, such as travel agencies and mass media. The purpose of this study was to identify and map the existence of the culinary business and to find out the model of developing a creative economy based culinary business in Kupang city, Indonesia. The object of this research was MSMEs actors who run business in the culinary industry in the city.