diff --git a/benchmarks/utils/system_under_test.py b/benchmarks/utils/system_under_test.py
index 5350f814cd..e2a752b97a 100644
--- a/benchmarks/utils/system_under_test.py
+++ b/benchmarks/utils/system_under_test.py
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def start(self):
         click.secho("*Starting local Torchserve instance...", fg="green")
 
         ts_cmd = (
-            f"torchserve --start --model-store {self.execution_params['tmp_dir']}/model_store "
+            f"torchserve --start --model-store {self.execution_params['tmp_dir']}/model_store --model-api-enabled --disable-token"
             f"--workflow-store {self.execution_params['tmp_dir']}/wf_store "
             f"--ts-config {self.execution_params['tmp_dir']}/benchmark/conf/{self.execution_params['config_properties_name']} "
             f" > {self.execution_params['tmp_dir']}/benchmark/logs/model_metrics.log"
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ def start(self):
             f"docker run {self.execution_params['docker_runtime']} {backend_profiling} --name ts --user root -p "
             f"127.0.0.1:{inference_port}:{inference_port} -p 127.0.0.1:{management_port}:{management_port} "
             f"-v {self.execution_params['tmp_dir']}:/tmp {enable_gpu} -itd {docker_image} "
-            f'"torchserve --start --model-store /home/model-server/model-store '
+            f'"torchserve --start --model-store /home/model-server/model-store --model-api-enabled --disable-token'
             f"\--workflow-store /home/model-server/wf-store "
             f"--ts-config /tmp/benchmark/conf/{self.execution_params['config_properties_name']} > "
             f'/tmp/benchmark/logs/model_metrics.log"'
diff --git a/kubernetes/tests/scripts/test_mnist.sh b/kubernetes/tests/scripts/test_mnist.sh
index 9e0603c2f8..f01ed2fda3 100755
--- a/kubernetes/tests/scripts/test_mnist.sh
+++ b/kubernetes/tests/scripts/test_mnist.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ function start_minikube_cluster() {
 
 function build_docker_image() {
     eval $(minikube docker-env)
+    echo "model_api_enabled=true" >> $ROOT_DIR/$EXAMPLE_DIR/../docker/config.properties
+    echo "disable_token_authorization=true" >> $ROOT_DIR/$EXAMPLE_DIR/../docker/config.properties
     docker system prune -f
     docker build -t $DOCKER_IMAGE --file $ROOT_DIR/$EXAMPLE_DIR/../docker/Dockerfile --build-arg EXAMPLE_DIR="${EXAMPLE_DIR}" .
     eval $(minikube docker-env -u)