How to Site a Food Hall
Food halls are destination retail establishments that also offer convenience factors. Optionality is the ultimate convenience and this where Food Halls excel as a draw. Once open, the hospitality, aesthetic, and food quality affirm a guest experience that keeps customers coming back.
The challenge with siting a food hall is that a good one relies on substantial volume to keep multiple restaurants above their fixed costs hurdles. If volumes get lower than is appropriate, tenancy becomes wobbly. Tenants without sufficient traffic cut costs which presents in staffing, service, or product issues. For these reasons and more, the siting of a food hall cannot be overstated in importance.
So, how does one do that? This article discusses that by dividing criteria into four critical considerations for area and site:
Area Considerations
The site should be slightly underserved with food and beverage options by quantitative standards. An easy way to determine this is to divide the total dollars spent at restaurants in the area by the total businesses that identify as restaurants in that same area. This number can be compared to other trade areas for relevance. Data sources for this are available for purchase through data suppliers like ESRI. Politan is happy to pull these numbers for you, if you have a site in mind. Just reach out to us here.
Natural traffic drivers means an available purchasing population surrounding the destination that is pre-existing. Care should be taken to count only that population that is also in the target customer demographic of the food hall.
Multiple day parts is an industry way of saying that there are both daytime and evening shoppers present. This is most popularly a site that has both office and residential population. This has been affected by a transition to remote work habits, but we expect to see a meaningful reversal in a way that makes more sites qualify as great food halls as offices move outside of urban cores.
A population that eats out as frequently or more frequently than the national average is a great way to know that people in your area have a disproportionate chance of becoming your customer.
Site Considerations
Ease of access means that there is the perception of plenty of reasonably priced parking options, a way to shorten the distance from the car to the door if parking isn’t adjacent (such as valet or shuttle), proximity to public transport access (if the setting allows), and clear directional signage.
Visibility means that there is signage or physical presence visible to a large traffic artery from which the food hall will pull traffic. Ideally, unobstructed.
Ability to get the employees there cannot be understated in importance. Most people don’t plan for the food hall vendors’ employees. A solid plan must be in place to park this population for free or at reasonable retail employee rates. If there isn’t public transport, then there must be a parking space.
A strong natural aesthetic foundation to work from is essential to dining. There are many options for how this might be derived such as high ceiling heights, natural light sources, or historic features. The bottom line is that people spend more time in beautiful spaces than ugly spaces.
If you feel that you have these critical factors met, your next step will be to create a financial structure/model for your food hall to determine financial viability.
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Politan Group specializes in operating food halls, bars, and bars within food halls. We also provide remote accounting, HR, and administration for food halls. Finally, we sell software that organizes much of the routine processes. If you are thinking of building a food hall or need help with an aspect of a food hall you already own, reach out to us. Politan is the most-awarded food hall operator in the industry.