When are Food Halls a Good Option For Chefs (and when are they not)?
When are food halls a good option for chefs (and when are they not)?
Food halls are a great option for certain types of business owners and not for others. This article looks a little deeper into the types of entrepreneurs that thrive in food halls.
Newcomers - Newcomers are typically experienced cooks with commercial management experience and may have their own pop-up (or food truck) concept, but often do not have their own retail outlet. This is probably what most people think about when they think of food hall brands. The format solves a lot of the thornier construction, licensing, and administration issues for early stage entrepreneurs. If you have plenty of industry experience, a social media following, and some modest savings, the food hall route is great, because it allows most entrepreneurs to avoid borrowing money or selling equity to deliver a new brand to consumers. Once the brand is established the owner still owns/controls 100% of the idea.
Established chefs looking to simplify - A Chef who has had multiple restaurant types and outlets and is looking to simplify in order to manage work/life balance is another mainstay of food hall culture. A food hall allows a chef to focus on a limited menu in a controllable category which allows for streamlining of inventory, marketing, and branding. The chef can deliver the concept quickly, add value to the group of entrepreneurs in the food hall through experience, and can manage down into a more relaxed work schedule.
Brands looking to test a market - Some brands like to hedge risk on a regional expansion and food halls can be a great fit for that as it allows a quick toehold in a new market to see if the concept can be adopted without the cost or commitment of a full-fledged brick and mortar concept. Secondarily, the traffic that a food hall brings can expose the brand to many customers very quickly.
So, who is a food hall not great for?
Cuisines that consumers expect to be full-service - While there are exceptions to every rule, food types that consumers typically associate with full-service dining don’t have the best track record in food hall settings. For example, Omakase is usually multi-course and doesn’t work very well. Steakhouses are another example where the expected setting doesn’t fit the food hall environment.
Menus that don’t fit in an established category - Consumers typically shop food halls by first making a mental list of the available options and then selecting one. If they have trouble doing this because an option doesn’t clearly fit a “category” they subconsciously skip it. As such, concepts that we would typically call “New American” with a variety of dishes are incredibly popular in smaller stand-alone restaurants, but don’t do well in food halls.
Cuisines that are excessively niched - It can be tempting to take a category to an extreme by serving only one item that relies on toppings for differentiation, as consumers tire of the novelty very quickly. For example Mac ’n Cheese bowls, baked potato meals, and cookie concepts all come with over-niche risk.
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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.