Over the past decade the proportion of retail destinations given over to food and drink has transformed, from little more than 5% to closer to 20% in some of the newest schemes, not far short of the 25% more typical in Asia.
Not only that, but the scale and ambition of F&B space has increased, with centres prepared to introduce a wide range of eating environments, from premium dining areas to food trucks and street food.
Yet while the low base of F&B afforded many landlords with a relatively easy channel to improve their centres at the beginning, the situation is less straightforward now, warned Francois Blouin, CEO of French-based F&B consultancy Foodservice.
“We can see from our research that there is a worldwide trend, with everyone fighting for one Eldorado of F&B in retail spaces,” said Blouin. “When only 5% of shopping centres were dedicated to F&B then this might have been the right approach but landlords cannot succeed simply by filing up space, they have to choose the right formats and make sure that the mix is correct.”
This also means going beyond a generic approach and gaining a greater understanding of what works where and why, in order to determine how the lessons can be translated to each scheme.
“Most real estate companies will have a number of malls and from that will have a feel for what they believe works, but we don’t currently see a lot of science and data. The real art is to establish why a concept works in a location,” said Blouin.
And while F&B – especially the diversity of offers - could be viewed as a disruptor in terms of both consumer behaviour and their increasing capture of discretionary spend, things are advancing so quickly that the sector is disrupting itself to some extent.
“What we are seeing is that dark kitchens and the diversification of delivery methods is changing the way that chefs and chains want to provide their services,” he said. “So this is a disruptor and then it comes back to the experience, because to get people to come to the restaurant then the operator needs to create an experience, with high interaction, so that the customer feels they are getting something that cannot be reproduced at home.”
Blouin points to French pizza chain Big Mamma – which has just opened in London with a restaurant called Gloria - as a great example, “because it has understood what creates an experience for its customers, from high quality at a low price point to the fact that each store creates a high experience”.
This, said Blouin, it has achieved through delivering very high customer volumes and this in turn creates an experience and drives more people to come.
“Another example is Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s Dining Experience,” he said. “This creates a very high level environment for shoppers. Although of course on the other hand a good experience might be something very functional. The important thing is to remove the pain points – whether that is ordering, reserving a table, paying or escaping the queues. In all of these processes there is still a lot of room for improvement.”
