The food court matures into the food hall

Food halls are still so new that they lack a standard template for success, said Philip Colicchio, a food and beverage consultant in New York, who has added food halls to his chef and hotel client list. The properties range from 5,000 square feet to more than 40,000 square feet, and developers can choose to lease out and operate a food hall themselves, collaborate with a local restaurateur to vet vendors and potentially manage it, or lease to one operator and let it find tenants and run the place.“The good news is that there are some terrific vendors that can provide great food and beverage in food halls,” said Mr. Colicchio, who is consulting on food halls in Cincinnati, San Francisco and the Bahamas. “What does not yet exist is a deep talent pool of management.”

But the concept is becoming increasingly popular in the United States as consumers demand healthier and better-tasting “quick casual” food options in entertaining environments, observers say. The number of food halls operating in the United States is expected to exceed 200 in 2019, about double the number that were open in late 2016, said Pamela Flora, director of research for Cushman & Wakefield. That would also be a roughly 700 percent increase since 2010, according to research compiled by the brokerage firm.