Digging
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1 Image Courtesy : demoshelsinki , CC by 2.0
Ask an American shopper to name her favorite food hall and the responses will vary . A New Yorker might choose Chelsea Market or Gotham West , but an LA shopper might point to the muchloved Grand Central Market . If you ask a food lover in Des Moines or Nashville that same question , the response may likely be a blank stare . While the food hall craze is at full frenzy in top tier U . S . cities , the rest of America is still ripe for growth .
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FOOD HALL MINDSHARE IS GROWING Food hall awareness has grown steadily for at least a decade . The relative popularity of the Google search term “ food hall ” reveals that the concept is more popular than ever .
Google search data reveals relative mindshare for the term “ food hall ” is concentrated around New York , Washington DC , Los Angeles and Bay Area ; the cities where celebrity chefs like Mario Batali have dropped their curated food halls to much acclaim .
There are still new ambitious food halls on the horizon in these major markets . In New York , Anthony Bourdain ’ s Bourdain Market is slated to open in Manhattan in 2017 , and will feature over 100 vendors in 155,000 square feet . In Los Angeles , Mario Batali ’ s first West Coast Eataly will open that same year as a part of Westfield Century City ’ s $ 800 million renovation . Taubman ’ s $ 500 million renovation of the Beverly Center will see a new food hall called
“ The Street ” curated by celebrity chef Michael Mina in 2018 .
NEXT STOP MIDDLE AMERICA
As the Google search data shows , food halls have yet to penetrate the Middle American mindshare . But as coastal markets become saturated , smart developers , shopping center owners and entrepreneurs will exploit this trend , making foodie destinations out of former food courts , industrial buildings and office lobbies .
New wave food halls have already cropped up in cities like Seattle ( Melrose Market ), Denver ( The Source ) and Atlanta ( Krog Street Market , Ponce City Market ). General Growth Properties replaced its food court with a food hall at the Westroads Mall in Omaha in December 2015 . Operated
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 by Flagship Restaurant Group , the hall showcases three existing Omaha dining concepts and five new ones .
Further expansion into secondary and tertiary markets is now underway . Portland ’ s Pine Street Market will open in May . Uptown Urban Market in Dallas is slated for June . Stanley Marketplace in Aurora , Colorado will open this year in a former 140,000-square-foot aviation manufacturing facility . Baltimore ’ s R . House will open in the shell of an auto showroom this fall . Around that same time , Pizitz Food Hall will open in downtown Birmingham in the shell of a department store .
Food halls have barely entered consumer consciousness outside a handful of major American cities . With so much untapped demand , there is still plenty of room for growth .
U . S . Google searches for " food hall " interest over time 4-week moving average
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