F&B concepts are shopping malls' new 'anchor'

F&B has replaced large department stores to take the centre stage around a mall’s development, McArthur + Company founder and managing director Phil McArthur said.

“Department stores were considered necessary in malls, but now its F&B outlets that are the new anchor. Previously, every retailer we spoke to would ask, ‘who is the department store you signed up with in the mall?’ But they [department stores] have become much less prevalent today because they have lost market share rapidly in the last 30 years and they are being replaced by specialty stores such as Apple, H&M and Nike,” he said.

He also said that mall developers are in awe of restaurateurs and the resulting concepts. “Shopping centre developers love F&B because restaurateurs pay good rent, they add character to the mall and they probably do the nicest improvements to the fit out to make the shopping centre experience very attractive,” he said informing that food and beverage is now being identified by mall developers around the world as the next wave of making shopping centres stronger and how to grow its sales.

McArthur also shone the light on some data and indicated that the space reserved for F&B outlets in a mall is on the rise. “Dubai Mall has 3.7 million square feet of rentable area, 10% of that space is devoted to F&B and it will probably grow to 11% to 12%. Meanwhile, the architects are mulling over a whole new F&B experience at the Mall of the Emirates, which is something to look out for. The Beach has 17% of its space dedicated to F&B and the first phase of City Walk had 24% of its space.”

McArthur also agreed that saturation is a problem with some emerging as winners and some not so lucky. “Saturation can be a problem and we are working all the time with new concepts and trying to come up with better differentiation with our F&B offering. Customers coming to malls, who end up dining there, spend about half-an-hour longer and spend 20% more on their visits.”

McArthur suggested that the traditional food court needs an overhaul at the Caterer Food & Business Conference. “Instead of food courts, you can have dining terraces as is evident by what Westfields did in Australia. Food courts are boring, sterile, calculated; we need to break them apart and come up with new ideas without giving up on core fundamentals,” he said.