A vendor's first year in a food hall environment
A vendor's first year in a food hall environment

Overtime, we realized that the experience of opening a food hall is more about the psychology of new experiences. Our ability to give better experiences was rooted in our ability to communicate those outcomes in advance. At any rate, as we made it through openings three and four, we realized that not only were the experiences of the vendor-partners more similar than different, there were also defined stages of the opening experience. Further, the first year experience always has the same stages, which are contextually triggered by slight shifts in sales volumes.

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Politan Group
What services food hall vendors actually want
What services food hall vendors actually want

We’ve done a lot of work (and customer interviews) around this subject to improve our working experience over many years. As a long-term operator in the industry, we’ve focused on how to make the services we offer most efficient for the underlying food vendors. To begin, it’s important to boil down the goals of a vendor and then to work backwards. The top five goals of a food hall vendor, in order of popularity, have been…

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Politan Group
We're publishing everything we've learned
We're publishing everything we've learned

Over the course of 2022 (and likely into 2023), we’re going to publish every lesson we’ve ever learned about the food hall business on our website in around 100 articles. Our goal in doing this is to build a knowledge-base for the industry that is readable and searchable—to improve transparency, conversation, and overall knowledge of the inner-workings of great food halls. And yes, we’ll still consult, but our goal in consulting is to minimize costs and vet real projects (to focus on the applications of this knowledge)—In the end, we love building and operating compelling spaces with partners. For 2022, we decided that giving away “the findings” of our industry is the best (shortest) route to great operating partnerships.

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Politan Group
Food Hall Layouts Defined and Revisited
Food Hall Layouts Defined and Revisited

A great consumer flow plan is focused on how a customer shops the environment. It will seek to find the perfect balance of aesthetic and function. If it does a good job, customers will use the space with more frequency, spend more money, and talk about the space independently to their friends. If it does a poor job, you will notice that customers talk about how they visit the location in certain circumstances where the experience is easiest for them. They will say things like, “I go there in the mid afternoon when it’s slow and I can get in and out easily,” or “I try to shop that vendor’s other location, because I feel like it’s easier.” Invariably comments will focus on polite alternatives to visiting the desired destination.

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Politan Group
Five Ways to Build a Food Hall that maximizes ROI
Five Ways to Build a Food Hall that maximizes ROI

Food Halls have a reputation for big price tags. Big price tags are also often correlated with a high long-term cost of maintenance. So, how do you get a genuinely good ROI out of such a project? It requires a thorough understanding of the customer environment and a willingness to think through some details. But, it is very possible. Here are 5 ways to deliver an award-winning food hall that doesn’t break the bank and, hopefully, creates a great return on your equity investment.

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Politan Group