New Concepts in Consumer Foodservice: Food Halls, Healthy Eating and Localisation

Food halls offer variety and a better consumer experience

The highly adaptable food hall format allows restauranteurs to experiment with multiple concepts and appeal to consumers on variety and an atmosphere that enhances the entire foodservice experience, rather than appealing on good food alone. With a food hall, operators are able to brand an entire space, as opposed to a single outlet or concept, offering maximum appeal to a broader set of consumers. The increased prevalence of food halls across markets in 2015 is evidence of how important the “experience” is to consumers.

Healthy eating preferences evolving

As consumers in developed markets look to lead healthier lifestyles, naturally they have come to expect more from the food they consume when dining out, increasingly demanding healthier menu offerings and new health-orientated foodservice concepts. These same health trends common to developed markets have become more pervasive in emerging markets, emblematic of a truly global trend. New health-orientated chains have sprouted in emerging markets in 2015, and are evolving in developed markets.

Consumers are localising preferences

Complementing this global interest in healthier eating is a growing desire for new flavours and ingredients. Restauranteurs are finding space to experiment with new concepts, grabbing the attention of younger generations of consumers with new, healthier takes on traditional local cuisine through high quality sourcing, highlighting local flavours that increase the value of the dining experience. As health trends become more global, consumers are actually looking more inward, inspiring a new set of local concepts.