The New Food Court

At Westfield, where I worked as a Tenant Coordinator for 8 years, we tried to transform the American food court into a dining experience. It didn't seem right that the level of store design had reached a sophistication that you completely lost when you turned into the food court. No matter how upscale the mall tenants, the food court formula was always the same; 4"x4" bathroom tile, backlit menu board hanging on the back wall, a mismatch of equipment on the line, backed up to a low wall, tube steel posts on the sneeze guard (that could hold the building up) and an exposed neon sign. This is not the case in the rest of the world. In Astrailia, Westfield's food courts were completely different from what we know here, at least in some of thier centers. Their food court tenants look more like very hip restaurants with the latest materials, subtle but powerful graphics, and the food merchandised as carefully as any jewerly store would. So how do they do it?



There are some tenants whose concepts slip right into this model. They are already using very sophisticated design, but their is ususally one per center, the rest need alot of help. At first, when we tried to get the tenants to revise thier concepts we were met with alot of resistance. Then Westfield realized they had to give the Tenant Coordination Department the support they needed. Alot of the design work is actually done by designers in the TC department. There is a very loose, but heavily design oriented criteria is developed. They first have to work with the tenant to make them understand the goal of the project. Of course, leasing and development have to get on board and be willing to sacrifce a deal if the tenant will not conform to the program.



Until it becomes the norm, this new food court concept is not going to work for every center. But it is for any cutting edge development. In this economy, where leasing are trying to hold onto whatever deals they can and tenants are not willing to give up their traditional brand identity, it would be very hard. It requires commitment from the top executives.



For tenants it is a upfront investment of time and money, but the payoff is clear. If you are viewed as cutting edge you will access a new breed of clientele who normally shop but don't eat, or pass the food court to get to the one of the restaurants nearby. You will be viewed as having a nice clean operation with fresh food.