Hospitality is under real pressure. Business rates, labour, energy and supplier cost increases and a nervous consumer are making it harder than ever to run a traditional restaurant, bar or pub.
That is the reality. However, food halls are continuing to grow. The UK food hall market grew from 114 to 149 venues last year with more in the pipeline. At the same time, restaurants, pubs and bars continue to close across the country.
So why is the food hall model holding up better? For me, it comes down to the structure.
A traditional restaurant is usually one concept, one chef, one lease, one team, one set of overheads and one P&L. If that concept slows down, the whole business feels it.
A food hall works differently. You have multiple independent food partners under one roof, shared seating, shared infrastructure, a central bar, one operating platform and a wider mix of guests across the day and evening. The risk is therefore spread.
The guest gets more choice. The chefs get a lower-risk route to trade. The operator builds a venue that can flex across different occasions. That matters more than ever.
Food halls are becoming so important for independent chefs. For some, it is a first step into hospitality. For others, it is a way back in
With the National Living Wage increasing again, rates relief changing, and energy and supplier costs still high, the pressure on single-site, labour-heavy restaurants is huge. Food halls are not immune to those pressures. We still feel them, but the model carries the cost differently.
At Blend, we provide the space, the seating, the systems, the bar, the infrastructure and the platform. Our food partners focus on what they do best - cooking great food and building their own businesses.
That is why food halls are becoming so important for independent chefs. For some, it is a first step into hospitality. They can test a concept, build a following and prove the demand without taking on a full restaurant lease. For others, it is a way back in. We are seeing talented chefs who have had to close restaurants because the numbers no longer work. A food hall gives them a route to keep trading, keep cooking and rebuild.
That is powerful.
The best food halls are not just landlord spaces with kitchens in them. They have to be curated properly. They have to reflect the city, the neighbourhood and the community around them. At Blend, that means hand-picking food partners and building a mix that feels local, independent and genuinely interesting - whether that is Ethiopian, Palestinian, Thai, Korean, Caribbean, burgers, pizza or something completely new.
It also means creating venues that work across the whole day, for families at lunch, office workers midweek, groups in the evening and casual drinkers later on. Events, sport, coffee, food, drinks and community all sitting together under one roof. The result is a venue that works at 11am, 6pm and 9pm.
That is what makes the model more resilient.
Food halls are not a magic answer to the pressures facing hospitality. They still need great operators, great chefs, strong bars, proper marketing and tight cost control. But when the model is done properly, it gives independent chefs a platform, gives guests more choice and gives cities a more flexible way to use large hospitality spaces.
That is why, while parts of hospitality are shrinking, food halls are still opening. And I think we are still only at the start of where this sector can go.
Matt Bigland is co-founder and CEO at food hall operator Blend Family.