The share of the food & beverage section in shopping centres continues to rise, even up to a quarter of the total rentable area. This trend is also evident in the Czech Republic. According to our survey, remodelling of food courts is in progress, or is being prepared, in at least ten shopping centres, including Olympia Teplice, Olympia Mlada Boleslav, Metropole Zlicin, Arkady Pankrac and Futurum Brno.
The data available show that, currently, the share of food & beverage in domestic centres reaches up to 10%. However, there are also centres with more than a 15% share of restaurants, cafes and other food formats. From the statistics, the Quadrio shopping centre is an exception, where it reaches up to 40%.
Thanks to the opening of the Vapiano restaurant last year, Prague's Myslbek, where cafes and restaurants take up 18.5% of the area, has significantly improved. At least 18% of the rentable space has been earmarked for cafes and restaurants in the upcoming Savarin project in the centre of Prague by the development company, Crestyl. The Palladium Shopping Centre also has a 15% share of food & beverage space in the centre of Prague.
This shows that the city centre already has a high proportion of catering facilities in shopping centres and galleries. It’s a fact that, without a good selection of quality and functional restaurants or bistros, almost no shopping centre will survive in the future.
Developers and investors are motivated by visitor´s surveys to expand the food & beverage selection. It has been proven that, at least in big cities in Western Europe, a high-quality food selection increases sales and extends the customer's stay in such a shopping centre.
Customers' sensitivity to quality food & beverages is also demonstrated by other studies. 40% of the public chooses a shopping centre due to the food court size and composition. Research by the international developer, ECE, shows that the diversity of choice and quality of supply is crucial to more than three quarters of shopping centre visitors in Western Europe.
