This year we have had the privilege to provide food consultancy for some of Australia’s best fresh-food markets; both existing and under redevelopment. Our exposure to projects such as the new Sydney Fish Market, Adelaide Central Market (both under redevelopment), plus Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market and Camberwell Market have provided us with contemporary insight and research into the opportunities, challenges, management and direction of large and small footprint, fresh food and specialty produce market-retail.

As the cost of living pressures continue to bite in Australia, consumers are becoming increasingly discerning about where, when and how much of their disposable income they spend on eating out. For shopping centre management and F&B operators, this scenario presents a partnership opportunity to plan and implement strategies to adapt to new consumer F&B spending patterns and continue to drive visitation, overall spend and maintain or increase asset value. In this article, we delve into practical strategies that shopping centres and F&B operators can employ, considering the specific needs of different customer segments, to maximize visitation frequency and spending in a time of escalating cost of living.

The craft beverage movement has been building significant momentum over the past 10 years and has subsequently reshaped the liquor industry as we know it. With craft brewing, small scale local distilleries and small batch wine production capturing greater market share year on year, we are seeing a shift in the market towards quality over quantity and experiential over mainstream.

Retail Relationships Rewarding Foodies

As we witness the gradual relaxing of restrictions placed on food operators state by state and an uncertain return to trading, one thing is certain – the Food & Hospitality will inevitably recover. In fact, the latest credit card data from both the ANZ and CBA shows that spending on F&B is coming up from its lows.

People are social creatures by nature, with hospitality ingrained in our way of life - albeit it to differing degrees from person to person granted! Moreover, there is still a considerable amount of latent demand: Pre-COVID levels of demand for F&B were not a fad as consumers’ interaction with Hospitality is a practice that has been building over the last two decades.

We as an industry are back and open for dine-in business. The profound power of the anticipation and excitement these simple words hold is balanced by the weight of a new normal for food and hospitality operators. This Monday has seen every state government now relax restrictions sufficiently to reopen our dine-in service – albeit in differing degrees from state to state. If reports of Monday night covers around Melbourne are anything to go by, diners are quite literally salivating at the chance to return to their favourite venue; as competitive as this has become as the reality of seating limitations make this once relatively simple pleasure, not quite so simple.

Future Food recently conducted Assessments of Centre-wide food & hospitality capability across five Shopping Centres in Melbourne.

Future Food’s most requested services during the lockdown period have been focussed on assisting Centre Management and Landlords to provide independent, solutions-based strategies, via our expertise in development of both commercial and food strategies.

Prior to the pandemic, many people predicted food trends such as a rising interest in meat alternatives, low or no-alcohol beverages and sustainability-driven purchasing behaviours amongst many others. In a little under six months, the entire industry has been tipped on its head due to COVID-19.

The pandemic has been a catalyst for change in the food and hospitality industry. For many it has been a tremendously difficult period, however we are starting to emerge from the lockdown period, and tentatively look towards the future.

Enhancing the on-campus experience, with ‘High Street’ quality experiences.

We all may have tried to erase the sordid memories from our consciousness of the types of food and beverage that we were exposed to during our days as University / TAFE students, but have you ever thought that perhaps our modern-day love affair with consuming all the finest things, may in fact have sprouted from these distant and not so pleasant memories.

The staple diet of two-minute noodles, instant coffee, cheap booze and fast food is synonymous with the psyche of being a University student on a tight budget, with limited resources, time or motivation to boot.

But are these stereotypes fading into oblivion, with priorities of students being reprogrammed with greater expectations relating to modern food and hospitality experiences, akin to what we are seeing more broadly across the industry?

Generally speaking, vegetarian and vegan lifestyles can be extremely healthy when eating a plant-based diet full of wholefoods, fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes etc. Recently, however, there has been an influx of a wide variety of new vegan and vegetarian processed products that do not provide consumers with all of the health benefits you might expect from adhering to a meat-free diet. It is important to ensure that you read the back of the package to really understand what is packed into these faux meat processed foods that may negatively impact on consumer’s health.

Trends that will shape the future of your food and hospitality projects for 2020.

Trends are no longer limited to the cuisines on offer or the style of service. The ‘whole experience’ is what matters. Customers have feelings, opinions and are savvy when it comes to choosing where to spend their money. However, food and service will always be at the heart of hospitality.