In 2023, Future Food was engaged by City of Boroondara (CoB) to conduct multiple Food & Beverage Operational Review & Recommendations Reports for three operators within the Camberwell Fresh Food Market (CFFM).

Located within the Camberwell Junction approximately 10km from the Melbourne CBD, the CFFM is a historic food retail market consisting of 23 stores including food, non-food retail and prepared food.

With a number of vacancies and the diminishing popularity of CFFM, Future Food set out to provide operational reviews for three struggling retailers. Primarily, the outcomes of these reports assisted each retailer with a set of observations and recommendations to improve the overall performance of their business. The documented key findings also provide a record for CoB to utilise for the ongoing management of the market as well as any future leasing discussions related to the respective tenancies.

These initial operational reviews provided insight into opportunities for CFFM at a higher-level. Subsequent to our preliminary work, further scope for a Future Market Vision & Framework was appointed with the intention of providing a guide to the operational strategies and leasing direction for the market over the next 2-10 years.

The formulation of the strategy also drew upon contributions from the CoB Discussion Paper for Council Owned Fresh Food Markets and Crawford Kaye’s 2021 Customer Research Report.

The exploration of the competitive landscape identified key competitors in the trade area and the specification of their retail mix which outlined gaps in the CFFM offer, which further contributed to recommendations for the future retail strategy.

Additionally, Future Food provided recommendations for increased mix specialisation, an asset improvement strategy and the implementation of a positioning hierarchy ensuring that CFFM offers products ranging from value to premium, reflecting the diversity of customer needs.