The last customers visit Time Out Market in the West Loop on March 15, 2020, as the market announced plans to close indefinitely. Soon after, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced all bars and restaurants would be closed to dine-in customers beginning March 16, 2020. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)Brian Enyart, co-owner of Dos Urban Cantina in Time Out Market Chicago, wonders how a food hall would function with so many vendors. “What does that look like?” says Enyart. “Can you have 18 vendors manage 50 guests? That doesn’t seem possible. Can you do delivery out of there? A massive coordinated event? Open up with a couple vendors a couple days a week?”
Even if capacity limits are raised, many chefs worry if there will be enough people downtown, considering some may choose to continue to work from home. “How many people will come back to work in the Loop?” asks Joe Fontana, owner of Fry the Coop in Wells Street Market. “I’m assuming it will be a slow opening with probably only to-go orders offered for a while.”
Antonio Fiasche, owner of Tempesta Market in Wells Street Market, agrees that delivery and pickup will have to be the focus until a vaccine is developed, but still worries about disruptions. “The virus is going to keep going, so every time it spikes, will we shut everything down?” says Fiasche. “How do people downtown pay for rent? It’s going to be a new way to do business.”
Barry Sorkin, owner of Smoque BBQ in the Revival Food Hall, is also concerned about how food halls would work without large crowds, but believes there are too many unknowns at the moment. “It’s really hard to speculate about what is going to happen with food halls, concert venues and movie theaters,” says Sorkin.
Despite the questions and concerns, most food hall owners and restaurateurs won’t count food halls out just yet.
There are 221 food halls in the U.S. today, with another 80 in development, according to Colicchio Consulting, the specialty food, beverage, hospitality and entertainment group of commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. By the end of 2021, the number is expected to reach close to 500, the firm said.
Food halls also have attributes chefs may be seeking out after an economic tailspin from which many restaurants will never reopen. Most important, food halls offer low capital costs to open and shared resources, such as the technology to provide pickup and delivery orders.
“I know from my experience in New York right now, there are a lot of people unsure if they’ll be able to open their restaurants afterward,” said Akhtar Nawab, chef and partner at restaurant and food hall consultancy Hospitality HQ, which will operate the planned Dr. Murphy’s Food Hall. “They have the skill set; it’s just they may not have a place to return to. That’s why the food hall is such an interesting model right now.”
Trip Schneck, executive managing director of Colicchio Consulting, believes that when the economy begins to recover, food halls will be well-positioned because of the revenue-sharing rent model. “We are very optimistic that food halls will be one of the primary recovery vehicles for the food and beverage industry,” says Schneck. “Food halls also are at a good price point, below fancier meals but above fast food, and there will be an abundance of talented chefs looking for work after many restaurants shut down.”
“I’m a hopelessly optimistic person,” says Finkelman from 16″ on Center. “I really do see that at some point we’ll come out of this. We’ll be able to look at the safety and the way we’re putting out our product. This is a chance for us to do it better.”
That may mean that they look different from how food halls did before. Touchless transactions, redesigned queuing and reconfigured seating are coming in the short term, industry experts say. Chefs and their landlords hope there will be crowds to manage as soon as the doors reopen.
Didier Souillat, CEO of Time Out Market, believes that the size of many food halls might actually benefit them. “Time Out Market Chicago is 50,000 square feet and as people look for safe options to go out, we have ample space to comply with social distancing rules,” writes Souillat in an email.
When it opens again, Souillat believes that Time Out Market visitors are likely to see masked employees, staggered seating, an emphasis on touchless transactions and cleaning crews constantly moving about the space. “The most important thing we’ll have to manage is the fear factor, and we know it’s going to be there for a long time,” says Souillat later in a phone call. “We’ll open when it’s safe to do so and when it makes viable sense for our partners. There’s no point in opening to lose more money.”
While they had questions about just how food halls would return, many restaurateurs are looking forward to them returning. “I hope they do make it though,” writes Fontano from Fry the Coop, “because food halls rock!”
Urbanspace’s Scott is even more bullish. “What happened after the Spanish flu?” says Scott of the 1918 pandemic. “The Roaring Twenties. People wanted to go out again. There is that pent-up demand.”
nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com