Delhi-NCR malls may soon have more F&B outlets

New Delhi: Malls in Delhi-NCR will have a bigger share of the food and beverages (F&B) industry as the leading developers see long term profit there.
According to Sriram Khattar, MD, rental business of DLF, the company has experimented this in the recently re-launched mall DLF Avenue in South Delhi’s Saket and feels this is going to be the future.

“Malls usually have 12-15% of F&B segment but that is going to change. In future, we will see F&B occupying 25% of the space. The reason for this is the better return, and people wanting better dining experience,” Khattar said.

Other mall developers agree with the assertion and are ready to dedicate more space for dining experience while cutting down on retail.

“The culinary landscape in the city has gone up several notches and eating out is peaking. With the food service industry in India clocking a staggering $60 billion and growing, malls are leveraging this trend to dedicate more space to F&B and create unprecedented footfall. In fact, significant footfall in our malls consists of people going out for lunch and dinner at their favourite restaurants and at the food court and we expect this trend to grow further,” said Ankush Kaul, president, sales and marketing, Ambience Group.

As per property consultant Anarock’s research, Delhi-NCR is likely to see new supply of nearly 13 malls sprawling over more than 7.5 million sq ft area by 2022.

Of these total 13 malls, Gurugram will see new supply of six malls, spread over more than 4.5 million sq ft area. Prominent locations include Sector 65, Sector 16, Sohna Road, among others. Delhi will see a total supply of five new malls, sprawling over 2.15 million sq ft area. Of this, three malls are slated to come up at Dwarka.

The remaining two malls are coming up at Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, spread over a total area of 8,50,000 sq ft.

“The F&B category has become a mainstay for malls. People throng to malls and can leave early if good foodservice is not available inside. This facility helps in extending the time people spend in the mall, thereby increasing the chances of them taking a call on buying various other products from shops,” said Abhishek Bansal, executive director, Pacific Group.

“We have currently dedicated about 12% space to F&B and we are taking it 15% immediately in the current churn, and later to about 18- 20%, provided we are able to get the right brands,” he added.

Despite low consumer spending due ecnomic slowdown, mall developers remain bullish on the growth potential of organised retail. 100 new malls spanning over 49 million sq ft are scheduled to come up across the country by the end of 2022, reveals a research by Anarock.

“The retail sector drew over $2.8 billion PE inflows from 2015 to 2019-end, 59% by foreign investors alone. Despite overall weak consumer spends, F&B, family entertainment centres, cinemas and beauty/wellness service outlets continue to flourish and demand new retail spaces,” said Anuj Kejriwal, MD, Anarock Retail.