The outbreak of the crisis forced the operators of the food halls to revise their projects. So, Zemskiy Group decided to close part of their establishments to Eat Market because of the inability to negotiate with the owners of the premises. The market catering the pandemic is faced with falling revenues by 70%. Quickly restore being undermined by the continuing momentum in many companies the remote mode of operation and the reduction of incomes of Muscovites.Operated in April—may of food service has forced the operators of the food halls to begin to optimize their own sites. According to JLL, in Moscow in the summer did not open the five spaces with a total area of 3.5 thousand sq m, Cushman & Wakefield noted that it is mainly about the closure of venues to Eat the Market Zemskiy Group. In aggregate, the company ceased to operate four food-hall in the residential complex “Marshal” on the street Rybalko (650 sq m), in torgtsentr “Oceania” (500 sq m), business quarter “Red rose” (900 sq ft) and business center “Factory” near Savyolovsky station (612 sq m).But marketing Director Zemskiy Group Elizabeth Zemsky explains that only three closures associated with the current crisis: the first site has stopped working in November, bringing the planned results. In the case of “red rose” and “Oceania”, according to her, the company failed to negotiate with the owners of the premises to reduce the cost of the lease, negotiating a “Factory” continues.According to the calculations of JLL in Moscow now employs a total of 33 food hall with a total area of 84,2 sq. m. In late March, it was about 37 projects. Smooth drop effect from the closure of sites, the market managed the launch of several new projects. The most notable of them is the food hall “Druzhba” in the same torgtsentr to “Novoslobodskaya”. Until the end of the year will also open a new object Eat Market — the former site of a grocery market near the metro station “Yugo-Zapadnaya”. In addition, it announced the opening of the Gastro Hall on Tishinka Tishinskaya square. Elizabeth Zemsky confirmed “Kommersant” that the implementation of the project “South-West” is not deferred, although the company is reviewing the development plans. According to her, now revenue sites is only 30% of the figures for the same period last year.According to the Director direction of street retail at Knight Frank Irina Kozina, on the average traffic of the food halls is now only 40-45% from pre-crisis levels. She attributes this partly traditionally less active summer season. In addition, she continues, most of the projects are located in close proximity to office clusters, a significant portion of employees still work remotely. The expert expects an increase in the flow of visitors in September and October, adding that the release of the pre-crisis volumes we can talk until mid-2021, which is due to epidemiological risk��a third of Muscovites and by reducing their income.But market participants are still relatively autumn are rather cautious. The founder of the project StrEat Maxim Popov did not exclude that in September the market may be a wave of closings: now the work of many of the projects are supported by pent-up demand. Managing Director of “Briquette Market” Valeria Petunina believes that some advantage is with network projects that cannot be closed in one day.Despite this, the Deputy head of the research Department of Cushman & Wakefield Tatyana Divina calls the food halls are quite resistant to economic recession, Recalling that the format was a response of the market catering to the crisis 2014-2015. “He acts as a quality alternative to food courts and more budget-friendly version of restaurants in the medium price segment,” she explains. The potential for the emergence of new food halls in Moscow still is, confident senior analyst at CBRE, Catherine Sitanova. “The average proportion of tenants food & beverage at the Moscow torgtsentrov — 12-15%, while in the European reaches 25%,— says ona.— To increase its developers may due to expansion of the area of food courts or the integration of food halls”. Additionally interesting for the development of the format, according to the expert, there may be some areas of Moscow where there are no food halls.Alexandra Mertsalova, Nikita Sharenkov
