How Food and Beverage Strategy Drives Urban Regeneration and Placemaking

Regeneration is not simply about new buildings or upgraded infrastructure. It’s about creating places that feel alive. Places where people want to gather, return and build shared connections.

Food and beverage (F&B) has become one of the most effective catalysts for this kind of transformation. Well-planned hospitality offers can activate underused areas, attract new audiences and sustain momentum long after initial investment.

Whether in emerging cities and mixed-use developments or established towns and high streets, F&B provides rhythm, relevance, and a reason to return.

Beyond its commercial value, F&B carries social and cultural weight. It supports local enterprise, shapes identity, and defines how people experience a destination. When integrated thoughtfully into wider urban and placemaking strategies, it helps turn physical environments—new or historic—into meaningful, memorable destinations.

Addressing Urban Challenges Through F&B

Spaces often fall short when they are planned around infrastructure rather than people and what they want and need from their cities.

True relevance comes from environments and experiences that invite active participation, encourage return visits, and create lasting emotional connections.

Urban assets achieve long-term value when they deliver both commercial performance and cultural participation. F&B connects these goals, driving footfall, shaping identity, and fostering community interaction that sustains destinations over time.

Recent studies highlight the urgency of this approach. For instance, research by JLL has highlighted a widening gap between people’s desire for social connection and their actual sense of belonging, while the World Health Organization continues to report rising urban isolation. In response, developers and city planners are seeking strategies that address behavioural, emotional, and economic outcomes in unison.

F&B offers one of the most versatile responses. By working with specialist consultants and placemaking experts, developers are embedding hospitality thinking early in the process — using tenant mix, sensory design, and brand diversity to transform developments into living, social ecosystems.

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F&B at the Centre of Mixed-Use Performance

Dining is increasingly recognised as a cornerstone of placemaking and often the element that brings coherence and character to a destination.

As retail continues to evolve, food and beverage (F&B) offers the social and sensory experiences that draw people in and encourage them to return.

The growing presence of branded cafés within retail environments signals this shift, but it’s only part of a broader transformation across the hospitality landscape.

Between June 2023 and February 2024, the UK recorded a 15% increase in operational food halls, with a further 18% currently in development.

Over the past five years, competitive socialising venues have grown by 38% (Mintel). Yet, according to KAM’s Competitive Socialising Report, 49% of UK consumers say they would be more likely to visit these spaces if food options offered stronger value.

Together, these models suggest that clustered, experience-led dining outperforms isolated formats. It increases dwell time, encourages cross-spend and amplifies the performance of neighbouring tenants. For developers and asset owners, F&B should be viewed not as a supporting feature, but as a central commercial and cultural anchor.

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the rise of food hubs

Food halls have become one of the most effective formats for combining flexibility with a strong sense of identity.

They accommodate diverse programming, reduce risk through adaptable tenancy models and create launchpads for local talent and businesses.

At their best, food halls are responsive to demand, open to experimentation and designed to earn loyalty through variety and relevance. Their structure enables asset owners to evolve quickly while supporting chefs, small brands, and creative entrepreneurs.

This shared framework distributes opportunity and keeps the offer aligned with local tastes and cultural dynamics.

From a consumer perspective, food halls reflect shifting expectations. EY reports that Gen Z prioritises authenticity and personalisation, while Technomic finds that 72% of diners actively seek interactive formats such as chef’s tables or themed events.

Well curated food hubs, from food markets to dining halls, deliver on both fronts—blending design, experience and a dynamic brand and operator mix to create spaces that feel contemporary, inclusive and community-led.

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regeneration through f&B strategy

As people expect more from the places they live, work and spend their free time, food and beverage (F&B) has emerged as a powerful lever for regeneration, addressing economic, social and cultural goals simultaneously.

From revitalising high streets to revitalising malls and mixed-use districts, well-planned F&B strategies bring together people, commerce and community. Done well, they transform spaces into destinations and developments into living neighbourhoods.