How Does F&B Create Value in Urban and Hospitality Projects?

Food and beverage has become one of the strongest influences on how people experience a place. It is also one of the most effective ways for developers, operators and cities to create real commercial value, from increased dwell time to stronger footfall and a more resilient mix of uses. 

Working across the Middle East, Africa and Europe, we’ve seen how good planning can completely change the feel of a place. It shapes how people move through an environment, how long they stay and how they talk about it afterwards. When it is done well, the benefit is felt in the quality of experience, the commercial performance and the overall energy of the area. 

For me, the biggest shift happens when F&B is considered early, designed with purpose and treated as both a cultural and commercial priority rather than something added at the end.  

In those moments, hospitality becomes a genuine driver of identity, community and long-term growth.  

Explore How Evolving Dining Trends Shape Destination Appeal 

F&B as the Anchor for Modern Placemaking

When integrated early, restaurants, cafés and food hubs, from food halls and markets to food truck parks or other hybrid formats, act as daily anchors that shape community, movement and identity.  

They create atmosphere, encourage people to stick around longer and help create places people genuinely want to spend time in. One of the clearest examples of this in practice is Expo City Dubai, where thoughtful F&B planning continues to energise the wider environment. 

Years after Expo 2020 concluded, we are still working closely with our partners to help them get the most from their F&B assets.

The ambition is to give residents, workers and visitors the kind of venues and experiences they expect from a new city that is outward facing and deeply engaged with international audiences and global trends. 

It has been a real pleasure to see Al Wasl Plaza and its diverse ecosystem of F&B venues and activations come to life across some of the UAE’s most iconic events. It is a place where F&B, hospitality and live experiences work together seamlessly, creating the kind of memorable moments people look for today. 

As the largest food hall developers in the Middle East, with more projects in development than any other agency working in this space, we have seen how closely our partners’ ambitions align with the desire to build vibrant hubs that create both social and commercial value.   

This alignment gives us the license to design, develop and in some cases, operate places that offer a strong sense of identity and purpose as well as drive enough commercial return to make them viable investments for our partners.  

What is especially exciting now is the growing interest in applying the lessons learned in the Middle East to projects across the UK and Europe. The level of investment in this region has allowed ideas to be tested at scale, and the insights gained are becoming increasingly relevant to the markets we still call home. 

Strategic F&B is proving just as important to the regeneration of established cities like London as it is to new and emerging districts. Developers, urban planners and placemakers are rethinking how they integrate hospitality, bringing it into focus earlier in the process and giving it the attention it needs to unlock its full value. 

Revitalising the Malls & Retail Environments 

We have seen the same environments work in retail-driven environments where well-curated dining ecosystems do more than fill units or complement retail but actually drive overall identity, visibility and cultural relevance. 

Of course, many reach out to us because of our work on Al Mamlaka Social Dining, which was the first of its kind in the kingdom and has now become the benchmark for what world class food hall looks like, and we continue to use this as a case study for what happens when you get things right.  

One of the things I love doing the most is visiting a mall, complex or commercial district once we’ve helped to develop an asset within it and see what impact its had on the adjacent businesses.

As well as increase in sales, revenue, footfall, we also see things like new tenant demand spiking, both itn term sof volume but also calibre of brands, allowing asset owners to leverage their increased reptution to further level up the premises and build towards a long term plan for where they want to be positioned in the wider market—whether it’s moving more into the luxury space or attracting mass appeal anchor tenants.  

Architects/Master Planners/Developers always refer to the ground floor commercial spaces as ‘retail’ which is now redundant – should be called R,D & E - I explain our master planning services as creating maximum value/experience on the ground floor 

Explore How Our Advisory Services Integrate F&B into Large-Scale Urban Developments

How Hotels Are Redefining Value Through F&B 

The hotel sector is where the re-evaluation of value is most visible. More operators are rethinking the guest journey and recognising that F&B is not a peripheral service but a strategic asset.   

We are seeing new in-house concepts being created, breakfast programmes redesigned and a growing number of partnerships with established F&B brands. All of this reflects a move towards meeting changing guest expectations more intentionally. 

Wellness is also shaping how people judge value. More than 80 percent of global consumers consider wellness a top life priority and 42 percent say it is a core value that influences where they stay, eat and spend. Even operators that once approached wellness cautiously are now weaving it into design, menu development, storytelling and operational choices.  

Our work with Loui Blake and Long Lane shows how quickly this space is evolving. The project is a wellness-led hotel and lifestyle concept built around health, purpose and holistic wellbeing. The community that has already formed around it, long before opening, shows how strongly people now gravitate towards hospitality experiences that feel aligned with their values. 

F&B plays a central role in shaping the success of hotel and resort experiences. While it can contribute between 20 and 40 percent of total revenue, its real impact is seen in reputation, loyalty and the overall strength of the hotel’s positioning. 

Across multiple TGP-led projects, we have seen the difference the right F&B mix can make. Properties that treat their restaurants, cafés and bars as standalone venues consistently outperform those that treat them as an add-on. Chef-led concepts, local collaborations and branded partnerships help turn hotels into lifestyle destinations rather than simple places to stay. 

F&B remains one of the strongest levers available to hotels today. It drives revenue, strengthens guest loyalty and creates a clearer connection with the surrounding community. Those who invest in well-planned, high-quality F&B strategies are not only improving performance today but also building long-term commercial resilience for the future of the sector. 

Discover How Design Influences the Dining Experience  

Creating World-Class Concepts That Resonate

Underlying every successful F&B project is a clear and authentic concept. Whether developing a flagship restaurant for a global brand or curating a landmark food hall, the goal is to create experiences that genuinely resonate with guests and to build sustainable businesses that deliver value for operators, owners and the wider community.  

When concepts are rooted in purpose, shaped by insight and executed with consistency, they create places that people genuinely love to visit and will return to. This is where F&B moves beyond being a service and becomes a driver of meaningful, long-term impact.