Grocerants and Food Trucks Lead the Retail Category

Tout Suite, as pictured in Memorial City mall, is one type of restaurant concept retailers are testing.

HOUSTON—With food-and-beverage outlets now among the fastest-growing categories in retail centers, four emerging eatery formats are poised for significant expansion: food trucks, food halls, celebrity-chef restaurants and “grocerants,” according to a new CBRE Group Inc. report. The report highlights numerous data points that underscore the booming growth of restaurants, including the finding that total US restaurant sales surpassed grocery sales for the first time last year, according to government data, faring better since the recession than any other retail category. It also points out that, while millennials dine out more often, older generations spend more overall at restaurants. This implies more growth for restaurants as millennials age and earn more.

Eric Lestin, senior vice president in CBRE’s Houston office tells GlobeSt.com: “Houston’s population growth has outpaced the amount of retail development, including restaurants, entering the market during the past few years. This increase has created a great opportunity for different food/restaurant concepts to offer Houstonians unique cuisines and experiences. The challenge is finding the right location and matching economics and demographics to launch a new restaurant or food concept. With class-A retail occupancy at approximately 96%, retailers are finding it difficult to find suitable location for their businesses.”