Colicchio Consulting Releases 2026 Food Hall Report Highlighting Rapid Expansion, as the Segment Grows Nearly 25% Over Two Years

New York – Colicchio Consulting, a national leader in identifying, strategically planning and securing unique food, beverage and entertainment experiences for developers and hospitality groups, has released its latest report, “The State of Food Halls 2026,” which confirms that the segment experienced an overall growth rate of 24.89 percent since 2023, the last year the report was issued. The 2026 report continues to examine the most impactful trends shaping food halls across the commercial, mixed-use, student housing, retail and hospitality sectors, including key takeaways from industry leaders and data from the more than 500 food halls that have opened in the US since researchers began tracking the segment in 2014.

The report specifically examines trends from evolving guest preferences in food & beverage, the growth of the segment by market, the significant impact of entertainment on food hall revenues and how socialization and automation are driving food hall design. Research was gathered from a database of several hundred 458 operating food halls across the United States, and notes that at least 114 more projects are in the pipeline for 2026 and beyond.

Here is a breakdown of some of the key trends:

• Food hall development continues to increase exponentially across the U.S., with the number of projects increasing 24.89 percent between 2023 and 2025, reflecting both new openings and sustained pipeline activity
• 18 new food halls are slated to open in the US within the next six months, averaging eight vendors and 19,000 square feet each. Three of these projects are located in urban cores, while 15 are situated in suburban or peripheral markets, reinforcing the continued geographic decentralization of the format.
• 96 additional projects are in the pipeline to open in 2026. Of these, approximately 26 are located in urban markets and 70 in suburban or peripheral markets.
• At the state level, Florida leads with 17 planned projects, followed by California (11), New York (11), Texas (9), and Georgia (9).
• Taken together, these figures illustrate a national food hall movement that has matured and continues to accelerate. Operators continue to refine their models, developers remain engaged, and the public appetite for social, flexible and entertaining dining environments remains strong.

Analyzing the Numbers

The report found that the Food Hall Movement continues to gain momentum nationwide, with American consumers responding to hospitality’s renewed focus on flexibly designed and socially welcoming spaces. Newer food halls are benefiting from purposeful design, occupying leaner, more nimble footprints, leveraging fewer food vendors and focused beverage programs to achieve more consistent results.

Our State of Food Halls 2026 report shows how the forces which drive long-term F&B success have predictably shifted, with a focus on maintaining a discernible and distinct ‘point of view’ through design, programming and carefully curated food and beverage options. While there have certainly been some high-profile disappointments, food halls on the whole have clearly established themselves as community gathering points, which is why entertainment, variation and cultural relevance are so integral to their success. The growth over the last two years was beyond solid, and 2026 looks even healthier. Operating a successful food hall installation today requires building strong bonds with your local community and fostering connections through purposeful design, authentic food and beverage offerings and ‘call and response’ programming. Phil Colicchio, Principal at Colicchio Consulting

“The State of Food Halls 2026” also dialed into a renewed focus on entertainment at food halls, which has become a core driver of guest engagement, transforming food halls into the type of cultural hubs that attract diverse audiences, engage them and encourage repeat visitation. Innovative F&B and targeted entertainment provide operators the opportunity to create sticky habit loops that see guests returning week after week.

Key additional takeaways include:

• Smaller food halls are thriving in secondary and tertiary markets thanks to a mix of demographic shifts, including movements within younger families away from urban areas and the growing cultural draw of locations outside of city centers.
• Hybrid work has reshaped the rhythm of daily life, reducing daytime traffic at corporate locations and driving food halls to adapt their programming to capture evening and weekend business.
• Entertainment has become a key component of food hall success, with event programming becoming the conduit that allows these destinations come to life as cultural hubs. When programming is prioritized, it supports multiple streams that add to the bottom line.
• Socialization remains core to attracting guests to food halls, and operators are adapting to include transitional spaces to accommodate an elevated emphasis on ticketed and non-ticketed, public, private, social and corporate events. Food hall operators are urged to adopt a design that supports community gatherings, music and sports programming in equal measure.

The State of Food Halls 2026 report highlights the incredible and sustained growth of the food hall movement over the past three years, and the data presented provides every indication that the growth will continue. Both the food stall and the beverage space equipment needs have evolved as well. Selecting the right equipment for a food hall and ensuring its proper placement remains critical to succeeding in a high-volume F&B environmen. The report highlights how shared back-of-house systems, a focused attention on compliance and the latest workflow models can create a consistent, resilient food halls capable of adapting to consumers’ changing needs. Brian Moorehead, VP of Chain/Design Build at Singer Equipment, the lead sponsor of the report

The latest edition of Colicchio Consulting’s State of Food Halls report includes a focus on the importance of entertainment and right-sizing your food hall operations for each destination as the space matures and guest expectations evolve. Experiences matter more to today’s consumers than ever before, and food hall operators are looking for the right combination of culinary creativity, live entertainment and themed events to keep guests emotionally invested in the destination. These, and other findings within the report, are helping designers and operators create the next wave of intriguing, innovative and profitable food hall concepts for our industry. Trip Schneck, Managing Partner of Colicchio Consulting

The full report, The State of Food Halls 2026, can be found here.

For more information, visit www.colicchioconsulting.com.

About Colicchio Consulting

Colicchio Consulting is a leading strategic management firm bringing together the world’s most distinctive hotels and top culinary talent through data driven competitive processes. The firm is managed by leading practitioners and visionaries from the fields of hospitality, real estate development, law and restaurant management who bring unmatched resources for bringing together hotel owners, mixed use developers and restaurant operators to create innovative culinary partnerships. For more information, visit http://colicchioconsulting.com/.

Elliott Mest
MFC PR,
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Colicchio Consulting