Food court grub has never been fine dining. Nor has it been a bastion of healthy food. But for years, mall food courts stood as a strong institution. Now a trend is occurring that hopes to bring more class and finer foods into food courts, and that's killing those business from the last era.
Sbarro's, founded in 1956, was on the path to becoming the food court McDonalds. Now however, with newer restaurants being added to mall space, Sbarro's has taken a hit. According to NPR, three years ago the company filed for bankruptcy, blaming reduced foot traffic in malls for their lack of profit. This trend has apparently yet to improve, and Sbarro's is closing the doors on over 150 of its locations.
But other restaurants are running with less economic woes. Places like Chipotle, The Cheesecake Factory, and Five-Guys Burgers and Fries have all done well in the new mall market. The aforementioned restaurants offer swift and efficient casual dining, as opposed to the traditional mall styled cafeteria dining. It seems consumers are trading up.
Sbarro's owner, Joe Sbarro, agrees. "Traditional restaurants are all feeling the brunt of this," he says. "They must all stay contemporary."
Both the desire for finer dining, and a trend toward the internet has caused malls to lose much of their foot traffic. To add to which, the amount people that dine out has decreased since the turn of the century, as the slowly recovering economy hinders spending on frivolities. In 2000, the average American ate out over 215 times a year. As of 2013, the number had shrunk considerably, to only 192 times a year.
Sbarro's is attempting to capture that "fast casual" market that has aided Chipotle and Five Guys, by opening a pizzeria called Pizza Cucinova. The new restaurant offered craft beer on tap, and custom made pizza orders, as opposed to the preheated and reheated slices from their traditional storefronts.
