Honestly, I don’t want to scare you. I enjoy writing this contribution for ACROSS magazine very much and I hope that some of the information and background that I provide on the foodservice market is useful, helps to guide you in your decisions, and provides some new direction on your projects.

As the economy improves, Grant Poje, Vice President of WhiteWater for the EMEAR Region, sees increasing demand for waterparks in Europe. The Vancouver-based company is targeting locations in shopping centers.

For shopping centers, it is important to position themselves as a brand, to offer strong emotional content through distinctive design and attractive mixed offerings and experiences. A way to ensure customer loyalty for a mall is to offer its own individualized gift cards.

theleisureway is a Spanish company dedicated to the creation of leisure experiences that are unique, innovative, tailor-made for shopping centers, and have the sole mission of satisfying customers to make sure they come back.

We are in very exciting times for the foodservice industry and for foodservice in general. The growth opportunities are tremendous, with new units opening every day in cities, towns, railway stations, airports, and, of course, shopping centers.

Thomas Mark, Vice President of MK Illumination, talks with ACROSS about the most important trends in Christmas lighting and the reasons why the demands of shopping center operators are incompatible with progressive budget cuts.

Gaining loyalty from shoppers continues to be a challenge, particularly when retailers within the mall are the primary contact point for your shoppers. That’s where customer engagement programs come in.

In response to demand from investors and owners, MEC has recently started offering an energy audit product called “Easy.”

The Polish Council of Shopping Centers and Toolbox Marketing teamed up for a social media benchmarking project.

In a field study with Gerry Weber, Zumtobel was able to confirm the influence of lighting in shops. The optimized lighting concept led to a 10% increase in sales. This practice test, in which the lighting preferences of seven different customer groups were analyzed using a neuropsychological target group model, was a continuation of an earlier laboratory experiment.

Sometimes it feels a bit strange, even now, after 25 years in foodservice consulting, to be talking about the property market. I am not sure why, because when I set up Coverpoint, it was to help companies who did not DO food, but who NEEDED it as part of their guest offer. Airports, railway stations, shopping centers, museums, galleries, and historic palaces – we have worked in them all.

Markus Schwitzke and Richard Wörösch of the Schwitzke group set brands and shopping worlds in scene and tell their stories. The designer and interior designer tell ACROSS in an interview why this is so important and what they keep in mind while doing it.

If it is true that a shopping center has to be a distinctive brand, then it needs the right Christmas decoration. “Never from the catalog, never off the shelf” is First Christmas’s motto. The decoration specialist therefore produces no catalogs, instead featuring a large design department with interior designers, lighting designers, and set builders.

Some developers consider commercialisation as part of the leasing activity although commercial leasing per definition means the longer term rental contracting of leasable premises which are defined as GLA of a commercial asset.
Commercialisation (or Speciality Leasing) however, specifically focuses on generating income from non-GLA areas and for shorter periods, typically within twelve months.

At the start of each year, the members of the Coverpoint Team, part of the JLL Group, put their heads together and spend time identifying and classifying the most important foodservice trends for the next five years.

First of all, I would like to take the opportunity to mark the occasion of Coverpoint’s purchase by JLL in November 2014. For the first time in 21 years, I will have a “boss” and while it is still very fresh, the whole team is having fun and looking forward to the future.

With Christmasworld’s Premium Business Program, participants are treated to a shopping tour of Frankfurt am Main.

In recent years, one trend has become more and more visible among innovative cinema operators: The integration of “premium” screens as an outstanding quality feature at a multiplex cinema.

MK Illumination’s grottos and animation concepts make a dramatic impact and create steady revenue.

The next Christmasworld takes place from January 30 to February 3, 2015. Eva Olbrich, Director of Christmasworld, reveals what visitors can expect.

The Italian company Cogest Retail manages Tower Center Rijeka in Croatia. In an interview with ACROSS, CEO Carmen Chieregato talks about the daily business and tells us about the upcoming refurbishment.

European retail market knowledge is for sale. Who will buy it?

As the year 2014 draws to a close, we have seen an unprecedented number of new foodservice locations opening in existing shopping centers. Some of these have taken existing spaces already used for food and beverage and refurbished it significantly, while other projects have taken released retail space and converted its use to foodservice to improve the guest experience.

More and more consumers are shopping with smartphones and tablets. Shopping center operators are trying to capitalize on this trend towards mobile commerce in myriad ways.