Ikea’s sister company, Ingka Centres, is looking to shake up the UK’s food and beverage scene with a new sustainable dining concept, as it reaffirms its commitment to investing in sites in the country.
Sebastian Hylving, global expansion and development director at Ingka Centres, told EG at this week’s Mapic conference in Cannes that the business is still actively searching for more shopping centre sites in the UK, adding that the market continues to offer “great potential” for growth. Last year, managing director Cindy Andersen told EG that large cities in the UK were on the expansion agenda.
“It’s an interesting and dynamic market, and it’s a big market for us,” said Hylving. “I came back from the UK last week. There are many cities to assess.”
The £170m Livat Hammersmith shopping centre, W6, was among its launches this year. “The centre is showing positive results, and it seems the community has embraced it,” Hylving said.
The business has separately identified an opportunity to bring its new sustainable dining concept Saluhall (pictured) to the UK through the Hammersmith centre. However, Hylving was tight-lipped on whether that would involve taking up, converting or extending existing premises in the mall.
Hylving said there were around five “hubs” with a traditional offer “within a 100-metre vicinity” of the Hammersmith site, meaning the Saluhall concept could provide something different for the catchment.
“Livat Hammersmith could be an option for us – we just need to find the space,” he said, adding: “I don’t think sustainable food should be something only for the privileged – it’s something for the many, and we can make a difference here.”
Plant power
Ingka Centres, which develops shopping centres anchored by Ikea stores, is seeking to engage with local entrepreneurs across its portfolio for Saluhall, named after Scandinavian-style market halls. It will feature artisanal local food companies with plant-based menus as well as a community-focused cookery school that is open to the public, providing kitchens available for use after hours.
The menu will be 80% plant-based at launch, with the ambition of reaching 100%, zero waste to landfill and zero single-plastic usage. It will be Ingka Centres’ first food hall concept that will not sell beef. Menus will be affordably priced, said Hylving.
The concept is likely to average around 5,381 sq ft, according to Hylving, who added that it could range from 2,150 sq ft to 21,500 sq ft depending on the location.
“We haven’t concluded whether they will be leasing or operator agreements, but the important thing is that we find the right entrepreneurs that share the same vision as us, and the rest will [follow],” said Hylving, who took up his role in September this year.
“It’s also about testing the concept in the local market. At the end of the day, we’re not trying to force-feed anyone – we’re trying to provide an offer that doesn’t really exist today.”
Inspiration from Asia
With Saluhall, Ingka Centres is making a significant leap into the F&B arena. “We want to push the agenda,” Hylving said, adding that while there are sustainable F&B operators, Ingka is looking to create something that scales up that offer.
Hylving draws much of his inspiration from retail strategies in Asia, where companies have historically looked to bigger exposure to F&B, as opposed to its European counterparts, where fashion has made up a much larger proportion of their offers.
“People come for the food; it’s connected to leisure and entertainment,” he said. “Europe is really behind – the US used to be the driver, but today we are not looking there for new ideas and inspiration. It’s all of Asia, what’s happening in Manila, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Bangkok. More than 20% of our schemes in China have F&B, and the operators are really creative with menus, designs and ways of thinking.”
The shopping centre business is also considering options for launching its “Circuit” circular economy concept at Hammersmith. The offering aims to provide goods and services enabling visitors to repair, reuse, refurbish and recycle everyday items. Ingka’s first Circuit space opened in Birsta City, Sweden, in June. “We are analysing how to take it to the next step,” Hylving said.
The Hammersmith mall is being used as a “test bed” for Ingka’s Atelier100 incubator programme, jointly backed by retailer H&M, as well as its rental initiative, known as the “Library of Things”.
Ingka Centres is part of the Ingka Group, which also includes Ikea Retail and Ingka Investments. The shopping centre business works with 3,000 brands across its portfolio of 45 locations globally.
In May, Ingka Group committed to investing nearly €3.2bn (£2.8bn) into its global store portfolio by the end of 2023, close to €1.2bn of which is being invested in London. That amount included investment in the upcoming Ikea flagship on Oxford Street, new services and a distribution centre in Dartford that will enable home deliveries within 24 hours across the capital.
Before his appointment in September, Hylving worked as property and expansion director for Ikea and Ikano Retail in South-East Asia and Mexico. He was also involved with Livat’s developments in China, namely in Wuxi, Beijing and Wuhan.
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