F
ast-casual eateries are rapidly filling vacant storefronts in Midtown, driven by the return of office workers to their desks five days a week. This boom includes both familiar names like Pret a Manger and Sweetgreen, as well as new brands entering the market for the first time.
Farmer J, a UK-based health-focused chain with 11 locations in London, is set to open its first US store at 714 Lexington Ave. Pollo Campero, dubbed "the Chick-fil-A of Guatemala," has been expanding in the area since opening about a year ago.
Landlords and retail brokers attribute the surge to the return of five-day office workweeks, which provides a crucial boost to casual food businesses that rely heavily on lunch sales. As Patrick A. Smith, vice chairman of retail brokerage for JLL, notes, "They mostly have to survive on one meal a day — lunch. They can't do it on only three days a week."
CBRE's Henry Rossignol points out that operators are also using data from delivery services like Uber Eats and DoorDash to inform their decisions about where to locate. This has led to the opening of new spots like Joe & the Juice at 1195 Sixth Ave., right across from Naya, a popular Middle Eastern chain.
The fast-casual trend is not only filling vacant storefronts but also driving up demand for space in prime locations. Cushman & Wakefield's Steven Soutenidjk notes that there's currently "basically no space available" between Lexington and Seventh avenues. Asking rents range from $150 to $300 per square foot, a welcome boost for landlords after years of struggling with a shrunken retail-space market.
New arrivals include Yumpling, a Taiwanese spot at 16 E. 52nd St., and Bagizza, a pizza-and-bagels hybrid at 424 Madison Ave. Even long-vacant spaces are being snapped up, such as the bagel operation Scoop at 7 E. 53rd St. Landlords are thrilled to see fast-casual eateries helping to take up the slack in the market, with Meridian Retail Leasing's James Famularo declaring, "The tides are finally turning."
