Europe
Tesco engaged Think Hospitality to conduct a technology review across more than 400 shopping centres and retail parks spanning Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The objective was to determine how food courts could better integrate digital or centralised ordering to optimise operations, and to explore the potential for dark kitchen or multi-branded offers beyond the limited number of physical frontages.
The review was aligned with a significant programme of refurbishment and asset upgrades, with a particular focus on limiting queues and maximising seating areas across the portfolio.
We visited over 30 locations across the four markets, meeting with more than 100 food court operators to understand their current technology adoption, operational challenges and appetite for change. Alongside these meetings, we briefed and managed a programme of in-mall customer interviews to gauge consumer demand and expectations around digital ordering.
The research revealed that the primary barrier was not consumer interest or demand — which was strong — but operator willingness to participate. Many operators were not yet using digital transactions in any form, creating a fundamental gap between the technology vision and on-the-ground reality.
We developed a phased roadmap for Tesco to evolve food court leases at renewal, embedding digital ordering requirements and shared infrastructure into the next generation of operator agreements. The strategy included an education-based programme to bring operators along on the journey, demonstrating the revenue opportunity available through digital channels.
The recommendations provided a practical path from the current state — where many operators remained entirely analogue — toward a digitally integrated food court model, using the incentive of increased sales through new channels to drive adoption rather than mandating change.
