A new project with a bright future
Food Hall Investment is a project for the renovation and regeneration of a gastronomic space in Calviá, a unique place on the island of Mallorca
Quality
Experiences
Future
Investing in gastronomic markets
Your opportunity to invest in a food hall
There is currently a great investment opportunity in a gastronomic space, in an unbeatable location. On the island of Mallorca, a true paradise on earth, there is a project called Food Hall Investment that aims to take advantage of the business model of gastronomic spaces, a sector which is booming.
The market is located in Calviá, one of the municipalities in Mallorca, which has the greatest potential on the island. This municipality has around 53,200 inhabitants, of which 19,600 are foreign families, who have established their second residence here, with the rest made up of families who are permanent residents, which considerably reduces dependence on foreign tourism.
Calviá is one of the most select municipalities in Mallorca, with nine residential areas, where families with medium to high spending power reside, within some of the most sought-after urbanisations on the island, including Costa den Blanes, Bendinat and Santa Ponça, among others.
The market is located in Torrenova, which is strategically placed within the municipality, surrounded by 4 and 5-star hotels. In its surroundings, you can find numerous popular attractions bringing thousands of people, both residents and tourists, to the area, including Katmandu Park which is visited by thousands of families each year; a family leisure centre, located 5 minutes’ walk away; the exclusive beach club Nikki Beach, which is 15 minutes’ walk away; and Sol Wave House, which is 7 minutes’ walk away. In addition, there is the Hotel Meliá Calivá Beach and the Western Water Park. All of these attractions are surrounded by the most famous beaches in Mallorca.
This project is part of the development Plan for the Seasonalisation and Implementation of Non-Seasonal Tourist Products, which is in addition to the modification of the General Urban Planning Plan approved in 2009, which is committed to quality tourism, the diversification of products and the economic boost of tourism. This is supported by the Calviá City Council, within the new Calviá Beach project, where large hoteliers such as Meliá are investing in the transformation of the area, investing in shopping centres and tourist complexes.
It is also located just 5km from some of the best golf courses in Mallorca, such as Bendinat and Golf Santa Ponça. Also, five minutes away, you can find some of the most exclusive ports on the island, such as Puerto Portals and Port Adriano.
The future is here, and we want to set guidelines for change in Calviá, with professionalism, high quality and sustainability.
If you are interested in investing in the Calvia gastronomic market, do not hesitate to contact us.
Calviá: A strategic location for a gastronomic space
In just 7 years, the municipality of Calviá has taken a lead in terms of hotel quality. 66% of the reservations are attributed to 4 and 5-star hotels, which is much higher than the average. This compares to the island as a whole, where the proportion is only 27%. If we take into account the reforms that are currently underway and expected over the next few years, we would see an increase to slightly more than 70%, which makes the proportion even higher than the national average. In addition, of the reservations in the municipality of Calviá, only 13% are attributed to non-renovated hotels.
This data shows that Calviá is taking great steps in terms of quality, with great efforts being made by the different hotels to change the profile of the customer it is targeting by improving quality. These efforts are already coming to fruition. In 2013, one out of every three tourists were young students. This compares to 2018, where students only made up 16% of the total visiting tourists, while families, adult couples and senior tourists made up just under 80%.
In addition, Calviá has diversified the nationality of its visiting tourists. The British market in 2009 represented 60% of overall tourism, while in 2018, it was only 44%, with Spanish tourists totalling 11%, and central-European tourists growing up to 25%.
These examples show that Calviá is one of the only world tourist destinations that has been able to change its tourist offering.
The huge effort made by the hotel sector, which has invested more than 380 million euros in the area in recent years, is now beginning to pay off, and it is here that a great investment opportunity is available in the Calviá gastronomic market.
The investment opportunity in this area is unrivalled because it is accompanied by the already existing investment made by the hotels, together with the support of Calviá City Council in improving public areas, cleaning and increasing security. All of these factors guarantee that the Food Hall Project has huge potential for success.
The Momentum Plaza, which is located just 7 minutes from the gastronomic market, provides a commercial space, which remains open all year round. This initiative has been very well received, not only by tourists, but particularly by the residents of Mallorca. This highlights that the seasonal adjustment has already begun. In addition, another example of seasonal adjustment is the Calviá Beach hotel, which opens all year round, which gives a huge boost to the local economy.
In a public-private collaboration, the Calviá Beach Project has been launched. The Meliá company has invested almost 250 million euros in total, which shows the enormous interest that there is in the area and the possibilities that exist.
With the investment in the locality having been made, combined with the change in seasonal tourism, it means that the gastronomic market is a great opportunity, which sits in a privileged location, in the epicentre of these investments.
There are also projects being undertaken by the City Council to reform the surrounding areas of the market to create a park, which further increases the value of the area.
As mentioned before, the efforts made by hoteliers, in collaboration with the City Council, to change the profile of tourists that visit this destination have been extensive. Due to the lack of quality services, the target audience would “escape” to places like Palma, Puerto Portals or Port Adriano in search of these services that are scarce in the municipality itself. Although, as we have seen, large projects are beginning to appear, aiming to take advantage of the shortage of existing supply, which is important in the municipality.
That is why, as the Momentum Plaza has proved, this shortage of supply should be seen as a great opportunity, as there is little competition, and the gastronomic market would, therefore, be one of the main attractions in this area, ensuring a strong flow of people.
Visitors of 4 and 5-star hotels are keen to spend money outside of the hotel in search of different eating and shopping experiences. As a result, hoteliers have seen the demand for all-inclusive holidays reduce in favour of Bed & Breakfast bookings. Strong investment in the Momentum Plaza shopping centre backs it up.
Evidence of the reinvention of this sector can be seen in reports produced by Meliá with respect to its recently renovated hotels in the Balearic Islands, which shows an improvement in income for 2019 for the months of April, September, October and November. These are signs of the extension of the tourist season and is further evidence of seasonal adjustment in this area.
The strong support from the City Council, with its proposal Calviá Destino Turistico Inteligente includes, as its main objective, the creation of data collection and a management platform by different technological means, and the creation of a Big Data model that collects data and information with the intention of improving the experience of tourists and citizens, improving the environment and energy sustainability.
Thanks to this data collection, better decisions can be made at the municipal level, which includes smart buoys on beaches with the greatest influx that collect information on water quality, and surveillance cameras that improve the fight against illegal dumping at various strategic points, amongst others.
Tourism market trends and the strength of food halls
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has stated in its report, “Tourism Towards 2030”, the importance of adapting to changes in the consumer of the future, who will be more and more demanding. This includes the change in demographic of the tourist, mentioned previously, where we are seeing older tourists visit with area, with higher spending power, looking for a unique experience.
In the Balearic Islands, both the public and private sectors have understood this evolution, which is why the Comprehensive Tourism Plan 2015-2025 has been created, mainly focusing on improving unique tourist experiences, with a large seasonal adjustment component.
In this context, we can highlight the following market trends:
- An increase in short breaks and short trips. Tourists are more likely to travel closer and for shorter periods of time, more evenly spread throughout the year. The increase in this type of tourist has led to an improvement in tourist occupancy, particularly in the low season. Gastronomic improvement has been one of the essential factors in promoting this change in seasonality.
- The change in the type of tourists from younger to older visitors, with greater spending power.
- Tourists are now favouring and search for an experience when it comes to visiting a destination, rather than purely basing their search on price and cost alone. This goes hand in hand with what gastronomic markets can offer. Travelers will show a greater appreciation for well-kept interesting spaces, placing great importance on the environment and environment.
All of these factors support the great investment opportunity in the medium and long term that the Calviá gastronomic market offers.
COVID-19 and gastronomic spaces: Risks, expectations and opportunities 2020-2021
As a result of the Covid-19 restrictions, the hotel sector in Spain announced that its reservations were between 20% and 30% lower when compared 2019. Taking into account the impact of these restrictions, this was considered a success. It was not until the restrictions were imposed by other countries, particularly the British Government, that the sector was considerably affected. This data leads us to believe that the drop in tourism is partly due to health issues but mostly due to political issues (quarantines, confinements, etc.). However, the sector expects a recovery for March 2021, as many reservations that were made for 2020 were postponed and moved across to the 2021 season, which will be in addition to new reservations made.
As a reference, we can see the income expectations of the largest hotel chain in Calviá, Meliá.
In 2021, Meliá’s worldwide revenues are expected to be 35% lower than in 2019, which would place them at 2013 levels, but they are expecting a full recovery by 2023.
As previously mentioned, the reasons for people not traveling are mainly pollical and it is evident that the Governments of the different countries will not want to see themselves in the current situation for the next year. Therefore, they are expected to improve measures and have a greater preparation, which will mean that travel is not restricted, especially once aid has been given to Spain, since if the EU countries restrict travel to Spain, the aid given by the EU countries runs the risk of not being returned since the damage that the Spanish economy would suffer would be enormous.
Therefore, the real risk of policies such as lockdowns and strong travel restrictions for 2021 are very low, even without taking the new vaccine into account.
In the current environment, the gastronomic market of Calviá has another important competitive advantage and that is most of the space is made up of a terrace, which allows it to continue to operate, whilst complying with health regulations, with few complications.
The food markets sector is expected to continue its pre-Covid-19 success.
Gastronomic markets have another great additional advantage over traditional restaurants in their ability to recover in uncertain environments, due to their economic structure and the business model on which most dining rooms are built. The costs of operating a kitchen in the gastronomic market are staggeringly low compared to an independent restaurant, which is an important factor to bear in mind.
The biggest problem with an independent restaurant is its high fixed costs. However, the model typically used in food halls is a percentage rental agreement structure, with the owner and tenants sharing the risks and rewards.
As a result of the current situation, investing in the gastronomic market of Calviá, in Mallorca is a great opportunity.
Due to the current situation, we have reduced the price of our market to adequate levels, reducing the monthly rental contract from 20 thousand euros to only 15 thousand euros. We have also reduced the price of the “traspaso” from 500 thousand to 460 thousand euros. By doing this, this gives the investor sufficient margin to be able to make any modifications that they consider necessary, thus reducing investment risk, without reducing their profitability in the medium and long term.