In a further indication that all is not so well with Saluhall, the food hall at SF's still newish IKEA mall, the parent company Ingka Centres is dropping the British operator of the food hall that they've been working with for a year and a half.
If you've been to Saluhall, on the first and second floors of the mall building, adjacent to the IKEA store, anytime recently, you likely noticed that it's not a particularly lively spot most afternoons or evenings. A lack of foot traffic has meant that vendors haven't lasted too long in the upstairs area, and two of the five food stalls there are currently vacant.
Even buzzed-about Oakland taco spot Tacos El Último Baile, which has gained a following for its pop-ups and its brief brick-and-mortar stint in the Fruitvale District, was unable to last long at Saluhall. Chef and owner Dominic Prado opened a stall there in mid-July, and shut it down by early September, clearly due to lack of business. (Prado is now hoping to open in a space in Oakland's City Center in the new year.)
Well, as the SF Standard is reporting, Ingka is cutting ties with British firm Kerb, the business incubator and food hall operator that created a popular food hall in London called Seven Dials Market — and it's also the firm that manages Emeryville's Public Market.
Ingka gave a statement saying they had "mutually agreed" to end the partnership with Kerb, and told the Standard that they will be taking over management and marketing of Saluhall themselves.
Blame for the lackluster business at the food hall could be put on the operator, which has done little to market the complex and make it a destination, or it could be put on the neighborhood, which continues to struggle to become a place that people want to go to. Union Square's general doldrums, with much of the lower blocks of Powell and Stockton streets lined with vacant storefronts right now, and the death spiral of the nearby SF Centre mall, certainly aren't helping matters when it comes to the area returning to being a shopping destination.
"There [is] only so much a management company could do,” says Lourdes Nau of Casa Borinqueña, speaking to the Standard. "We just need foot traffic back to the street." The vegan Puerto Rican food outfit is one of two vendors that has stayed since the April 2024, and Nau says she's unsure whether to stay at the food hall.
Another indication that even Kerb was rethinking their original concept, which was leaning heavily into plant-based vendors, was that popular smashburger pop-up SmishSmash replaced the former plant-based burger stand on the ground floor as of January. And the original bakery-restaurant on the ground floor, Smörgåsland, which was billed as being linked to chef Mathias Andersen and celebrity chef and Noma co-founder Claus Meyer, closed as well, giving way to Cheezy's Artisan Pizza, which features several meaty pies.
The upstairs cocktail bar has also been infrequently open, leaving beverages only available at the downstairs bar, which is typically staffed by just one person.
Ingka Centres continues to slowly fill the rest of the empty space in the six-story mall complex, with a new event space opening on the fourth floor this week, called L4. Other tenants that were rumored early on that could make the place a dining and entertainment destination, like the Rory McIlroy-backed mini-golf lounge concept Puttery, have yet to materialize.
Ingka reportedly has lined up three new food vendors to fill the vacant upstairs kiosks, as well as one being vacated by an outgoing vendor.
Photo by Jay Barmann/SFist
