By Healthcare Facilities Today

The phrase “hospital food” used to be synonymous with gelatin and mystery meat, but the competition for fast-casual and upscale restaurant brands in urban hospitals is intensifying as patients and visitors raise their expectations of the health care experience, according to an article on the National Restaurant News website.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital in downtown Chicago completed a 70,000-square-foot dining and retail space in late November called “Shop & Dine Northwestern,” which includes local fast-casual brands with a healthful positioning like GRK Greek Kitchen, Sopraffina Marketcaffè, Protein Bar and Saigon Sisters, as well as a large Au Bon Pain. 

The hospital has begun leasing for the second phase of the hospital’s growth plan, including 17,000 square feet of retail space in a 1 million-square-foot, 24-story outpatient facility to be completed next fall, the article said. The Chicago-based franchisees of LYFE Kitchen have agreed to put their second unit in the development.

The hospital sought out the restaurant tenants in most cases but several operators said Northwestern’s steady deluge of foot traffic and its prime location near Michigan Avenue were instantly apparent.

“The trend in restaurants is that folks are trying to cater menus to healthier, fresher options, and given that we’re in health care, it was important for us,” Gina Weldy, vice president of real estate for Northwestern Memorial, said in the article . “In the work environment we’re in now, people eat three meals a day near the office. These concepts give us the ability to offer that.”

The volume of foot traffic around the five-square-block area of the hospital is significant, not just from Michigan Avenue shoppers and hospital visitors, but also from Northwestern’s medical and law schools, as well as residents in the Streeterville neighborhood, according to the article.  

The demand for restaurants in the immediate vicinity had been met mostly by quick-service restaurants, which gave Northwestern Memorial a chance to have differentiated food offerings, Weldy said .

Read the article.