An Accelerator for Food Halls

Three years ago, Pittsburgh was crowned America’s best food city by Zagat. But even as a growing creative class amps demand, rising labor costs make restaurant startups precarious. Enter Benjamin Mantica and Tyler Benson, former Navy officers inspired by the vibrant street markets of Southeast Asia who, in 2015, co-founded Galley Group, which applies the tech accelerator model to food halls. Galley removes the capital risk for chefs by not requiring them to cover the build-out of their spaces. Instead, chefs spend $10,000 to $15,000, on average, in startup costs, and then 30 percent of their monthly revenue goes to Galley. Chefs get not only space but also utilities, maintenance, POS equipment, licensing and permitting, frontof-house staff, guidance on menu strategy, marketing, PR, and—if requested—introductions to investors and help finding a permanent location. Since the goal is to get them into the community as fast as possible, there is no lease. And while there are no time limits, the average food hall tenure is 12 to 18 months, long enough to test concepts. Since its 2015 launch, Galley has hatched two Pittsburgh food halls—Smallman Galley and Federal Galley—and expanded to Cleveland and Detroit. Says Benson: “We believe this concept can create unique opportunity for chefs in many markets across the U.S.”