Eataly had every excuse in 2020 to delay, delay, delay its Dallas opening.
The three-level, 46,000-square-foot food emporium is a huge multimillion-dollar investment in a mall and would be opening just as the pandemic’s cases were forecast to surge.
But it didn’t delay.
The Italian food experience with eating and drinking places and grocery shopping under the same roof is coming to NorthPark Center in December because, well the Italians, they have a long time frame.
Eataly CEO Nicola Farinetti said in an interview that after many meetings with NorthPark’s owners, the decision was made to go forward.
It wasn’t a hard one because postponing isn’t what they do, said the son of Eataly founder, Oscar Farinetti. “My grandmother always told me if you have time to do something, don’t wait. Just do it.”
The company has been hiring 350 people to run the grocery, cheese, meat and seafood market and bakery and three restaurants, which will have indoor and outdoor seating.
The concept behind Eataly is “if you eat better, you live better,” he said, and the company had figured out how to keep operating 39 locations of various sizes around the world during the pandemic.
Chasing projections about pandemic surges didn’t seem practical, he said, adding that the risk is “losing too much time.” Start to finish, this is at least a three-year project, he said.
Farinetti even wants Dallas-Fort Worth residents to take their time about visiting Eataly.
The family-owned business hasn’t launched a new location during a pandemic and pre-pandemic openings in the U.S. have attracted huge crowds.
His message to Dallas is to “take your time coming.”
“We know that people aren’t enjoying crowds these days, and there’s no rush. We are going to be here for the long run.”
The concept, founded in 2007 in Torino, Italy, has a devoted fan base and it has contributed to turning more Americans into foodies since opening its first U.S. store in New York City’s Flatiron district in 2010. Five more have opened in the U.S., a second in New York and in Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Last year, Eataly opened its first location in Canada, in Toronto, and London will open next year.
It only opens flagship stores in the U.S., but in other countries it has locations as small as 10,000 square feet. Before the pandemic, the company’s annual sales were $500 million from 40 locations.
The NorthPark location will be following all the safety rules of the pandemic, he said. To help with social distancing, it will take restaurant reservations and groceries will be accessible online for delivery with Instacart.
Eataly will open with 1,200 wines from a selection of 400 grape varieties grown in Italy, Farinetti said. The store will stock 500 cheeses and more than 850 Italian products that he said have never been sold in Dallas.
An opening date hasn’t been set yet, but it’s planned for December.
Eataly wants to be casual and approachable, he said. “We want people to come and have lunch with an old friend they haven’t seen in a long time, do some shopping at the mall and take home ingredients for dinner.”
He thinks Italian cooking is easy because it was created in homes and isn’t as difficult as French cooking, which he said was created by chefs in restaurants.
“Food is very personal and while we can do a lot online, we believe that we can bring something new to the table," he said.
Dallas had to check some boxes, and it did. Farinetti spent time here to learn the people and explore the existing food experience.
Did he go to Jimmy’s, a popular East Dallas food store that specializes in Italian wine and food, or to any of H-E-B’s Central Market specialty grocery stores?
Yes, to both, he said, and visiting those stores made him “very comfortable about Dallas.”
“When you see a retailer like Central Market doing such a good job that means it’s because the people who live there love food,” he said. “Jimmy’s isn’t our competition. Our only competition is people who sell bad food.”
Twitter: @MariaHalkias
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