February 22, 2022
Mike Prince/Peter Breslow Consulting & Public Relations
The minds behind FoodieHall – business partners Dan Goldberg and Nick Ballias and Culinary Director Georgeann Leaming, center – pose with one of their signs.
South Jersey residents no longer need to leave the comfort of their homes to get a food hall experience.
FoodieHall, which bills itself as a completely virtual culinary mall, is set to offer a range of cuisine options through an online-only, delivery-centric model. Thanks to this concept, households won't need to settle on a single restaurant for dinner. If one person wants Italian food and another desires tacos, FoodieHall has them covered.
Customers place orders through the FoodieHall website and then either pick up their food at 1931 Olney Ave. in Cherry Hill or have it delivered. Delivery is only available in New Jersey and within a 10-mile radius of the food hall, but it may eventually expand to include Philadelphia.
"FoodieHall is 100% developed for delivery, from fast-casual to upscale with choices everyone will enjoy," said Dan Goldberg, who opened the business with his partner Nick Ballias. "Families will no longer have to compromise on one restaurant, as we will have options for everyone."
Only two of the six restaurants planned for the outlet are currently open – DaNick's Craft Burgers and Simply Fowl, a casual, fried chicken restaurant focused on sandwiches.
But once FoodieHall is completely up and running, customers also will be able to order food from Dando Tacos, Fornire Italian Kitchen, Canting Noodle Bar and Criss Crust Pizza.
Ballias said more restaurant concepts may start operating out of the facility once the ball gets rolling.
The food all comes from a single, 4,000 square-foot kitchen run by Culinary Director Georgeann Leaming, a champion of Food Network's "Chopped." Leaming also was once the executive chef at Gordon Ramsay's restaurants in Atlantic City and chef de cuisine at R2L, a former fine-dining destination in Center City.
Additionally, for every meal ordered, FoodieHall will donate a meal to a person in need through its Meal4Meal program, run in partnership with the nonprofit Feeding America.
"We founded the Meal4Meal concept because too many of our neighbors do not have adequate food to eat," Ballias said. "We're determined to be part of a solution to help others."
FoodieHall will not be the first establishment of its kind in the Philly area.
That title goes to the Commons, a virtual food hall in University City that offers delivery service and in-person dining, opened in October 2020. It serves food from seven restaurants cooked in two ghost kitchens.
Standalone kitchens without a storefront became popular early in the COVID-19 pandemic, when demand for take-out and delivery soared while traffic at traditional restaurants plummeted.
Ballias and Goldberg are looking to turn FoodieHall into a franchise that extends beyond Cherry Hill. They're currently accepting online applications from people interested in opening their own virtual food halls.
