Here's why even great food can't save the mall from going extinct

A combination of increased competition, rising food costs because of the pound's weakness after the Brexit vote and a government apprenticeship levy have hurt mall operators in UK

Stephen Wall’s restaurant chain Pho is the kind of tenant that mall landlords would love to attract. The Vietnamese menu is right on trend, the business is expanding and, even better, it has a track record of success in shopping centers.

Yet he thinks that even restaurants like his won’t be the savior of malls suffering from the rise of internet retailing and mobile phone addiction.

“Food is not the solution for most landlords. Saturation has occurred because too many restaurants are being put into shopping centers,” said Wall, who founded the U.K. chain with his wife, Jules, in 2005. “Operators are