Gather Food Hall corrals Mexican, Cambodian, Peruvian, and Indian cuisine — plus doughnuts and fried chicken — in University City
Federal Donuts & Chicken joins a few small restaurants and a bar within sprinting distance of 30th Street Station.
Lemongrass cheesesteaks, papa a la Huancaina, alfajores, chicken tikka rolls, and doughnuts — plus a full-service bar — are all on the menu at Gather Food Hall, opening Friday in the Bulletin Building at Schuylkill Yards, across from Gray 30th Street Station.
Designed to serve travelers, the Drexel University community, and nearby University City office workers, the six stalls feature four homegrown eateries (including Philadelphia favorite Federal Donuts & Chicken) and an Indian street-food franchise. A final vendor has yet to be announced.
Wall-spanning graphics in the vast food hall pay tribute to the building, which formerly housed the Bulletin, for many years America’s largest evening newspaper. The building is at the core of Brandywine Realty Trust’s ongoing $3.5 billion Schuylkill Yards development, featuring luxury housing, public space, and offices and labs for the city’s cell-and gene-therapy market.
As it joins a growing roster of food halls nationally, Gather will serve as a first permanent home for two roving Philadelphia-area businesses, Mucho Peru and Sahbyy Foods. They are both fronted by emerging chefs who received $25,000 city grants as well as low-interest loans and mentorship from Brandywine Realty Trust. The 13,000-square-foot space will also be the first satellite location for a South Philly BYOB.
Peruvian natives Brizna Rojas and Aldo Obando started Mucho Perú last year as a series of pop-ups and residencies at Fat Lady Brewing Co. and Triple Bottom Brewery. Rojas, who cooked at the Refectory in Villanova, and Obando, who cooked at the Ripplewood in Ardmore, are showcasing their native foods, such as empanadas, ceviche, salads, the sauce-topped potato-centric appetizer papa a la Huancaina, and a pork belly sandwich on Rojas’ own baked bread. Their daughter, Alexa, is a Drexel student.
Drexel graduate Pidor Yang runs Sahbyy Food, a Cambodian stand open in the spring and summer at the Southeast Asian Market in South Philadelphia. Her Gather menu will include two bestsellers: jumbo double-fried chicken wings with a choice of three sauces (the tamarind-pineapple-honey glaze is a personal favorite), and lemongrass cheesesteaks, which are topped with cheddar cheese, papaya salad, and Yang’s own pepper chips.
El Mictlan, which chef Chelo Manzanarez and family opened last year at Beechwood Street and Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia, will be a taco bar serving tacos, guacamole, tuna tostadas, and a selection of seasonal dishes. Inquirer critic Craig LaBan is a fan of the Acapulco-inspired dishes on offer at the original location.
Federal Donuts & Chicken will open early to serve its menu of fried chicken, doughnuts, and coffee. Bowl’d Masala — founded in Edison, N.J., during the pandemic as a cloud-kitchen concept that’s now in food halls and malls nationwide — will sell customizable bowls of Indian street food as well as tikka rolls and naan pizza. Gather’s bar, near the doors and within sprinting distance of the train station, is named after the Bulletin.
When Brandywine Realty Trust was looking for an operator for Gather, Akhtar Nawab got the call. As cofounder of New York-based Hospitality HQ, a national company, Nawab said he found the project especially compelling because his daughter is a Drexel student.
Students factor into Gather’s operations in other ways. The food hall partners with Believe in Students, a national nonprofit, to combat food insecurity among college students, pledging to give out 5,000 low-cost meals in its first year, backed by a $250,000, 10-year commitment from Brandywine.
Food halls on the rise
This is a boom time for food halls. Locally, there’s Franklin’s Table at the University of Pennsylvania with seven vendors; Market at the Fareway in Chestnut Hill; the Chancery Market, which opened three years ago in downtown Wilmington with eight stalls plus a full bar and patio; and the month-old Ridge Hall, a collection of 10 vendors and an on-site brewery in an old warehouse in Ambler. You could count Ardmore Farmers Market at Suburban Square as a food hall for its “many options, one stop” niche, or supermarkets such as H Mart and Assi whose stalls house eateries alongside common seating. Reading Terminal Market has many food-hall elements, but its core mission is a market selling raw foods. Although the ubiquitous new restaurant chain Wonder bills itself as a food-hall concept, it is absolutely not; foods from multiple menus come out of one kitchen.
Across the street from Gather, Amtrak is overseeing an extensive renovation of Gray 30th Street Station; several years ago, it tore out its food court with plans to add dining there. An Amtrak spokesperson last week said information about that project was not available.
Nationally, according to the research firm IBISWorld, the food-hall category grew 12.6% in 2024 and an additional 11.5% in 2025, reaching about 418 operations. A Cushman & Wakefield report cited about 340 food halls open in 2024, with more than 120 under construction — a more than 50% increase since 2019.
Customers seem to like them because they offer the convenience of many cuisines under one roof, a chance for a social experience, and a perceived value over full-service restaurants. Landlords and chefs like them because they involve lower risk and revive underused buildings and drive foot traffic for surrounding retail.
Aaron Finney, Gather’s general manager, cites “the nostalgia aspect for all of us 30- and 40-year-olds. We all used to hang out in mall food courts back in the day, and this is basically the version of an adult food court. It has that effect of [the set-in-the-1980s TV series] Stranger Things, in a way.”
In the last decade, they have evolved into more than just food-and-beverage destinations, said Ed Eimer, whose Center City interior-architecture firm, Eimer Design, has designed 100 food halls around the country, including Franklin’s Table.
“They are becoming community centers and launching pads for all kinds of different complementary uses,” said Eimer, whose first food-hall project opened 10 years ago. “Think of them more as an entertainment venue than a restaurant. One of the things that is really important today rather than 10 years ago is outdoor programmable space.”
“What we [designers] need to do is give good options for the space — areas that can drive people into a food hall for more than just having something great to eat and great to drink,” Eimer said.
Gather Food Hall, 3025 Market St. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Federal Donuts opens at 8 a.m.