Food halls are not just for retail outlets, however. Pinnacle Red Group, based in San Jose, Calif., plans to put a small one on the ground floor of a planned residential and office tower in downtown Oakland. The developer hopes to leverage a bustling street and nearby transportation hubs to create a regional destination, said Ronnie Turner, development manager for the firm.

In downtown Chicago, the 15-vendor Revival Food Hall opened last year on the ground floor of a 110-year-old, 20-story office building designed by Daniel Burnham. The food hall’s developer, Craig Golden, is finishing a renovation of the property, now known as the National. He and the restaurateur Bruce Finkelman worked as partners on Revival, which features taco, seafood, poke bowl and other restaurants as well as a book and record shop.

“We wanted to bring in what we thought was the best food in the city,” said Mr. Golden, whose Blue Star Properties portfolio includes a number of restaurants and entertainment venues. “When people come downtown to work, the choices are limited.”

Food halls are still so new that they lack a standard template for success, said Philip Colicchio, a food and beverage consultant in New York, who has added food halls to his chef and hotel client list. The properties range from 5,000 square feet to more than 40,000 square feet, and developers can choose to lease out and operate a food hall themselves, collaborate with a local restaurateur to vet vendors and potentially manage it, or lease to one operator and let it find tenants and run the place.

“The good news is that there are some terrific vendors that can provide great food and beverage in food halls,” said Mr. Colicchio, who is consulting on food halls in Cincinnati, San Francisco and the Bahamas. “What does not yet exist is a deep talent pool of management.”