If a mall puts a food court deeper in the path, what traffic job can it do?

Answer: Pull diners past shops

Pull diners past shops ✓ — Right: a food court is not just a place to refuel; it can be a destination that pulls people inward past other storefronts. Retail sources describe restaurants as traffic drivers for neighboring retail, and mall-design guidance says food courts can be placed to direct flow to those zones. A location paper makes the anchor comparison directly, but the mechanism is simpler: put a reason to stop deeper in the path.

Reduce entrance crowds — Reducing entrance crowding could be useful, so this is a plausible circulation answer. But it does not explain why the food court works like a destination. The stronger traffic mechanism is that diners must pass other storefronts on the way in.

Hold diners in place — Longer dwell time can help a mall, so this is a plausible business thought. But the placement question is about shopper traffic before the meal, not how long diners sit afterward. The anchor-like value comes from turning a meal stop into a cross-mall trip.