If you are like us you have already begun the process of thinking about food items that will be on trend for next year. We never seem to know if consumers next year will be eating chocolate at breakfast, sardines with lunch and goat for dinner but, a new list of culinary trend predictions has surfaced that may truly shock you and your business partners.
It should be no surprise to read that consumers are obsessed with nutrition, sustainability and authentic of properly sourced foods. Consumers are seeking to rediscover traditional cooking methods, explore global cuisines and reevaluate restaurants and the prepackaged foods they eat.
To simply put it, you have to engage your guest with food and compile a list of trends that will identify with your consumer landscape. We had to look at the key driving elements that have changed consumer behaviors and develop a list of trends that hit the core elements of what make your guests want to come in and dine with you. Of course, we don’t expect you as owners to do all of the hard work, which is why we have identified a few of the top projecting trends for the 2017 year.
1- Dark chocolate at breakfast - consumers love dark chocolate at breakfast because, it gets their metabolisms up and running for the day.
2- Black - yes, black - black tinted vegetables, blackened pizza, black rice, black beans and black colored cocktails. Consumers senses seem to be elevated when they are served the black colored foods because, they have no idea what flavor to expect, it is exciting for them.
3- Soup- “souping” is the new juicing, it allows those who love the juicing experience to take it one step further and add new textures, tastes and nutrients to an already popular trend. Soups have a wonderful source fiber, antioxidants as well as other detoxifying ingredients guests love.
4-Local Heritage Re-Farmed - a trend that bring local farming and shopping to the next level. Brings local foods, ingredients, recipes and cooking styles all together to create a wonderful meal.
5- Mexican styled foods- consumers can’t get enough of Mexican style cuisine.
6- Heat- consumers have never enjoyed spicy foods more than today. To many of them it is more than just extreme heat, it actually adds to food, helps with their digestion and sometimes seems to be addicting.
We know that you may not be able to incorporate all of these finding into next years menu but, we hope that it helps give you a few ideas as to what may help you expand and attract new guests!
