Top Food Trends Your Business Should Know About

After a turbulent 2020, there is hope that 2021 will be a year of recovery for the food industry. While this is possible, the pandemic is still expected to have a significant impact on food and beverage trends. Here’s what industry experts predict for the immediate future:

Restaurant Trends

Streamlined Menus
Restaurants are simplifying their menus in response to forced closures and social distancing. This change has helped operators reduce inventory, requiring fewer ingredients and staff. Additionally, menus are being adapted for take-away. This shift has demonstrated how restaurants can cut costs while still meeting customer needs, and streamlined menus are expected to remain a trend.

Off-Site Operations
Before the pandemic, 80% of restaurant business occurred on-site. Now, the focus has shifted to takeaways, deliveries, and dark kitchens—shared kitchens used by multiple restaurants for take-out services.

Meal Kits
Customers, particularly millennials and Gen Z, are gravitating toward meal kits from their favorite restaurants. These kits offer pre-measured ingredients and instructions for making restaurant-quality meals at home.

Meal Subscriptions
Meal subscription services allow customers to sign up for regular deliveries or pickups, offering meals at discounted rates. Surveys show many customers are interested in subscribing to meal services from their favorite eateries.

Food Trends

Focus on Health and Immunity
The pandemic has heightened consumer awareness around health, leading to increased demand for food that boosts immunity. Ingredients such as elderberry, probiotics, turmeric, and moringa are becoming more popular.

Transparency
With media coverage of food-related outbreaks, consumers are more focused on what they eat and where it’s produced. The trend toward transparency in food sourcing and production will continue, with technology playing a role in ensuring safer processes.

Next-Generation Plant-Based Options
Plant-based foods have been on the rise for several years, and this trend is expected to grow. While soy, pea, and wheat proteins currently dominate the plant-based food market, new ingredients like traditional berries, butterfly-pea flower, and moringa are set to make an appearance.

Global Flavors
With limited travel and fewer dining-out experiences, consumers are seeking to incorporate novel, global flavors into their home-cooked meals, adding a touch of excitement and variety.

Restaurant Industry Overview

The food industry was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, but recovery is underway. Trends that were emerging before the pandemic have now accelerated, especially regarding restaurant operations and a growing focus on health and nutrition. For those willing to adapt, this could be an exciting time filled with new opportunities in the food industry.

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