Top Food Trends Every Restaurateur Should Be Aware Of And How To Embrace Them

After a few years of uncertainty, the restaurant industry is starting to boom. The labour market is settling, and the supply issues are dissipating. The last few years have seen some change in how restaurants operate and what they should be offering.

For example, the last few years, certainly helped by outdoor food markets, have seen an increase in demand for street food. This article will go over some of the top food trends that every restauranteur should be aware of, and how they can be embraced.

More Veg And Vegan Dishes

As you may know, 2021 was a big year for veganism within the UK. This trend is expected to continue over the next few years and beyond. The increase in consumer demand has meant that restaurants, cafes, and shops now stock more vegan goods.

It is almost expected that every restaurant (yes, even steakhouses) should have clearly identified vegan goods on the menu. What restaurants didn’t think about for a while was that they thought their USP was a specific dish, whereas it’s become more of a social activity for customers. If a group of six people go out for food with different tastes and dietary requirements, then the restaurant that can cater to all will take the business in.

Post-pandemic, there has been an increase in restaurant offerings, as they want to attract more customers. As mentioned above, people want to go out for meals together, with social eating and meeting up being the big drawing point. Be aware of the demand for not just vegan goods but vegetables in general.

CBD-Infused Food

One of the more modern trends starting to hit the food industry is CBD food. There is a range of different CBD foods that a restaurant or café could look into offering their clients. The CBD products you are most likely familiar with include gummies and vape liquid, but there is much more to the CBD industry these days.

Most commonly, they can come in the form of edibles. CBD foods can also offer health benefits without any negative side effects. Restaurants could offer CBD-infused chocolate cookies and use CBD ingredients in cooking, such as full-CBD spectrum honey and vitamins.

If you operate in the restaurant industry, you can work with a wholesale CBD food specialist to get all the necessary products. JM Wholesale will allow you to order edible CBD food, stock up on CBD foods, and have base ingredients to work with.

CBD works well in food that has deep and rich flavours, which is often why it is partnered with chocolate. It’s not just chocolate, there will be a few other groups of food, not just sweet foods, that will be a good combination.

Share Plates

Now that people are once more allowed to meet up and socialise, they are flocking to the various restaurants and cafes in their local area. As more people have started to dine in big groups, restaurants have taken note of this.

This is why many restaurants and cafes offer sharing plates, as it allows a group to dive into a wide range of food they can share. Plenty of different types of food can be used for sharing. Classic foods often shared include nachos, paella, tapas, and even stew.

In fact, when a restaurant wants to, they could probably make a sharing platter of pretty much any food that they offer. You could even offer a roast dinner platter if you so wished. Consider surveying your employees as well as your customers to find out what people want to see, and what will be possible to create.

Regional And Seasonal Dishes

The last twenty years saw many big companies and franchises expand, to the point that it was almost the same offerings across the board in cities and towns. Due to this, a trend that changed within the food industry was the demand for more unique and local food.

In some cases, this led to new restaurants opening up that were themed around one specific region of the world. While in the past, restaurants may have offered Asian food as their specialist, there will now be restaurants that offer recipes and flavours from specific regions, such as Kerala. This means customers expect unique food that’s not just themed from one country but a specific region within that country.

This article has gone over some of the changes to the industry and upcoming trends that every restaurateur should be aware of going forward. It’s important that even if you don’t think the trends are useful for you, you still are aware of them and that you understand them. This will help put you in your customer’s shoes, and give you more insight into what they want and expect from a restaurant, which will be invaluable.