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Food Service Trends You Need to Know

A Food Fun Travel Guest Post

Just like in any industry, trends in the food industry are continuously evolving to meet the ever-changing requirements of people. Restaurant owners need to embrace these changes to stay abreast of the competition.

What drives this Food service trend?

Imagine you have just returned to your bachelor’s pad from a hectic day at the office and are hazy as to what you can have for dinner. Trust me, you are not alone. Almost 81% of American consumers remain unsure about their dinners!

These time-starved consumers look for high quality ready-to-eat foods. Today, people are looking for foods that are healthy and can be cooked in a jiffy.

What are the current Food service trends?

#1 Value addition
It has been estimated that 37% of consumers and 46% of millennials look for restaurant deals and promo codes to order meals. This has set the trend of combo meals that include four or five items with beverages and desserts that cost less than $5.

#2 Food delivery is the future of grocery shopping
Technology is transforming the way food is ordered by automating certain activities in online delivery outlets like mercato.com. The day is not far when robots will be delivering food to your doorstep.

The Internet has revolutionized the food business as well! Social media is another powerful tool that helps to promote your restaurant. It was just a year ago when Instagram carried 223 million #food postings. Of these, pizza was the hot favorite! Then there’s the rise of options aimed at those with specific dietary requirements, with services popping up to offer low-carb food delivered to your door for those who have particular goals or nutritional needs. This is a trend worth capitalizing on.

#3 Healthier food options
Consumers had moved to health foods from junk food. Consumers continue to move towards even healthier foods prepared from fresh, whole and simple ingredients. If figures are anything to go by almost 49% consumers and 58% Millennials check out the ‘clean labels’ of ingredients before buying them.

According to the latest trend, consumers and Millennials ask for less-processed whole food, with fewer additives. Seven out of 10 consumers check the calorie count labels and about 60% prefer cage-free or free-range meat.
Some restaurants now have transparent kitchens showing how the food is prepared. Some restaurants even list the names of its suppliers on its menus!

#4 Flexible dining options
It has been found that almost 91% of consumers are in a habit of snacking multiple times during the course of the day. This all-day snacking makes around 8% of them forgo meals. Today, almost 35% of consumers and 41% of Millennials decide to dine where ‘new and interesting’ food options are offered.

This has made restaurants introduce Happy Hour beverage specials, half-price desserts, frozen beverage specials, aggressive Dollar Menu pricing and the like. Almost half of the 10 fastest growing limited-service chains are based on build-your-own-pizza concepts.

#5 Convenience Counts
In the fast-paced present-day lives, both consumers and Millennials are hard pressed for time. This makes them shift to online shopping. This is what has made ready-to-eat meals a hot item at in-store locations. This has also given rise to more restaurants inside grocery stores, meeting the demand of about 34% Millennials. Even retail channels have jumped into the fray and their initiatives range from casual restaurants, to bars, tap rooms, and grab-and-go restaurants.

All eateries endeavor to ensure that the delivered food quality is akin to the restaurant experience. The ideas have not stopped here, the latest is the virtual restaurants, called Ghost Restaurants. These delivery-only concepts have no physical outlets.

Conclusion

The Food service trends are continuously evolving with the changing tastes and preferences of the health-conscious consumers and Millennials, who are the force behind the ever-changing dining scenario.