We are living in such a busy and fast-paced world, that most people eat out a few times a week. Millennials are leading the way as they are reportedly eating out about three times a week. That is why the dining business sphere is booming at the moment. Restaurants are doing everything they can to attract new clients. As a result, they are regularly making changes on their menu by adding some new trendy spice, for example, or they are even taking things further by offering their customers a unique kind of a dining experience. The latest restaurants trends seem to prove namely that. If you love food and you enjoy socializing over a nice meal in some trendy restaurant, you should definitely watch out for the up-and-coming tendencies in the dining industry.
Food trends
The food served in restaurants is getting more and more health-friendly. A high-quality restaurant is now a restaurant that takes good care of its customers’ health. Luckily for meat lovers, that no longer means a bigger salad and vegan section on the menu. Now everything can be healthy as long as it is locally produced and specially cooked.
Healthy cooking methods
Even if your food is organically produced it still won’t be healthy enough for you if it has not been prepared with some health-friendly cooking technique. Cooking on black rock is one of the hottest restaurant trends at the moment. It first started to gain popularity in 2016 and it involves cooking on a pre-heated lava rock. It is believed that this method will expose you and your food to less smoke and carcinogens. Plus, it makes meat quite tasty.
Another health-focused tendency in the dining industry involves the use of Himalayan salt. Just like brown sugar managed to take down white sugar from its throne, Himalayan salt is expected to do the same to regular table salt. Restaurant managers are also aware of that and many of them have expressed a desire to join the salt revolution by encouraging chefs to use the Himalayan Pink Salt. Aside from adding an interesting flavor to the taste of the food, it also balances our pH and blood sugar levels and it helps us stay well-hydrated.
Fermented food goes big
The fermented food trends first kicked off in Europe and it has now made it all the way to the United States. The cause for this unusual dining tendency is again linked to the numerous health benefits offered by this particular category of food. Kimchi and pickled red onions are the two ingredients which every self-respected restaurant should add to their menu this year. Even some of the best-selling cookbooks at the moment are focusing on topics such as “DIY fermentation” and “fermented food recipes.”
Health benefits of fermented foods:
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Natural source of probiotics – Fermented foods are abundant in healthy bacteria that can have an incredibly positive effect on your digestive system and your metabolism. That is why they can even boost your immune system;
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They will fill your body with vitamins – Most fermented foods encourage our bodies to produce more vitamin K and vitamin B. The first of them prevents blood clotting and reduces bone loss, while the latter can increase your energy levels and can even improve your memory;
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Happiness booster – Fermented foods can help our digestive system to produce more serotonin which is one of the chemicals that helps us feel happy;
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Helps the lactose intolerant – Fermentation improves and speeds up the absorption of lactose and if you are lactose intolerant it will make the side effects that you are experiencing after consuming yoghurt, milk and cheese slightly more bearable;
Pictured: A kimchi-based dish
Mushrooms are the new superfood
Hopefully, you are a big fan of mushrooms because they are expected to invade the menus of the trendiest restaurants out there. They offer numerous health benefits and they come in many varieties. The traditionally popular white buttons and oyster mushrooms will continue to get plenty of love from the dining and food industry in general. However, more exotic options like Reishi and Shiitake will also be big. Prepare yourself for the mushroom invasion because the edible fungi will also come in the form of smoothies, broths and cooking powder.
Pictured: Stuffed mushrooms
Restaurant arrangement and strategies
As you may have already noticed, restaurants are more than just food places. They have turned into a bigger concept that offers entertainment experiences and a peek behind the curtains.
Dinner with technology
It was only a matter of time before technology made its way to restaurants. One of the hottest trends in this sector is enriching the dining experience with Virtual Reality. Just put on a VR headset and you can now have dinner anywhere. This is an expensive technology but it does allow restaurants to offer their clients a brand-new way to hang out with their friends and family. There are different ways in which VR technology will be used in the dining industry and some of them include:
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360 tour videos of the restaurant
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Pre-dining entertainment experience
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Gaming
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Eating at a different location
Pictured: VR technology used in a café environment
Open kitchen
For customers who prefer to stay away from the world of augmented reality, the open kitchen trend may be even more exciting. There is something quite mesmerizing in watching how a trained and experienced chef is preparing your meal. Plus, it gives clients a glimpse behind the curtains and allows them to see how clean and neat the kitchen of the restaurant is. Open kitchens also allow chefs to interact with diners and to show off with their culinary skills.
Keep your eyes open for these trends because restaurants that keep their pulse on the latest and hottest tendencies in the sector are those who truly care about their customers.
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