Food Trends: 2023
Posted by estiator at 15 January, at 12 : 55 PM Print
COVER STORY
Cannabis-infused curry spanakopita with yuzu, anyone?
By Michael Kaminer
‘TIS THE SEASON TO GET TRENDY. December is the month that food- industry gurus dust off the crystal balls to predict restaurant trends for the coming year. • While you might snicker at some of them—are we really going to serve more pickle-flavored items?—these trend forecasts can offer valuable insights into what consumers want, and can help you anticipate what your customers might be eating, drinking, and seeking in the new year.
According to National Restaurant Association, which issues a closely watched annual What’s Hot list, dining “experiences/ local culture and community” is the top trend for 2023. “Customers are hungry to connect over shared meals that can’t easily be replicated at home,” Michelle Korsmo, president & CEO of the National Restaurant Association said in a press release.
Number two on the list: fried chicken sandwiches and chicken sandwiches 3.0, with twists like spicy and sweet-heat fusion flavors on chicken. Charcuterie boards, comfort fare, flatbread sandwiches/healthier wraps, sriracha variations, globally inspired salads, and south- east Asian cuisines round out the association’s list.
At Yelp, the review site that restaurateurs love and loathe in equal measure, the 2023 trend list comes from “millions of searches for the words, phrases, and businesses that saw significant interest between 2021 and 2022 across restaurant, food and nightlife categories.”
Yelp’s surprise choice for the top trend of 2023: The Mighelagua, an alcohol-free drink in fruity flavors. Searches for Michelagua were up 62 percent, according to Yelp. Slushies were number two, with searches for slushie drinks up 77 percent.
Experiential dining was third, followed by pickle-flavored products, oxtail, syrupy “dirty” sodas, the highly roasted Japanese tea called hojicha, mocktails, the cream-filled croissant dubbed the Suprême, made by Lafayette Grand Café & Bakery in New York, and ’90s-inspired fast-food like McRib, Happy Meals, and Halloween pails.
Convenience will be at the forefront of consumers’ minds in 2023, according to the Specialty Food Association’s (SFA) Trendspotter Panel.
“Specialty food consumers are looking to make their meal prep easy but exciting and that is driving many of this year’s trends regarding convenience, packaging improvements, and global flavors,” Denise Purcell, vice president of resource development at the SFA, told Food Business News. “At the same time, they continue to care about how their food is grown and the health benefits it offers, giving rise to evolving sustainability, plant-based, and better-for-you trends.”
For Estiator readers, there are major implications behind that trend, as some customers order more meal kits and at-home dining solutions and continue to dine out less. The panel also believes consumers will look for innovative packaging that can offer increased portability while lessening messiness.
At the same time, continued sustainability and environmental concerns led environmentally friendly foods to rank No.2 on the panel’s 2023 trends. “With growing unrest over climate issues and their impact on the future food supply, products that feature some aspect of sustainable ingredients, upcycled ingredients, or environment-friendly packaging, are leading the way,” Jonathan Deutsch, a panel member and founding director of the Drexel Food Core Lab told FBN.
Mintel, the global market-intelligence company, looked at the big picture in its annual snapshot of four key trends that will shape global food and drink industries in 2023, over the next five years and beyond.
They included weatherproofed provisions, claiming, “consumers are in need of food and drink formulations that help them endure heat waves, sub-zero temperatures, and disastrous weather events.”
Mintel’s second trend: “Staying sharp.” Consumers are demanding formulations that help them optimize their mental performance at work, home and play, the company said.
As Earth endures more chaos, space will become a source of optimism, innovation and connection, according to Mintel. “Centering around escapism, the food and drink market will take inspiration from space-inspired technologies and earthly innovations from space travel findings— think lunar minerals and zero-gravity dining,” the company claims. Will some- one start a franchise called Souvlaki in Space?
Finally, Mintel urges “minimalist messaging”: Clear and simple communication will be essential to connect with fatigued consumers.
The food site Tasting Table, apparently able to see even more of the future, released a roster of 17 predictions for 2023. A selection:
artisanal butter, boutique salt (which Greeks have known about for centuries, thank you), THC and CBD culinary products, the flavorful caffeinated berry called yaupon, heritage meats, the Japanese seasoning koji, Trinidadian foods, Korean condiments, goat milk dairy, adventurous dining, craft cider, and “elaborate bread and butter service.”
Finally, cheeky foodie site The Wicked Noodle unveiled its own list of food trends to watch for in 2023. At #1: “mood food,” meaning “ordinary food with cannabis infused,” the site says. Next: swicy food, meaning “a collision between sweet and spicy elements.”
Alcohol-free cocktails are next, followed by specialty mush- rooms. The TikTok sensation called butter boards—a wooden board smeared with butter and coated with toppings—comes next, followed by yuzu fruit and spicy honey, and the ube, a purple yam from the Philippines. Curry is also on the list as a food genre to watch in 2023.
Cannabis-infused curry spanakopita with yuzu and kimchi, anyone?
BIG TABLES, BREAD SERVICE, BABY BLUES
A leading restaurant consultant offers exclusive tips for 2023.
For more than 25 years, Steven Hall has advised chefs, restaurateurs, and operators on everything from media to menus. The founder and president of New York’s Hall PR (hallpr.com) started his restaurant career as a server and under- stands the industry from the inside. Hall PR’s clients include Monterey, Sushi Noz, Carmine’s, Dagon, and NYC’s Michelin-star-win- ning Unapologetic Foods restaurant group. Exclusively for Estiator, Hall shared his advice on what you can do to up your restaurant’s game in 2023.
Big tables. Think about dedicating a section of your restaurant to larger tables that can seat 8-12 people, Hall says. “Some restaurants are just pushing together three deuces for a party of six,” he says. “We’re seeing more gatherings in restaurants, with people who are getting together with friends and family they haven’t seen in a long time.”
Sharing. “Sharing is a huge thing, which is great for Greek food, because Greek menus are all about sharing,” Hall says. His pet peeve, how- ever: “No one has enough serving spoons. It’s almost hilarious. They just drop food in the middle of the table. Remember that every- one wants to share, but no one these days wants to double-dip. Buy more serving spoons—and don’t forget to bring them to the table.”
Creativity. Cook in a more individual way, Hall advises. Just because an ingredient is popular or trendy doesn’t mean it’ll enhance the experience for your customers— or make a meal memorable. “I don’t think anyone needs to eat another branzino,” he says. “People love it, but doesn’t make for story of menu anymore. It’s just too common.”
Plant-based food. If your menu doesn’t offer at least one or two plant-based items, “you’re cutting out half of population,” Hall says. And you might encounter “The Veto Vote”—when one person can’t eat, and their entire party leaves as a result. “The minute you get into the masses, you need to bend to popular demand a bit,” he says.
Lighter colors. Customers want to see “lighter and happier colors, and not so much anything dark and brooding,” Hall says. “More pastels, more pinks, oranges, light blues, and moving away from the typical brasserie palette of burgundy banquettes and burnt- gold walls.”
E-mail blasts. Social media is important, “but if you have five million followers on Instagram, it doesn’t mean you’re going to have five million people who will come out to your restaurant on a snowy Monday night,” Hall says. “More valuable are e-mail blasts to people who have already dined with you, so always find ways to collect contact information.”
Very regional cuisine. “People really want to know more about very regional cuisines,” Hall says. For Greek food, “maybe that means more urban-type food, with recipes from Athens rather than Mykonos. People are a little tired of the beachy thing. They want homey recipes. Maybe their mother didn’t make it, but someone’s did.” A sense of story behind everything on a menu is important, he says.
Bread service. “One of the more interesting things on menus now is a bread course,” Hall says. “People are now charging for specialty breads, which are a trend.” Greek restaurants have typically provided pita, “but the bread service can become another line of revenue,” Hall says.
