menu trends that have gained momentum in the past 12 months include African and Middle Eastern flavours, and authentic ethnic cuisines as well as ethnic condiments and spices. Items that lost popularity include healthy ingredients such as kale, quinoa and gluten-free dishes, as well as underutilised fish. In fact, after being the fastest growing item last year, underused fish dropped the most, by 11%, while at 20% African flavours saw the biggest increase in chefs declaring it a hot trend for 2016. Meanwhile top US food consultancy firms, New York’s Baum + Whiteman, and San Francisco-based Andrew Freeman & Co, have predicted that the biggest issue facing the US restaurant industry next year will be the debate about tipping.
“Danny Meyer’s recent announcement that all Union Square Hospitality Group restaurants will be “hospitality included” is a game-changer,” says Freeman & Co, while Baum + Whiteman insists that the discrepancy in pay between front and back of house is largely to blame for the increasing heat surrounding this topic. “In truth, the restaurant industry's amazing growth over the past five decades has depended on artificially low prices that are based upon underpaid labour,” the firm says.
Baum + Whiteman adds that possibly the biggest disrupter to the industry next year will be online food delivery, which major internet companies such as Google, uberEats, Amazon Prime Now, Postmates, Grub Hub, Yelp are all muscling into. "
“None actually makes food; they're middlemen connecting restaurants and customers, collecting fees and personal information about who orders what, when and from which restaurants,” the firm says. Both reports also point to “clean menus” and the "healthification" of fast- and fast-casual food as a major trend for 2016, with Freeman & Co insisting that restaurants removing GMO and other ingredients not immediately recognisable to guests increasingly gain consumers’ trust and therefore an edge over their competition.
Finally, foodie trends set to hit menus across the USA next year according to the two reports, include poke, the Hawaiian raw fish bowl; spicy condiments such as Sriracha; and an increase in vegetable-centric dishes; as well as sliders and fried chicken.
Kerstin Kühn is a freelance food and travel writer, specialising in restaurant and chef stories. The former restaurant editor of Caterer and Hotelkeeper, she relocated from London to Los Angeles in 2013, where she lives on the city’s trendy East Side. With a vast network of chefs from around the world, Kerstin has profiled the likes of Michel Roux, Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, the Roca brothers and Massimo Bottura. She is a regular contributor to the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, FOUR Magazine, M&C Report and Spinney’s Food, and also writes her own blog, La Goulue.
You can follow Kerstin on Twitter @LaGoulue_
>>>Read more of Kerstin's blogs here.
