SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
- Country of the Year: Japan: With the 2020 Summer Olympics set for Tokyo, there is an increase in Japanese dishes like souffle pancakes and taiyaki (fish-shaped ice cream cones)
- Cause of the Year: The Planet: Earth-friendly ingredients and practices
- Colourful Lattes: Lattes made without coffee beans and with bright colors
- Color of the Year: Blue: Indigo and blue are expected to color more food
- Toasted: Brick toast, honey toast, Shibuya toast and kaya toast
- Not Toasted: Rise in mood food and calming beverages with CBD or adaptogens, paired with low and no-alcohol drinks
- Growing Up: Children’s menus with less processed foods and more global flavors
- Generational Cooking: New dishes from chefs with mixed cultural backgrounds
- Fresh Flours: Alternative flours made from green bananas, sweet potatoes, cauliflower and watermelon seeds
- Tech Rescues: Artificial intelligence to flood restaurants, fast-food and quick-service operations
- And the Rest: Churros, flavored ghee, koji, Cantonese pineapple buns, puffed snacks, floral flavors, and more
SOURCE: BENCHMARK
- CBD-Infused Food and Beverages Will Grow: CBD infused into sparkling waters, coffees, teas, beer, and foods
- Plant-Based Menus Will Bloom: Chefs cooking up meat and dairy flavors from non-meat and non-dairy products like soy, peas, cashews and almonds
- Snacking Will Get Smarter: Snacks featuring chickpeas, beets, quinoa and kale
- Jackfruit Will Be a Meat Alternative: A southeast Asian fruit with a texture that mimics pulled pork
- Exotic Fruits Will Flavor Drinks: Prickly pear, dragon fruit, bergamot orange, yuzu
- Got Oat Milk?: More oat milk products as alternatives to dairy
- Sparkling Waters Will Flow: Unique flavors for both low- and no-alcohol options
- Food Will Go ‘Bright and Bold’: Colorful ingredient options like blue algae, beet and matcha
- Sustainability Will Take Center Stage: Heightened focus on single-use plastics and packaging
SOURCE: FOOD NETWORK
- Pellet Grills: Compressed sawdust pellets heated by an electric rod provide ways to grill and smoke at the same time
- The Hudson Valley: Flavors and foods from ‘the country’
- Taiwanese Food: Beef noodle soup, pork belly buns, oyster omelets and fried chicken
- Babka: Old-school pastries go DIY (do-it-yourself)
- Tajin Seasoning: Chile-lime salt seasoning
- Honey Butter: A Midwest staple goes coastal
- Mushrooms: The versatile superfood
- Anchovies: Packed with umami goodness, it will be the unsung hero of many dishes
- Meal Prep Sunday: Generation Z is taking meal prep seriously by creating a specific time to make meals for the week
- Grab-and-Go Charcuterie: Meat and cheese to-go
- Ghost Kitchens: Restaurants that only offer delivery or take-out
- Piquette: Low-alcohol and slightly bubbly, tastes like hard kombucha but fermented like wine
- Puffed and Popped Snacks: Snacking gets lighter and louder
- Meat and Veggie Blends: Adding more veggies to the mix to replace and support meat
- Multicookers 2.0: New and better features make single-function small appliances unnecessary
- Less Added Sugar: By 2021 all food labels will include ‘added sugars’
FAST-FOOD TRENDS SOURCE:
QSR MAGAZINE- More LTOs Will Be Going Global: Global options becoming LTOs in different regions
- While Global Offerings Will Also Grow Domestically: Experiential meets more diverse flavors
- Plant-Based Offerings Will Continue to Grow: Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat going mainstream
- Sustainability Will Be Sold as a Necessity: Supply chain changes, omitting plastic, and incentivizing reusable containers
- Execution Beats Innovation: Operations will produce tangible results
- Third-Party Delivery Will Become More Customer Friendly: Focus on delivering a better experience from third-party delivery like Uber Eats
- Voice-Operated Kiosks Will Preface Facial Recognition Kiosks: Technology will focus on the implementation of voice-operated kiosks, then facial recognition
- Some Chains Still Prefer a More Human Touch: Preference for more technological innovations on the delivery side
- The Lines Between AM and PM Menus May Blur: More lunch offerings at breakfast
- More Ghost Kitchens Will Materialize: Off-site cooking kitchens that create food solely for delivery and online ordering
- More Chain Consolidation is Coming: A few large companies will own most of the restaurant concepts
- Procuring Quality Recruits Will Remain a Priority: Hiring quality employees is important for fast-food companies
SOURCE: FOOD TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE
- Florals: Classic floral flavors like lavender and rose appearing more broadly in categories like snacks, beverages and bakery
- Earthy: Herbs, spices, roots, and other botanical flavors
- Complex Heat: Specific heat levels and pepper varietals, higher consumer understanding
- Tangy, Tart, and Sour: Tangy, sour and fermented flavors like yuzu and pomelo
- Translating Trends to Market: Introducing new flavors in ways that are familiar for consumers
- Getting to Know Adaptogens: Non-toxic plants believed to help the body resist stressors of all kinds
MENU TRENDS: SOURCE:
UPSERVE- Vegan-Friendly: From Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat to jackfruit
- Tinned Fish: From sardines to smoked mussels and octopus
- ‘Sober Curious’ Beverages: Mocktails, non-alcoholic beer and spirits
- Mushrooms: Wild, seasonal and rare versions
- Lettuce Alternatives: Little gem or celtuce
- Unusual Seafoods: Octopus, turbot, uni, and abalone
- Shiso Leaves: Japanese mint, enjoyed in cocktails, pickled, tossed in salads
- Foreign Spirits: Cachaca, amaro, and sotol making it into mainstream America
- Fermented Foods: From kimchi to koji, trending menu items had a Japanese influence
- Charcoal: No longer trending
FOOD AND DRINK TRENDS SOURCE:
HUFFPOST- Zero-Proof Drinks: Non-alcoholic beer and cocktails
- Anything with Adaptogens: Plants that might help you feel better; for example, ashwagandha, reishi and chaga
- Fresh Snacks: Plant-rich options
- Fat-Filled Foods: Becoming more popular with the onset of diets like keto and paleo
- Functional Beverages: Drinks with nootropics, amino acids, collagen and dandelion root
- Alternative Flours: Hazelnut, almond, coconut, poppy, sunflower and flax
- Environmentally Conscious Food and Drinks: Consumers have higher concerns
SOURCE: BUSINESS WIRE
- Plant-Based Foods: New developments in organic, plant-based, meat and cheese
- Regenerative Agriculture: More environmentally sustainable farming practices
- On-The-Go Food and Snacks: Bite-sized superfoods, healthy snack kits and subscription boxes
- Low-Carb Adult Beverages: Hard seltzers, fuller flavored styles of low-carb beers
- Organic, Natural and Biodynamic Wine: Consumers more interested in where their wine comes from
- Functional Beverage and Gut Health: Increase in new functional beverages and snacks
- Transparency and Traceability: More prominent on packaging
- Artisan Cheeses: High quality artisan cheeses that seem approachable to replace processed cheeses
10 FOOD AND WELLNESS TRENDS WE THINK WILL BE BIG IN 2020
SOURCE: EATING WELL
- Intuitive Eating: Eating what you want, when you want
- CBD: Added to foods and beverages for a variety of reasons across categories
- Sustainable Seafood: The next focus for sustainable eating practices
- Plant-Based Protein: Consumers are adding more plant proteins to their diets
- Regenerative Agriculture: Environmentally sustainable farming practices
- Prebiotics: Feed the good bugs in your gut and help them multiply and reduce the number of bad bugs
- Adaptogens: A class of herbs supposed to help your body respond to stress better and boost your immunity
- Grain-Free Foods: Bagels, crackers, granolas, chips and wraps
- Low-Alcohol and Non-Alcoholic Drinks: Craft non-alcoholic beer, cider, spirits and mocktails
- Tajin: A mix of chili powder, dehydrated lime and salt used on fruit, eggs, vegetables, fish and popcorn
SOURCE: SPECIALTY FOOD ASSOCIATION
- Plants as Plants: Meat replacement pushback
- Sustainability-Driven Product Development: Products with values centered around sustainability
- Fermented Condiments: Going from kimchi to gochujang
- Prebiotic Foods Gain Awareness: Foods that feed the friendly bacteria in the gut like bananas, asparagus, seaweed and barley
- Protein Trend Takes Unexpected Turns: Anchovies and protein-packed noodles
- Convenient Cocktails and Mocktails: Bar-quality cocktails at home
- CBD: Continuing growth in products across categories
- Dairy-Free Products: Oat and nut-based milks will reign in yogurts, beverages, creamers and frozen desserts
- Regional Cuisines of Asia, West Africa and Latin America: Flavors and ingredients from these areas in spices, sauces and base