Food Service Trends for 2022

With the restaurant industry facing major challenges and changes in the last two years, coupled with the emergence of new ways of serving, and changing consumer behavior, the prediction of new trends in the sector becomes increasing.

The restaurants showed their resilience and, despite all the difficulties, were able to transform their services.

The year 2022 begins with a new hope of returning to a normal life with the restaurant sector in transformation.

We present some of the main trends that promise to change the world of restoration.

Vegetable World 2.0

After the award-winning Eleven Maddison Park took the first step in ceasing to serve meat and fish with the reopening of its restaurant after the pandemic, many restaurants followed suit. In 2022, the “green turn” is expected to continue, and more establishments will follow the change in the diet of a part of consumers.

In this way, we will witness an appreciation of vegetables and edible plants in the most prestigious cuisines in the world.

Shortage of Human Resources

Returning to the daily challenges of a kitchen to which the new habits that the pandemic brought us accumulate, made the emotional and physical overloads that put the mental health of teams at risk more prominent. This makes it necessary to pay more attention to internal policies that allow for a balance between personal and professional life, such as time off and working hours.

However, the shortage of human resources can be an obstacle to the recovery or the creation of teams for this sector. It will therefore be necessary to make work more flexible in terms of working hours and the creation of new incentive policies to attract manpower to the sector.

Collaborate, share, strengthen

The trend will be towards sharing and collaboration, both internally and externally. The new internal organization of the restaurants allows chefs to collaborate and share knowledge and experiences. Also the sharing of knowledge between organizations / restaurants / chefs As a result, we will have a strengthened Portuguese gastronomy and best practices in its promotion at national and international events.

Fewer intermediaries from origin to plate

What used to be “the secret is the soul of the business” today is transparency that counts.

The distance is getting closer, which allows restaurants to have greater transparency and knowledge about the products they serve. Restorers are able to provide consumers with an experience with a lower carbon footprint and based on traditional activities and commerce.

Today, the demand for restaurants also arises from the appreciation of their products that are promoted by the restaurants themselves.

Casual is the new black

Whether in the restaurant, service or consumption. A streamlined experience that reduces formality is trending next year. This simplicity in the Restoration is transversal at all levels, in the presentation, in the space and in the relationship with the Customer.

Sustainable Future

Seasoned professionals in the restaurant industry and beyond are understanding that sustainability is not just a buzzword for younger customers, it is actually a smart business choice.

Environmental sustainability is important from packaging to products on the table, and resistance to this trend can have negative consequences for the planet and business success. Working for a green future is a trend that will continue to grow, leaving behind those who oppose it and who do not recognize that they are part of the problem.

Social Media

Social networks are no longer a space reserved only for influencers. The creation of gastronomic content is already common, whether by a professional or a lover of cuisine. The trend will be for chefs and restaurants to create content in order to create an online presence and captivate new customers.

What until now was essential in the Restaurant sector, face-to-face service, is no longer essential with the digital acceleration that occurred during the confinement.

Many consumers saw digital as a convenient solution for ordering their meals or paying for meals with little service intervention. Thus, many restaurants were forced to adopt technologies to keep up with the market.

Virtual kitchens / Ghost kitchens

With the continuous growth of take-away in 2022, spaces have emerged that are intended to serve only take-away meals. In this type of service, two new concepts emerge: virtual kitchens and ghost kitchens.

If on the one hand the virtual kitchens are characterized by a space that has a kitchen that develops meals exclusively for take-away, the ghots kitchens are inserted inside the restaurants, where there is an adaptation of the space layout to have a kitchen available for serve customers who go to the restaurant and take away customers.

Becoming a more common concept and operating under a number of pseudonyms – dark, cloud, ghost or virtual kitchens – are kitchens built specifically to deliver food for take-away/delivery. During the height of the pandemic, the emergence of ghost kitchens skyrocketed with restricted access to physical locations. Emerging restaurants have taken their services to dark kitchens to meet growing demand.

Dialogue between food and art

Cooking is the sublime art of preparing sensory experiences that go beyond the consumption of a meal. However, the relationship of this art with others is still an unexplored terrain. The need to put people at the center of art makes the restaurant the perfect stage for creating new social dialogues and interactions. Here, cooks and catering in general work as agents of interaction and artistic dissemination.

References

(5 de janeiro de 2022). Top ten foodservice trends for 2022 | KTCHNrebel. www.ktchnrebel.com. https://www.ktchnrebel.com/top-ten-foodservice-trends/

(15 de outubro de 2021). Edições do Gosto apresentam as Tendências da Restauração para 2022. Edições Do Gosto. https://egosto.pt/2021/10/15/edicoes-do-gosto-apresentam-as-tendencias-da-restauracao-para-2022/‌