By Lauren Shanesy

As the price of food increases along with inflation, consumers are reevaluating where and what they’re spending their money on.

When developing your foodservice program, you want to “dig into the menu trends and items that really are resonating with consumers, the ones that are likely to prompt them to be willing to spend their hard-earned dollars,” said Donna Hood Crecca, principal at Technomic, while presenting at the 2025 National Restaurant Association Show, held in Chicago May 17-20.

Hood Crecca, along with Lizzy Freier, director, menu research & insights at Technomic, presented data and insights on what’s been driving menus over the past several years and what consumers will be craving going forward.

One thing to keep in mind, they said, is that consumers are becoming more adventurous and are looking for new flavor experiences in both food and beverage. This is mostly driven by Gen Z and Millennials, who seek out exploration.

Currently, menus are being driven by consumers’ desire for three attributes:

• Excess: Consumers are looking to get the most for their money when they eat out and are buying more indulgent items than they can make at home. This can mean dishes with protein, rich seasonings, larger portions or “loaded” dishes such as chili cheese fries, for example.
• Transparency: Consumers want to know what they’re eating, where it’s coming from and how it was prepared. “They're very curious, and that also gives them confidence to order the item,” said Hood Crecca.
• Specialty: Today’s diners want items that are “unique and unexpected” Hood Crecca said, or play on a global flavor or niche regional favorite.

If you can create a menu item that hits two to three of these key elements, “that’s going to pique the consumer interest and probably trigger them to engage with the item,” said Hood Crecca. “It's really important to take the lead from the consumer, because that's who we have to engage and to satisfy in order to drive our business, to drive growth and to drive sales.”

Going forward, the presenters see five notable food trends on the horizon that operators should be homing in on:

1. Stealth health (functional ingredients in unexpected applications): “Consumers are moving away from needing an item to be healthy in a straightforward sense and more towards dishes that are ‘real and wholesome,’” said Freier. Some of the fastest growing ingredients on menus are functional, she said. Operators should consider ingredients like matcha, mushrooms, citrus, ones that include antioxidants, etc. She referenced a Peet’s Coffee Golden Milk Latte with turmeric, ginger, honey and protein that can satisfy this need for functional health.
2. Harmonizing heat (blending spicy and savory flavors): “Two-fifths of consumers say that they want restaurants to offer foods that feature a combination of flavors, and some of the flavor combinations that most appeal to consumers pair spicy and savory flavors, which appeals to more than half of those consumers,” said Freier. “Smoky-spicy appeals to 46% and sweet heat, which has been the biggest trend over the last year, appeals to 45% of consumers.” Three emerging heat trends she referenced were “toned-down heat,” which uses less spicy but flavorful peppers; chili peppers with more complex flavors, such as fresno chilis, “which do have that spicy component, but they also have some fruity notes;” and global spicy flavors such as gochujang. “Those have heat, of course, but they also have other flavors balancing things, like nutty flavors, herbal flavors or even fermented flavors,” said Freier.
3. Regional revitalization (bringing new life to classic regional dishes): Pointing back to the desire for transparency in dishes, “Many consumers are looking for that sense of place on menus when they're dining out, and they want to see the location kind of materialize in the dishes,” said Hood Crecca. Bring new life to the classics by tapping into what your region is known for and putting your own twist on it, she said.
4. Affordable indulgence (scaled-down portions and upscale twists on familiar snacks): Dayparts are changing and snacks are starting to satisfy consumers’ need to eat, or even just treat themselves, at all times of the day. “This is luxury for less,” said Hood Crecca. Portion is important here as customers will consider it part of their value equation when purchasing. “Scaled-down portions are really important in creating affordable indulgence, especially when you're presenting them in less messy footprints than their traditional presentations. So maybe in a cup or some other type of handheld carrier to make it very easy to eat and enjoy the snack. Or maybe take a larger item and cut it into finger food sizes or in a handheld format,” said Hood Crecca.
5. Culinary chaos (unique, edible ingredients and unexpected flavor combinations): This is the wow factor—something you can offer your customers that is exciting and completely different than your competitors. “Take the flavors of classic dishes or drinks, and then serve them up in totally unique applications,” said Freier. She noted meal-inspired beverages or vice versa—a pizza cocktail or a dirty martini salad anyone?

And while it may feel safe to wait out the uncertain economic times and focus on menu development when things feel more stable, Freier and Hood Crecca said that now is the right time to innovate.

“Right now is the time to really dig into your innovation toolbox and tap into some of the trends that we were talking about. Maybe you already have some of these things on your menu—showcase them more,” said Hood Crecca.

“Brands and operators that score higher with consumers in terms of brand identity or innovativeness are growing at a significantly faster rate than those who are just average or below average. When we look at the brands that did pretty well even throughout the pandemic, they were the ones who really invested in innovativeness, whether that be innovative technologies or innovations on the premise or certainly innovations on the menu,” added Freier. “Sitting this out can have consequences.”