Hot new trends in food and beverages in 2014 - PART 1
The report, which examines the hottest trends in food and drinks in 2014, reveals interesting new ideas for restaurant owners.
Do you own a restaurant and wonder how to pimp up your menu or change the environment in order to bring more customers? Since consumers’ wants and needs change all the time. Business owners don’t always know what to keep or add to their goods and services in order to meet customers’ demands.
Baum and Whiteman, a New York city-based international food and restaurant consultancy, made a report on the 12 hottest food and beverage trends for 2014. The report studies consumers’ preferences and behavior. Baum and Whiteman’s predictions for 2014 can help franchise owners go in the right direction by following these 12 simple trends and meeting customers’ demands.
1. Restaurants in retail stores: That’s right. Some time ago, department stores removed all the food and drinks from their floors??. Now they are returning them back. Retail stores provide great opportunities to serve food or drinks to customers who want to enhance their shopping experience or to take a break from it. Paired with food and bars, stores generate way more sales than by themselves. Wheter they serve ribs or frozen bananas, slushes or gin-and-tonic, restaurants in retail stores are what makes customers stay longer and spend more. The trend applies for clothing stores and bicycle and rentals stores alike.
2. Tasting-only menus: The specifics of the market are fueling the proliferation of tasting-only menus. These include full course dinners made with high-end ingredients at a costly price, including white truffles and caviar. These kind of menus are increasing in popularity and can reach prices of $1,000 for two with wines. Tasting-only menus are actually a great business strategy since they guarantee a pre-costed, highly controlled inventory. Plus, tasting-only events are usually booked weeks ahead.
3. Haute chicken: Chicken is no longer found just in fast-food restaurants. It is going to a wholly new level and enters the menus of fancy foods. Top restaurants in the U.S. from the East to the West coast are giving chicken a complete change over and are serving various chicken specialties to suit customers’ diverse tastes. You can find chicken marinated in an anchovy-green sauce or baked with figs. Fast food restaurants will have to reconsider a new way to keep their customers if they want to stay in business. Baum and Whiteman suggest in their report that McDonald’s Mighty Wings might be too spicy for consumers’ taste in 2014.
Food halls, which provide a variety of fresh artisan foods, are replacing food courts according to Baum and Whiteman's report.
4. Food halls instead of food courts: Food courts where the same brands offer the same meals all the time are no longer the trend. They are being replaced by food halls that provide artisan food and beverages. Customers need and want a variety of foods that are fresh and they can trust. Prices are higher at food halls compared to courts since the demand and the better quality of the food push prices up. Food halls are drawing enormous crowds according to the report of the New York consultancy company. In fact, in some areas food courts are closing according to the report.
5. Fish trends: Consumers are changing their taste for fish and restaurants should rewrite their menus if they want to keep up. Bluefish and tuna should not be the only fish choices on the menu. People are ordering anchovies in salads, as apps, or with pasta. Other items restaurants need to consider putting on the menu is sardines, herring, trout, mackerel and even octopus. Baum and Whiteman predict fluke to be fish of the year for 2014.
6. Beverages, too: What new trend should we expect in regard to beverages in 2014? Well, it depends, really. When it comes to non-alcoholic beverages, it may come as a surprise that tea is increasing in popularity over coffee since people are more likely to have a tea when they buy food. Both herbal and fruit choices are popular with tea converts. Crafted artisan sodas, both bottled or on-tap, are also expected to generate a great customer demand in 2014. What is new is that consumers are starting to make carbonated cocktails and to mix soda with fruit syrup. Lovers of freshly-squeezed juice are no longer considered health freaks. People are rediscovering the great taste of fruit and vegetable juices. International chains like Starbucks are already implementing new technologies in order to supply customers with what they want.
The trends in alcoholic drinks are as interesting as any other trend on this list. Baum and Whiteman predict that many people in 2014 would rather choose sophisticated beer with sour taste and branded vermouth. Bars are including new recipes for fast-service hand-crafted cocktails and are offering flavored ice cubes. Gin and tonic is expected to be the most popular drink in 2014. Casual restaurants should be prepared with more beer and wine choices if they want to satisfy customers.
