Trends we spotted | Week 5
At horecatrends.com or hospitalitytrends.eu we spot many national and international trends on a daily basis. We pick the most interesting ones to write about, the other trends we use in our weekly column ‘Trends we spotted this week’.
With this week links to articles about amongst others a Cocktail-gram for Valentine’s Day, an idea by the Avli Taverna and the packaged picnic at the Rockefeller Center ice rink by restaurant Frenchette in New York.
Inspiring: the ‘MEATliquor x Southern Comfort’ home kits in honor of Mardi Gras and an article about contactless ordering forcing restaurants to adopt 9 tech strategies in 2021. We really think individual restaurants have to react to the Internet of Behaviors and increase their cybersecurity.
PepsiCo launches a drink specifically aimed at teenagers: Frutly, one of the ‘better-fou-you’ beverages.
An interesting, but long article at the website of Nutritional Outlook about 2021 Flavor trends for food and beverage. With flavors like Banana 2.0, the Ispahan, blood orange, turmeric, yuzu, guava, bergamot, birthday cake and many more. And a joint venture that will leverage Beyond Meat’s leading technology in plant-based protein development and PepsiCo’s world-class marketing and commercial capabilities to create and scale new snack and beverage options.
Click on the title if you like to read the full article. Enjoy reading!
Cocktail-Gram for Valentine’s Day
Avli Taverna restaurant in Chicago has created a Valentines meal box deal, featuring contemporary Greek shareables, small plates, entrees and desserts as well as approachable Greek wines and an inventive Greek-inspired cocktail program designed by Peter Vestinos. The group’s core philosophy pays homage to Greek tradition and mythology of Philoxenia (hospitality), Kefi (joy), and Meraki (passion). They also give their guests the option to send a ‘Cocktail Gram’ that arrives with a cocktail, housemade truffles and a card.
Packaged picnic at the Rockefeller Center ice rink by restaurant Frenchette in NY
In 2021 and beyond, restaurants will be looking to maximize ‘al fresco dining’, like outdoor bars, patios and lounge spaces and seeking creative ways to make use of street fronts, parking lots, sidewalks and gardens. For those restaurants that aren’t capable of offering outdoor dining, a picnic themed offering provides an excellent option and branded pop-ups in outdoor spaces will provide extra brand lift. James Beard Award winning restaurant, Frenchette offers twice-a-week a packaged picnic at the Rockefeller Center ice rink in New York.
MEATliquor x Southern Comfort home kits in honor of Mardi Gras
In honor of the city-wide New Orleans party, Mardi Gras, Southern Comfort have decided to bring a taste of their hometown in the UK this February. They’ve joined forces with MEATliquor to bring the Southern heat and deliver food kits, with for example Chili Cheese Dog or Vegan Chili Cheese Dog, and tasty Southern Comfort cocktails to your doorstep. Check out their menu’s and small cocktail bottles at the website of Great Food 2 u, link in the title. Inspiring collaboration?
Contactless ordering forcing restaurants to adopt 9 tech strategies in 2021
Contactless ordering is not only here to stay but is forcing restaurants to embrace nine specific technologies and strategies. An interesting article at the website of Fast Casual with these nine technologies and strategies that might be interesting to read for restaurant owners:
- Contactless ordering has triggered a resurgence of a platform most of us thought was past its heyday: QR codes.
- Contactless payments, with telephones, with apps.
- Digital-only restaurants.
- Digital loyalty programs
- Changes at the drive-thru, check out the new Burger King drive thru concepts mentioned in this section.
- Third-party delivery – although delivery has been crucial for restaurants to survive, restaurants are now leveraging technology to help off-set the high commissions that most platforms command. How will those big parties react to that?
- Ghost kitchens or as we know them: Dark Kitchens, are a prime example of how fast casual restaurants are innovating operations by rolling out delivery-only locations.
- Using tech to predicting behavior: the Internet of Behaviors (IoB) is another trend picking up as a result of contactless ordering. They know so much about how, what and at which time slot and address we order!
- And a logical number 9: Increased cybersecurity practices. The increase in high-profile data breaches over the previous decade means restaurants must also refine their cybersecurity practices and controls. Loss of sensitive customer information can result in significant damage to a restaurant’s brand and image.
Fast casual concepts are offering workers paid time off to get vaccinated
Although we’re not yet in the time schedule of vaccinating younger persons in the Netherlands, the initiative of those 2 fast casual concepts might be inspirational for Dutch concepts as well. In an effort to encourage employees to get COVID-19 vaccinations, NYC-based Shake Shack and Austin’s Freebirds World Burrito are offering workers paid time off to get vaccinated. Shake Shack, which has nearly 7,600 employees, is covering up to six hours, and Freebirds is offering four PTO hours to any worker in one of its 55 locations in Texas. Both brands are also providing instructions on how to pre-register for the COVID-19 vaccine. More at the website of Fast Casual, link in the title.
2021 Flavor trends for food and beverage
Interesting article, but a bit long read, at the website of Nutritional Outlook, link in the title, in which they highlight trends spotted by institutes. They compare our flavor trends with the pandemic, which is making us both want to stay safe at home but also stare longingly out the window remembering the days when we could travel freely. These paradoxical desires showed up in the food and drink flavors consumers sought in 2020, as they embraced both familiar, comforting flavors as well as flavors new and adventurous. Some of the Flavor trends they indicated:
- Comfort, indulgence and sweet, with as example childhood favorites (consumers are stressed out and nostalgic flavors comfort them). Think of flavors like S’mores, birthday cakes, home baked sweets and candy.
- Seasonal flavors – back to nature – with limited time offers on the menu’s – pear, pumpkin, cinnamon, hot chocolate, kale etc.
- Longing for adventure – we can’t visit the far and middle east but we can eat Asia-inspired flavors, like yuzu, calamansi, tamarind, guava often combined with familiar flavors like strawberry or passionfruit. Spicy flavors like chili, combined with for example, mango chili lime.
- Longing for adventure – Mediterranean-inspired flavors like blood orange, bergamot, figs, dates
- They also mention the popularity of the Ispahan pastry (created by Pierre Hermes back in the 1990s). It’s a large macaron with the taste of roses, combined with raspberries and lychee, we love it!
- Another big flavor is the banana 2.0, with banana bread flavor, banana cream flavor but also a childhood favorite from the UK: banoffee flavor.
- Plant-based meat flavors
- Drinks based on botanicals
- Health Halo – with immunity boost flavors like such as elderberry, hibiscus, echinacea, ginger, turmeric, and honey.
- Spicy and tingly flavors can provide the kick consumers are seeking, too. National Flavors’ Davis is even advising the introduction of “sweeter profiles like spiced pecan into alcoholic beverages.”
Pepsico and Beyond Meat® establish the PLANeT Partnership, LLC, a joint venture to introduce new plant-based protein offerings
PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP) and Beyond Meat, Inc. (NASDAQ: BYND) recently announced they will form The PLANeT Partnership, LLC (TPP), a joint venture to develop, produce and market innovative snack and beverage products made from plant-based protein. The joint venture will leverage Beyond Meat’s leading technology in plant-based protein development and PepsiCo’s world-class marketing and commercial capabilities to create and scale new snack and beverage options. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed. Joint venture operations will be managed through the newly created entity The PLANeT Partnership, LLC (TPP). Check out the details in their press release, link in the title.
PepsiCo launches Frutly juice waters for teens
PepsiCo launches a drink specifically aimed at teenagers: Frutly. This is a fruit-flavored drink without added sugar and artificial sweeteners, which comes to the market in many variations. One of the better-for-you beverages. This could be an ideal drink for teens, since nearly half of the teens between the age of 15 and 17 years old think that soda is bad for their health, according to research. In the article at Food Dive all kinds of background information about the research, link in the title.
