The Future of Gastronomy: 7 Foodservice Trends for 2025

This week the annual Internorga, Europe’s leading trade fair for hotels, restaurants and catering takes place in Hamburg. To celebrate its 90th anniversary, Internorga commissioned the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI), an independent Swiss research institution, to analyse future trends for the foodservice industry:

Trend 1: Digitalisation: New competitive conditions

With digitalisation predicted to blur conventional structures of retail/restaurant, online/offline, restaurants will also face more competition from innovations outside the food industry, including booking, ordering and payment systems, new foods (plant-based substitutes for dairy, meat and eggs) and on-demand delivery services from local farms. Customers of the future won’t be interested in what distribution channel they use – they will simply want the right product at the right time.

Trend 2: Convenience: How foodservice can close the gap

The growing demand for quality convenience presents two challenges for the future – firstly, consumers still want transparency in the origin, production, nutritional ingredients and additives of their food. And secondly, convenience does not meet the consumers’ demand for fresh, natural, local, organic food. Foodservice has the challenge of closing the gap between convenience and sustainability by introducing new concepts and positioning itself against in convenience in retail, take-away and vending machines.

Trend 3: Revolutionised home cooking

Growth in digitalisation and convenience also means that eating at home is on the increase again, with consumers using new delivery services and technologies. As the methods of ordering become more varied and accessible, there will be an expansion in food delivery services.

Trend 4: Social food

As food becomes an expression of lifestyle, identification and status, creating an attractive setting in restaurants is of greater importance, especially in order to compete with the home-eating trend. Restaurants can establish themselves as a place of inspiration and knowledge, a place of recreation for mind and body, a place of social interaction and lifestyle, and a place of adventure, curiosity and social focus.

Trend 5: Migration food – food as cultural identity

Migration will, in future, create great demand for culturally specific meals. Food from various cultures and countries will have an impact on future culinary repertoires. Consumers of tomorrow will identify with culturally specific menus giving new opportunities for independently-run restaurants, with some big chains are already promoting culturally specific meals.

Trend 6: Polarized eating – balancing high-tech and organic romanticism

Consumers have two conflicting needs – they want more convenience from the high-tech food industry and a wide range of innovative, individually-designed, easy-to-obtain products. At the same time, many consumers long for a romantic world of organic products. The restaurant of the future will combine high-tech with organic romanticism.

Trend 7: Individual beats anonymous – the future belongs to personalised marketing

People take priority over brands – the significance of a meal or a product depends on interaction with guests and consumers, not on the manufacturer’s advertising. The personalities of producers are gaining importance, and increasingly taking on the role of the brand. They form a unit with their products, and personally guarantee product quality, boosting consumer confidence.

For more information please contact alice.travers@bordbia.ie

Source: Bord Bia - The Future of Gastronomy: 7 Foodservice Trends for 2025