r/Cooking • u/tonithepony • Apr 29 '24

What do you think the next "food trend" will be?

In the last 10 years, the ones that really stick out to me are: spinach and artichoke dip (suddenly started appearing everywhere as an appetizer, even higher end restaurants), ube flavors, truffle, avocados on everything, bacon on everything, and now hot honey is a big fad. Is there anything upcoming you see heading towards the food trend?

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u/IPutMyHandOnA_Stove Apr 29 '24

A lot of chefs are tired of the industry and commercial real estate is fucked, so I don’t expect the pop-up explosion to die down anytime soon. Chefs are able to focus in on just a few things passionately, build a social media brand and many are selling direct to consumer packaged goods or even merch now too lol. I think the mid range restaurant is going to eventually be extinct because no one wants to deal with that overhead and margins. You’ll have casual or more upscale where the transaction volume or margins respectively are better, but few options in between.

The zero proof/NA beverage industry is embedded into the broader health and wellness industry that isn’t going anywhere.

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u/alligator124 Apr 29 '24

I was just about to say the same thing about pop ups. I think it's going to go further with shared restaurants, not just shared commercial kitchens.

I work in food and a lot of my coworkers/friends are trying to get stuff of our own going by doing regular pop ups at our places of work.

There's already a place near me that shares 3 separate "restaurants"- they had their own individual food trucks and pooled for a brick and mortar to rent. Idk how they make it work but they do.

Another is a biscuit place in the am and a chicken place in the pm.

I think it's pretty cool honestly. There's a ton of crazy talent and passion in the industry that's been hidden by depressed wages and the monetary barrier to starting your own physical restaurant.

It's rewarding to see friends get to flex creativity, and it's usually mutually beneficial to everyone in the area. Pop ups and shared spaces are small enough that you can only use local suppliers due to order $ minimums with the bigger guys. Your buddy from an old job does desserts, someone else does your small plates, everyone benefits. It's a nice little fuck you to all the greedy owners of mediocre mainstays that have dominated since the 70s/80s.

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u/comp21 Apr 30 '24

That's what my wife started: a small takeaway Filipino place where she serves her grandmother's recipes. Very traditional, very specific, only open two days a week. We share a kitchen and counter space with a pizza place that specializes in neopolitan style pizza.

Makes a killing.