As we welcome in the New Year and recover from the busy festive season, it’s a time to catch your breath and look ahead to planning your menus for 2017. Here, the foodservice industry’s leading experts and analysts predict the food trends for the coming year…

“2017 will be a year of extremes, from ‘ancient’ products including grains, recipes, practices and traditions to the use of technology to create more and better tasting plant-enhanced foods. Opportunities will exist for more products to leverage the reputation of the tea category and use chamomile, lavender and other herbs in formulations as a way to achieve a sense calm before bedtime. Expect to see more of the unexpected, including fruit snacks made with ugly fruit and mayonnaise made with the liquid from draining chickpeas, which has been dubbed aquafaba.” –  Jenny Zegler, Mintel’s Global Food and Drink Analyst

“Street food is driving a spice revolution, creating interest in spicy food and pioneering new spicy flavours. The upshot is a more knowledgeable and adventurous consumer and high demand for new eating out experiences. Street food vendors have thrown down the gauntlet and with consumers prepared to spend more on street food, there is a clear profit opportunity for foodservice operators to maximise on the trend.” –  Eimear Owens, country sales manager, UK & Ireland, Santa Maria Foodservice 

“Healthy eating will continue to be an ongoing concern amongst consumers and operators will increasingly use the so-called ‘superfood’ ingredients with health-giving properties as part of their main dishes or side orders to appeal to health-conscious diners. Our latest Menu Trends survey noted a surge in the number of main course salads being listed on menus, this is a trend we envisage growing even further next year as health, fitness and clean eating become an even bigger concern amongst consumers.” –  Nicola Knight, Horizons analyst 

Other predicted trends:

Kimchi Korean foods look set to grow in popularity in the form of kimchi, the traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables, the mixed rice dish bibimbap, and bulgogi – which translates as ‘fire meat’ in Korean.

Bespoke food to order The trend for bespoke food made to order is likely to continue with chains such as Tossed, which has now developed an app to allow customers to choose the ingredients they want for lunch. Burger operators are also increasingly offering bespoke choices with burger personalisation letting the customer put together their own choice of fillings.

Biohacking Adding ingredients and supplements to food and drink to take your health to the next level will grow in popularity.

Middle eastern cuisine There will be a move towards Turkish food and upmarket kebabs, a trend led by successful Comptoir Libanis serving Lebanese and Middle Eastern foods. Dishes based on healthy, fresh ingredients such as tabbouleh, falafel and houmous and a number of vegan and vegetarian dishes are likely to grow too, as will superfood ingredients such as pomegranate, halloumi and pulses.

Natural sweeteners Consumers are becoming keener to reduce their sugar intake prompting the use of natural sweeteners including apple, dates and coconut and agave nectar as a substitute for honey.

Dessert cafes Horizons’ recent Ones to Watch research noted the rise of dessert cafes, and this is a phenomenon likely to grow in popularity, particularly amongst younger people as places to meet their friends and hang out, perhaps taking the place of fast food outlets.

Poke The raw fish salad dish poke [poh-keh] is seeing an upsurge that will continue into 2017 and the Hawaiian appetiser is already creeping onto menus.