The foodservice market is vast and ever-changing, and staying on top of the newest trends that could impact operations is key for staying one step ahead of the competition. With the correct tools, data-driven insights, and analytical capabilities, restaurants can make decisions that will lead them to success and maximum profit. It’s essential for restaurant technology providers to have the correct foodservice market insights to help operators and marketers target the correct market segments on a global, regional, and local level, increasing the growth of potential customers.
The foodservice industry can be divided into several sub-sectors, like beverage, catering, concepts, localized cuisine, diet trends, new overall concepts, technology, and industry strength. Each sector has their own unique advantages and potential risks that need to be carefully evaluated in order to remain competitive. In this article, we’ll take a look at the pros and cons of each of these sectors and how they can affect foodservice strategy.
Beverage
The beverage sector of the foodservice industry is ever-growing thanks in part to the proliferation of health-conscious consumers. This means that the beverage market is constantly providing new and creative products to appeal to these consumers. Operators have an opportunity to capitalize on this ever-growing consumer base by offering a variety of beverage options.
On the other hand, offering a wide variety of beverage options can require additional resources in terms of man-hours, shelf-space, or refrigeration space. In addition, beverage trends often change quicker than other food sectors, making it more difficult to stay ahead of the competition.
Catering
Catering is one of the most efficient ways for an operator to grow their business, as it often requires less resources in comparison to operating a restaurant. It also presents an opportunity to reach a wider range of customers than a traditional restaurant or food service business. In addition, catering requires minimal capital investment, making it a more accessible option for small business owners.
While catering may provide an operator with many advantages, it can also create difficulties for operators trying to group food, staff, and equipment to each event. Additional paperwork and administrative organization can also become a challenge in the catering sector, making it difficult for small operations to compete.
Concepts
Operators can also benefit from developing new concepts, such as theme restaurants or dining choices tailored to specific diets. Introducing these concepts to the market can be a great way to stand out from the competition and gain an edge. While it often requires a large financial commitment, and can be difficult to gain traction in a new concept, it also allows for more customization and concept-building than ever before.
Of course, developing and maintaining an entirely new concept can become expensive. An operator embarking on this kind of venture needs to evaluate the pros and cons carefully and only move forward if it makes financial sense.
Localized Cuisine
Localized cuisine is a popular trend that can easily be incorporated into a restaurant’s existing menu to appeal to customers looking for a unique twist on classic dishes. This type of cuisine often tie into regional or cultural favorites, and can be a great way to build loyalty among existing customers.
With localized cuisine, the challenge is in researching local flavors, ingredients, and recipes to make sure the concept is unique and offers something that sets it apart from the competition. As such, this can be a time-consuming process that requires careful planning and research.
Diet Trends
In addition to regional cuisines, there are also diet-specific trends that operators can capitalize on. This includes vegan, gluten-free, paleo, and keto options, as well as those suitable for special occasions such as holidays, brunch, and brunch-for-dinner specials. Diet-specific options allow operators to capture a more targeted audience and build a loyal customer base.
The challenge with diet-specific cuisine is that it can be difficult to get certain ingredients and supplies, and it requires more expertise to develop dishes that are appealing and compliant with certain dietary requirements.
New Overall Concepts
In addition to individualized concepts, the foodservice industry is always evolving, which means new overall concepts are also constantly being developed. This includes the rise of fast-casual restaurants, fusion-cuisine eateries, and online-only restaurants.
This type of concept development requires a lot of research and planning, as well as the right resources to bring the concept to fruition. Without careful planning and execution, a new concept can fail to gain traction and become unprofitable.
Technology
Finally, one of the most important trends in the foodservice industry is the rise of food industry-specific technology. This includes the use of apps, digital ordering platforms, delivery services, food tracking and recipe analytics, and more. Technology can help streamline operations and increase efficiency, but often requires a significant financial investment. In addition, it can be difficult to evaluate the return on investment of most of these technologies, which may lead to wasted resources.
Necessary care must be taken to ensure that any new technology or concept is up to date and works with existing industry standards. This may require additional research and testing before full implementation.
