Future Menus 2024: Navigating the Culinary Horizon

In the ever-changing landscape of the hospitality industry, as chefs and business owners, you are constantly challenged to do more with less. Diners are increasingly craving more than just exciting, flavourful food; they want unforgettable experiences that make their money feel well-spent*. However, meeting these demands has become increasingly arduous as ingredient costs, labour shortages, and operational expenses skyrocket. Staying tuned into menu trends is paramount, ensuring you stay ahead of the curve and answer your customers' needs in a way that works for you.

Our NEW Future Menus trend report for 2024 is here as your beacon of guidance and insight. Serving as a roadmap, guiding you through the labyrinth of evolving food trends, you can feel empowered to make informed decisions based on industry insight and top recipe inspiration.

We had the privilege of speaking with Derek Reilly , Executive Director of Culinary Craft Development at Aramark Ireland, to understand their great work with Future Menus to empower their team and bolster their menu offerings.

"It's looking at the menu as a whole and how you get clever and creative around what you're doing while making money and keeping people interested..."

With menu planning always at the top of mind for operators, Derek explains if "you're looking at insights it has to be seasonal... we plan a year ahead generally". This makes chef-centred insight all the more important, with Future Menus providing the bridge to this gap.

Informed by over 1,600 chefs across 21 global markets, Future Menus is more than just an insight-led recipe guide - it is a strategic ally. Building upon last year's report, the 2024 edition offers refined and updated information tailored to today's hospitality industry and its unique challenges - such as food waste, sustainability, seasonality, and so much more. Derek explains that Future Menus is answering these challenges well: "You're trying to change a culture and a mindset, which is why the education pieces is so important... and that goes across the chefs, the supply chain, everybody that touches the food".

Deep-diving into the 6 outlined trends, not only does it provide the insight to give you the confidence to build your menu around, it also inspires with recipes that will keep your customers excited - such as the Flavour Shock dish Fiery Scallops in Sweet and Spicy Sauce, sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Derek reinforces this by explaining, "What I liked about the report was the little details... how we influence the menus and our business... it's really important to have those little nuggets of information."

Discover the trends that should be a part of your future menus and download the report for free today.

Flavour Shock

The no rules experience.

In an era of sensory overload, your diners crave unforgettable culinary experiences, meaning you have to step up and provide if you're to stay ahead. With bold flavours and innovative combinations, view food as a form of escapism.

Low-Waste Menus

Maximise creativity.

Push culinary boundaries, combat rising produce costs, and protect our planet by transforming the food waste in your kitchen. A low-waste menu is a low-cost solution.

Irresistible Vegetables

Vegetable democracy!

Transform plates into vibrant works of art that inspire and excite your customers to come back time and time again, with vegetables being your hero. From mundane, to extraordinary.

Modernised Comfort Food

Adventurous and Satisfying.

Offer your diners new rich culinary storytelling by evolving familiar and safe dishes to new recipes; rooted in heritage and tradition with a modern twist that will excite your customers.

Plant-Powered Protein

Veggie protein heroes.

Signalling a shift away from highly indulgent dishes towards celebrating plant power in more diverse and intriguing ways, lean into the rise of Flexitarianism.

Feel-Good Food

Holistic wellbeing.

Highlight the importance of food choices in nutrition and wellbeing by reinventing 'healthy choices' - from dull salads to unexpected dishes, inspire your diners to eat well with no feeling of compromise.

Now you're inspired to push the boundaries and create the unexpected, equip yourself with the Future Menus 2024 report - your culinary compass.

*Omne & CGA by Nielsen IQ, Consumer Hierarchy of Needs, November 2023