Every year, the food industry collectively scrambles to determine the top trends that will define the months ahead. These are the foods, flavors, ingredients, and dishes that are supposed to keep your concept and menu fresh and exciting in your customer’s eyes— shortcuts to success, you might say. The past decade are filled with the “it” trend of the year: avocado toast, gochujang, ube, birria, etc.
There is one overarching customer need to keep in mind as we head into 2025: customers are looking to you for something new. Consumers have been in a funk for a few years now, leading to terms like “permafunk” and “bed rotting” (where consumers spend the entire day in bed, refusing to interact with the world). Today more consumers are experimenting with new foods and flavors at home than they are at restaurants, a momentous change from pre-pandemic times, when customers mainly trusted chefs to introduce them to something new.
So it’s time to give them something fresh. After years of nostalgia and comfort foods, it’s time to get consumers excited again. It’s time to start getting creative, focusing on innovation and showcasing what consumers love about restaurants again. Consider this report the first step in creating bold new ideas, menu items, marketing initiatives, and experiences that will jolt your customers out of their malaise and chart a fresh, exciting path forward for your concept.
Trends & Value: Give Customers a Fresh Perspective on Value and Pricing
Over the last year, food has experienced some of the highest rates of inflation. From skimpflation and shrinkflation to higher prices at restaurants, consumers are feeling the squeeze. The result is increased tensions between consumers and the brands they purchase, with 24 percent of consumers now feeling like they have to constantly watch their back because brands and restaurants are constantly taking advantage of them.
Yes, price is a key contributor to the perceived value of a purchase at foodservice. And extended periods of rising prices on menus has led 43 percent of consumers to want lower prices at restaurants in 2025.
But price isn’t the only factor. True value, value that is sustainable and impactful, is driven by more factors. When value is based on unique experiences, hospitality, consistent quality, and reliability, higher prices are less painful. Value underpinned by more than just cheap prices can and does drive greater patron loyalty, increased traffic, and greater acceptance of price increases.
No one wants to be taken advantage of, and that includes businesses. There are a lot of pressures now forcing prices to increase. Even though consumers may hear about legislation increasing minimum wages or understand food costs are rising, without effective communication they won’t immediately connect the dots. Remember, though, they are being squeezed. Realistically, we are all in this together, and communication with your patrons should focus on that.
How are you building greater value into your patron experience? If compromises on quality must be made, how are you offsetting those compromises to mitigate poor consumer perceptions. If portion sizes decline, can you increase the quality of key ingredients to offset that shrink? Can you improve the atmosphere or the hospitality to help support higher prices? Is technology eliminating pain points to improve the customer experience?
Increased costs must be addressed and tough operational decisions must be made to protect profit margins. These decisions can’t be made in a vacuum, discounting the customer experience. The decisions made to protect your interests should dovetail with improvements for your customers. They may not understand your business dynamics, but they will understand efforts to make their lives easier or better.
Take the time to find, and address, any value pain points. If you don’t, consumers will notice and go elsewhere.
Trends & The Senses: Give Customers New Sensory Experiences
As consumers embrace a more optimistic and bolder approach to life, inherent in this is the desire for new sensory experiences. Food and dining away from home are among the few full sensory experiences a consumer can enjoy, alone or with others, and embracing all the senses is the best way for operators to truly connect with their patrons.
When asked to rate their senses in order of importance when selecting foods and beverages, it’s not surprising taste was ranked either #1 or #2 by 69 percent of consumers. Taste is critical, and taste exploration and experimentation is a key part of new experiences.
After years of focusing on the Instagrammability of foods, you may have guessed that consumers ranked sight second—but that’s not the case. Sixty-one percent (61 percent) ranked smell and aroma second. How effectively is aroma being used to create unique new experiences for consumers? This is particularly true at time when cold beverages are far more commonly consumed. Consciously innovating against aroma can change consumer experiences and reset expectations.
What cold beverages have lost in aroma, this category has certainly gained in textural exploration. While touch may have been ranked low in importance by consumers, there’s no doubt unique textural experiences have drawn consumers in through innovation in restaurants and social media. From boba and cheese foams to crackle coffee and fluffy Coke, texture elevates and surprises.
Sensory experiences extend well beyond the foods and beverages, starting when a consumer enters and following through to the end of the meal, which may be off-site or as they leave the property. Remember, all the senses should be engaged and thoughtfully considered to create not only new experiences, but the right sensory experiences unique to an operator’s brand. This includes the hospitality offered by employees and the interactive technology used to enhance or ease a patron’s experience.
In the end, sensory experiences elicit emotional responses and emotions resonate far more with consumers than any one trend. Unique and impactful sensory experiences will hit consumers emotionally. What emotions do you want to provoke from your patrons? What emotions would the ideal experience at your units or with your offerings draw out? Should the emotional experiences with your brand evolve through the experience?
Over the past twelve months, consumers have become more focused on sincerity and authenticity, and that’s as true for sensory experiences as it is for marketing and communications. Just as insincere communication can undermine trust in a brand, similarly insincere sensory experiences can lead to skepticism and a lack of faith in the overall experiences. Great food can be undercut by experiences that seem forced, artificial, or too consciously designed to elicit certain emotions. Make sure your experiences are as authentic as your brand voice and strategy. Liquid Death has perfected the art of truly unique but utterly authentic communication. Your communication and experience doesn’t need to be as weird, but it should be as distinct and utterly recognizable.
