Food Service Trends

The catering is undoubtedly one of the working sectors that works best in Italy and the reasons are quite simple to understand. In our country, first of all, there is great interest around food as our cuisine is one of the most famous and appreciated in the world and has a great history and tradition behind it. But what will be the new catering trends?

Even the many television programs focused on cooking such as Masterchef, have contributed to accentuating the interest in such a varied and fascinating world.

Furthermore, another aspect must not be overlooked, namely that of conviviality. For many people, eating together becomes an opportunity to establish new relationships or to cultivate one's friendships.

But food can sometimes also be an opportunity to start new and profitable professional collaborations. In this way taking advantage of the climate of harmony and friendship that is created between people in front of a tasty dish.

According to some statistics, Italy is one of the countries in Europe where people eat out the most for many different reasons.

For example, especially in the South, it is a consolidated tradition to organize family reunions to celebrate anniversaries. In these moments we meet up eating out in places such as farms, trattorias or restaurants characteristic of the place.

Catering trends

The catering is therefore one of the sectors in which entrepreneurs are most encouraged to invest. In fact, this happens despite the economic crisis and the fiscal conditions which, as we well know, are not very favorable in our country.

The latter usually have the power to discourage anyone who wants to challenge themselves as a freelancer.

In this article we will discover together what the future catering trends are. This is a topic that is of great interest both for those who love cooking and for those who dream of starting their own business. But they are also important for those who want to understand what to focus on from a marketing point of view.

Catering: the spread of street food

Restaurant trends

In the last 5 10 years a trend that is spreading like wildfire is certainly linked to street food which has as its main characteristics: the speed with which food is cooked and the fact that it is consumed on the street.

The foods are varied and range from piadinas, to sandwiches, to chips or even international stuff and this formula is liked by around 30 million Italians because it gives the possibility of eating while walking with family or friends and at modest prices. It also gives the opportunity to learn about foods linked to the place where you live or a place where you are on holiday.

Every year more and more events dedicated to street food are organized and for this reason the most popular products are generally local ones to the detriment of foods from abroad. But unfortunately sometimes the quality of the food is very low and for this reason it is often referred to as junk food.

What is certain is that from a business point of view, it is a market that is becoming increasingly popular in our country. To demonstrate this, the Italian Street Food Association was founded in 2008. The latter has the function of bringing together the best of the craftsmanship of taste in Italy. It also has the task of providing training and information around the theme of street food and its traditions.

In 2012, thanks to the publishing house specializing in travel Lonely Planet, the first guide to the best street food in the world was born. The following year an Italian version was also released by Gambero Rosso. The latter quickly became an App.

Finally, it is worth underlining that for those who have a traditional business, street food pcan represent a winning promotional idea.Something to propose perhaps on the occasion of some important event or city event.

The fashion and spread of vegan and vegetarian cuisine

According to Eurispes data, this year around 8 percent of Italians have chosen to no longer eat meat and to embrace the vegetarian diet. Among these, more or less 1/3 have then moved to vegan cuisine. So in addition to giving up meat and fish, they do not consume dairy products. meat.

The increase in this phenomenon has various reasons ranging from ethical to nutritional factors. Both important for those who make a choice that is not easy. All this obviously also had an impact on those who work in the catering sector. This had to adapt to a request for dishes other than those which are typical of Mediterranean cuisine.

Restaurant trends

The change was slow and caused some problems on a practical level for people vegetarian and vegan, who often found themselves in uncomfortable situations, when perhaps they were dining out with friends or family and were unable to find foods suitable for their dietary path.

Restaurant trends

Things are changing considerably and a virtuous circle has been created which in recent years has led to an ever-increasing presence of places dedicated to vegans throughout Italy: shops, trattorias, bars dedicated to smoothies and extracts, but also gourmet restaurants and haute cuisine options.

But now even many places that do not have a vegan or vegetarian footprint offer some vegan dishes and have a part of their menu dedicated to alternative cuisine, to the delight of some chefs who can indulge themselves in experimenting with new things.

The weight of oriental cuisine in catering

Restaurant trends

In Italy we are very fortunate to have one of the best cuisines in the world and one of the most envied by many European countries. In fact, dishes such as pasta or pizza are loved everywhere and many Italian entrepreneurs have positively invested abroad over the years by opening Italian bars and restaurants, which are frequented by both Italians and locals.

One beautiful thing about Italian cuisine is that it is very varied and different, based on the region where you are.

But the great flaw of our country, until a few years ago, was that of being very closed towards oriental food.

Fortunately, things have changed and more and more people have become passionate about oriental cuisine which is very varied, tasty and refined. As a consequence of this, many places serving Japanese, Chinese and Thai cuisine were born, but above all, many sushi bars were born more or less throughout Italy.

Some of these places offer lower quality products and formulas such as the famous all you can eat which allow you to eat cheaply and focusing on quantity, while other oriental and ethnic restaurants are decidedly more expensive but at the same time more varied and refined.

These are some of the restaurant trends that will produce great results in the near future in this sector.

The catering trends of the coming years

The catering trend of the next few years, as we have seen in this article, will move in two directions: on the one hand there will be the continuous reevaluation of the tradition of Mediterranean cuisine, which has been part of our culinary culture for many years and which cannot be abandoned, but needs to continually renew itself.

But on the other hand, speaking of restaurant trends, it will be important to open up to new worlds, such as that of oriental and ethnic cuisine and vegan and vegetarian dishes, with a view to an integration between 2 very different traditions, but which can find points of contact and offer alternatives to those who love to change and experiment continuously.

Furthermore, many entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to invest and obtain good results both from the point of view of credibility and business.