5 Restaurant Trends That Are Here to Stay in 2014

Menus that describe where food comes from puts customers at ease.

The New Year is fast approaching – in fact, it will be here in a week!

As you say goodbye to 2013, you are probably looking forward to 2014 and wondering what you can do to keep the success of your restaurant in full swing for the upcoming year.

It looks like there are going to be several trends that are going to stick around in the upcoming year. If you are already implementing these trends, you’re going to want to keep at ‘em; if you aren’t you’re, going to want to make sure that you include them for the coming year.

So, without further ado, here are five restaurant trends that are here to stay for 2014:

1. Authentic Menus: People want to read more than a description of the food that they are going to order. (tweet this)

They want to know that the food that they are ordering is real. That is, they don’t want to eat processed foods; they want to eat the real deal. Menu items should not only include descriptions of the food, but they should also highlight the ingredients that are used to make them – and those ingredients should be real!

Add in a description of where they came from and how they were procured and you will be sure to delight your customers.

2. Special menus: Everyone seems to be on a special diet these days; gluten-free, in particular. If you want to make your customers really happy, you are going to want to continue – or start- offering specialized menus.

Include a detailed listing of the ingredients so that your customers can be assured that what they are ordering really is gluten- or whatever else free. While it’s true that it may take a good bit of extra work to offer a special menu, that extra work will certainly pay off.

3. All-day fare: Instead of offering breakfast, lunch or dinner specific menus, serve all-day fare. Gone are the days of breakfast is only eaten in the morning, lunch in the afternoon and dinner in the evening. (tweet this)

Thanks to crazy schedules, people eat at random times throughout the day. Someone who skipped the traditional ‘breakfast’ time may want to enjoy a plate of eggs for dinner. Offering all-day fare will certainly make your menu more appealing for your customers.

4. Self-Serve: 2013 brought about a unique trend in the restaurant industry; self service. It seems that people who go out to eat enjoy serving themselves. They like the idea of creating their own plates from a variety of options.

Kind of like a buffet, a self-serve option allows customers to be in control of what and how much they eat. So, offer a self-serve salad bar, snack bar or dessert bar.

5. Nutrition is Tops: In 2013, people started to become more and more conscious of what they ate. Health become top priority, and that will remain for 2014.

Customers count on restaurants to serve food that is nutritious.

So, if you’re serving up a menu of healthy items, keep on dishing these items out. If you aren’t yet on the healthy bandwagon; say goodbye to those fried foods and hello to grilled options. Of course, you can offer both and cater to all people, which will really make you stand out.

Want to continue on with the success of your restaurant in 2014, or want to beef up your success? Implement these 5 trends and you’ll enjoy more customers and a more lucrative sales forecast.

What types of trends are you using in 2013 that you plan to continue using in 2014? Share your success stories. We’d love to hear them!

Images courtesy of Pan Pacific and Geoff Peters

One response to “5 Restaurant Trends That Are Here to Stay in 2014”

1. matiar says:

   April 19, 2015 at 2:31 am

   very gooood…thanks.لامپ کم مصرف–کرکره برقی–راهبند اتوماتیک–راهبند

   Reply