Trends 2025 by We’re Smart
1. Food is Nature:
Plates or support for the food are as natural as possible. Creative and local handmade (craftmenship) ceramic becomes mainstream, but also wild materials like stones, wood, leaves, flowers & etc are used to serve food in an original way.
2. Imperfection is the new perfection:
Authenticity and simplicity in his pure form is the way forward for the new generation of chefs. They are culinary artists/wizards, they want to create & shine, imperfection becomes an asset.
3. Pure plant is a must:
The group of flexitarians is growing fast and open to discover. if you as a restaurant want to keep up with the trend, is a pure plant menu is a mandatory offering. More than 30% of guests are open to exceptional pure plant experiences.
4. Respect is core business:
Respect for products, craftmenship, producers and for the restaurant team as a whole. From the dishwashers & the cleaning team to the sommelier & the chef because a team is only as strong as the least visible persons. Working from the ground up with a real and close-knit team is therefore more important than ever, because finding qualitative & skilled employees is a burden.
5. Food as a powerful lever:
People are more and more aware that what they eat and the food choices they make can make a difference for their personal health (physically & mentally) and the health of our planet. Restaurants address this with a vegetable garden of their own, a local sourcing network & by cooking with the seasons.
6. Fusion has no borders:
Chefs are traveling around the world, co-create with colleagues, organise 4 hands and learning about each other cultures, products, techniques and philosophy. This leads to new colourful & tasteful combinations across borders all over the world. The chef is more than ever a wizard of the flavors of the world, but without loosing his roots and paying homage to his roots his region and the seasonality of the products.
7. The guest is in the heart of everything we do:
Today restaurants operate in a very competitive landscape, the client will decide if the restaurant is here to stay or to disappear. Creating customer loyalty is a must, therefore we need to know our guests well, value them and truly pamper them. A restaurant visit represents a big budget but a happy customer wants to spend.
8. Authenticity is the ultimate experience:
Guests sense authenticity perfectly, fake it till you make it is out! Unique hospitality and delicious, healthy and 'authentic' food from the heart can't be imitated.
9. Plant forward is the future of food:
Most chefs are still classically trained, meaning they think from out meat & fish. If you want to work as a future chef, now is the time to turn the cooking world around and start thinking from a vegetable point of view when creating dishes, even if meat and fish come into play afterwards. The Think Vegetables! Think Fruit! philosophy is the basis of future food production at restaurants or wider.
10. Chefs are the new rockstars:
Already 15 years ago we announced that chefs would become stars and would be paid to open restaurants in hotel chains to not only to keep the guest in house but also attract people from outside in. Not only famous chefs partner up with 5 (+) star hotels but also trendy hotel chains have new concepts inhouse from fine dining to a taqueria or rooftop cocktail bar.
