10 Restaurant Food Trends in 2022 to Help Grow Your Business

Restaurant food trends are born as a response to customers’ interests, preferences, and economic factors that directly impact the food industry. For example, since the start of the pandemic in 2019, we saw a significant increase in sanitary measures and options for delivery, as many people chose not to dine in to protect themselves.

In 2022, the pandemic is still with us, and we are dealing with an upcoming economic crisis, so the current restaurant food trends reflect these factors. Climate change is also on people’s minds, so restaurant should play their part to diminish its effects.

Here are the top ten restaurant food trends in 2022 you should be adopting if you want your restaurant to succeed.

10 Restaurant Food Trends in 2022

1. More healthy options available on the menu

43% of Americans state they always look for healthy foods while shopping. Specifically, the younger generations are more health-conscious, with 51% of Millenials and 45% of Gen-Z-ers declaring they are interested in buying healthy meals.

Therefore, if you want your restaurant to be a hot spot for healthy eaters, you must give them the food they crave. But what exactly is seen as healthy food in a restaurant? Here are a few pointers to help you get started:

• Create the perfect plate: according to Harvard specialists, a healthy plate should be composed of ½ vegetables and fruits, ¼ whole grains, and ¼ protein;
• Try to source your produce locally or from trust-worthy vendors that don’t use harmful chemicals to grow them;
• Avoid serving processed foods;
• Include seasonal products in your menu to ensure they are fresh.

Serving healthy restaurant food may come at a greater cost for you, but you can make a profit if you price the special menu items higher and make the portions smaller.

Don’t forget to let your audience know about your new healthy menu items by promoting them on your social media. You could also add some “healthy food” related keywords on your website and Google My Business listing, so your restaurants will appear in “healthy food restaurant near me” searches.

2. Menu items that cater to different allergies or preferences

Researchers estimate that almost 32 million Americans suffer from food allergies, some of the most common allergens being milk, peanuts, eggs, wheat, and soy.

Considering the number of people allergic to different types of food, if you don’t cater to them, you lose a lot of clients. In the beginning, it will require a bit of effort to create special dishes and separate your working stations in the kitchen, but the new clients will make everything worth it.

While setting up the kitchen may be complicated, setting up a menu that caters to different food allergies shouldn’t be! If you sign up for the online food ordering system from GloriaFood, you can easily create a menu where you can mark the menu items as one of the following:

• Vegan;
• Halal;
• Dairy Free;
• Vegetarian;
• Gluten-Free;
• Nut Free;
• Raw;
• Hot.

Check out this video that shows you how to easily create a food allergies-compliant restaurant menu:

You can also create a different menu for every day of the week. For example, on Monday, you could have a vegan food restaurant, on Tuesday, you could serve gluten-free restaurant food, and on Wednesday, you could only include dairy-free menu items.

3. Smaller menus that guarantee food quality

A long menu is often associated with low food quality. How could you serve pizza, pasta, burgers, Indian food, sushi, and many more at the same restaurant and ensure the ingredients are always fresh?

One of the biggest restaurant food trends in 2022 is having a specialized, smaller menu. This allows you to focus on creating fewer but better dishes with fresh ingredients, ultimately reducing your food waste. Furthermore, with fewer dishes, you can accurately portion them and increase your profit margin.

Clients also enjoy browsing a smaller menu. Not only is it trustworthy because it is not a random amalgam of cuisines, but it takes them less time to decide on what to eat. Here are a few tips for creating the perfect small menu:

• Long menu descriptions: the menu may be short, but the descriptions don’t have to be. Tempt people to order your food by giving them a detailed description of your ingredients or interesting cooking process;
• Mouth-watering pictures: in this digital age, people like to see exactly what they are ordering on the online menu. Consider hiring a professional photographer or use the beautiful food images from GloriaFood’s gallery;
• Place the most expensive menu items first: people tend to order the first items on the list because it is faster, and they trust you put your best food first.

If you want to easily create a small menu that will attract countless clients, install the online ordering system from GloriaFood, and go to admin -> Setup -> Menu Setup & receive orders -> Menu setup. Watch the video below for step-by-step instructions on setting up your menu:

Read more: Why Restaurants with Small Menus Are More Successful [+ Template]

4. Green kitchens with almost no waste

Social issues also influence restaurant food trends in 2022. In this case, climate change is on many clients’ minds, impacting their choice to visit or order from a certain restaurant. Consequently, to appeal to the climate-conscious crowd, you must put in the effort to have a green kitchen.

Here are some ways you can make your kitchen greener:

• Use less plastic: don’t use plastic containers for food preparation, opt for reusable ones made of steel or glass. Furthermore, choose biodegradable containers for delivering your delicious food;
• Try to use every part of the ingredient: to reduce waste, you must come up with dishes that use as many parts of an ingredient as possible. For example, vegetable peels or shrimp shells can be used to make stock;
• Use a stock inventory program: take advantage of technology to have a clear view of your inventory. This way, you will know when something is about to expire and what you need to order more of;
• Store food correctly: a lot of food goes bad in a restaurant’s kitchen because they have been stored incorrectly; you can prolong the freshness of many ingredients by storing them in a cold, dry place.

Read more: 10 Restaurant Sustainability Practices You Can Implement Immediately

5. Virtual restaurants only available for delivery

Since the pandemic hit, many restaurants have realized the need for delivery. As the demand for online food delivery increased and the number of restaurant diners decreased, many were faced with an important question: is it profitable to keep the restaurant’s physical location open?

Many restaurant owners responded no, and so one of the biggest restaurant food trends in 2022 was born: virtual restaurants, aka ghost kitchens, aka cloud kitchens.

A virtual restaurant is exactly what the name describes, a restaurant that only needs a kitchen, a sales-optimized website, and an efficient online ordering system to work. It is ideal for people that don’t have big capital to invest and want to focus on delivering delicious food.

6. Customization options for menu items

Customers like to see that restaurants care about them, their experience, and their preferences. One way to let them know you value them is to give them the option to customize their dishes.

For example, if you serve pizza, you could allow clients to choose the type of crust, such as thick, crispy, or gluten-free. Or, if you offer burgers, allow clients to select many toppings to create the perfect bun.

With the online ordering system from GloriaFood, offering clients countless options for menu customization is very easy. Watch this video to learn how to add Choices & Addons to your menu items:

7. Online ordering for every restaurant

While it is not a new trend, online ordering for restaurants is one of the most popular restaurant food trends in 2022. More and more restaurant owners have realized how important it is to be able to deliver food to people and how many more sales they could make if they did it well.

Restaurant aggregator apps are a solution that can help you increase your visibility in the short term, but the taxes you have to pay will eat into your profit in the long term. The best solution is an in-house online ordering system like the one from GloriaFood that will help grow your business.

You can start receiving online orders in a few easy steps:

• Create an account on GloriaFood;
• Fill in the requested information;
• Customize your online menu;
• Publish the “See MENU & Order” button on your website;
• Download the order taking app;
• Start receiving orders and increase your profit!

8. Menu promotions on social media

Everyone knows that to promote a restaurant, you need to have a social media account on the platforms your audience uses. Social media food trends in 2022 focus on offering potential customers the best online experience possible by constantly interacting with them and offering unique deals and promotions.

This is what you should do to attract customers on social media:

• Promote your website: allow your followers to easily find information about your restaurant and order directly from your website by linking it on your social media profiles. A good website will load fast, have intuitive navigation, and convert visitors into clients;
• Advertise your promotions: the first step is to add some attractive promotions to your menu, such as free delivery, free dessert, or combo deals. You can do so with just a few click in the Promotions module from GloriaFood. Afterward, ensure you market your promotions with at least two posts a week, encouraging people to try your new promotions before they expire. Include strong calls to action in the caption such as “Get free delivery for lunch, only available this week!”

9. Fine dining is reemerging

Fine dining took a hit when the pandemic started because people didn’t want to spend as much money on food. But with time, people started craving inventive, beautiful food, and we are witnessing the reemergence of fine dining trends in 2022.

One of the most successful trends is farm-to-table fine dining because it combines innovative food with local produce and minimal food waste.

10. Integrating automation in every restaurant operation

One of the main restaurant food trends in 2022 is the integration of automation in every restaurant process, from the kitchen to serving clients. For example, you can invest in gadgets that will help you cook faster and easier, such as an automatic frying machine or a baking machine where you just need to add the ingredients.

Another automation example is accepting table reservations and allowing customers to pre-order their food when they reserve a table. That way, they can order what they want to eat, and pay for the food ahead of time. When they enter the restaurant, all they have to do is enjoy the already prepared food.

You can see a demo website where you can play around with the table reservation feature here. If you want to start taking reservations and food pre-orders, sign up on GloriaFood and go to admin -> Setup -> Services & Opening hours -> Table reservation.

Conclusion

Restaurant food trends in 2022 focus on creating the best online experience possible (both for you and the client), perfecting your menu (with options for customization and allergy preferences), and building a restaurant that is more in tune with the planet.

If you incorporate these new food trends in your restaurant strategy, you can attract more foodies and increase the number of repeat customers.