2025 Restaurant Trends according to the NRA

The National Restaurant Association recently released their report on the top 2025 Restaurant Trends they expect to see on restaurant menus.  Here’s the few of the trends along with a few of our thoughts on how to implement them in your restaurant.

The NRA presentation broke the discussion into 3 categories:  Macro Trends, Micro-trends, and Financial trends.

Macro Menu trends:

Macro trends are general themes and categories rather than specific items or flavors.

  • Locally sourced Ingredients — more specifically Hyper Local and seasonal. Locality was more important to guests surveyed (and backed up by PMIX reports) than price and value.  This means finding products you get can from local farms rather than your “big box” broadline distributors.
  • Flights – flights just aren’t for wine tastings anymore. Guests are enjoying appetizer flights, dessert flights, mocktail flights, you name it!
  • Convenience Proteins – these are alternatives to the traditional grilled steaks or similar dishes that go from cold & raw to cooked. These are the quick ticket time Center-of-the-plate items that are “slice and sell” or just need a quick sear or are served chilled.  Think Sous Vides, smoked meats, and pre-cooked proteins.

Micro Menu Trends:

Here’s where the NRA 2025 Restaurant Trends report focused on specific flavors that are trending upwards, or directions menus should head to stay ahead of the curve.

  • Health and Wellness – guests are gravitating to menu items that are healthier and serve a “functional wellness.” Examples include mushrooms like lions mane or shitake and raw honey.
  • Sustainability – guests are weary of paying extra for products that they know are over-harvested, mass produced, and generally bad for their bodies and the planet.
  • The sweet & spicy trend should continue.  Hot Honey and Spicy Maple are expected to be popular 2025 menu trends, following up on the Nashville Hot trend that’s exploded over the last 18-24 months.
  • Fermented & Pickled These items coincide with both the wellness and the sustainability, and even the hyper local trends.  An example would be local, organic produce that’s pickled or fermented to increase shelf life and aide in digestion (add some local honey and habaneros for the Sweet and spicy aspect too!).
  • Expanded Asian dishes – with a focus on Korean flavors Southeast Asian food has done very well of late – either in traditional or fusion form. Flavors are also shifting north to get dishes from the Korean peninsula involved.

Financial/Economic Restaurant Trends:

2025 restaurant trends are impacted by the economic environment as well. Since the end of the pandemic, Food Costs have gone up 31%, and Labor has gone up 30%.  This means the menu that delivered a 50% prime cost 3 years ago, now delivers a prime cost of 65%.  So, clearly menu economics are critical (they’ve ALWAYS been critical, btw).  The restaurant sector should see a bit of a rebound in 2025, but food costs will most likely rise a bit.  In 2025, restaurateurs need to recognize that, in the current economy, some restaurant diners are flush with cash, while others are struggling.  So, menus need to appeal to both diners.  Specifics to keep in mind:

  • Value Propositions: Prix Fixe menus, for example, give all diners the “all-in” price so they can enjoy the meal without having to make the micro-decisions of each dish/course based on price.
  • Limited Time Offers: Give guests a reason that this week is the week to choose your restaurant or a given menu option.  Create a sense of value without changing the price but changing the availability.
  • Restauranteurs and Chefs should prepare for Tariffs. Any tariffs imposed on imported goods from Asia or Mexico will affect both cost and availability.  So, keep an eye out on news cycles in Q1, as these will affect 2025 Restaurant Trends.

Salt and Cayenne Restaurant Consultants can help you implement these 2025 Restaurant Trends. Schedule a Call with us to tell us about your needs today!