Restaurant Hospitality Unveils Ten Trends Set to Reshape Foodservice Industry

The future of the restaurant industry is upon us, and it’ll look a little bit like this: Consumers will be able to choose a diet based on their unique microbial profiles; proteins listed on menus won’t only be limited to pork, beef and chicken—crickets and plants count, too; and smart phone sensors might be able to tell chefs when an avocado or a melon is ripe.

Staying on trend with the latest and greatest food industry fads is nothing short of dizzying. Thankfully, William Rosenzweig, dean and executive director of the Food Business School at The Culinary Institute of America, offered his predictions of what the food industry will look like in the very near future. He outlined his predictions at the 20^th Annual UCLA Extension Restaurant Industry Conference in Los Angeles on April 28.

Here are a few of the changes that Rosenzweig contends will reshape the American dining scene in the next few years.

1. Biology of Food is the New Digital

“Food will really become medicine,” Rosenzweig said. “We’re going to realize that we have this other intelligence in our gut that we don’t know yet what to do with.”

Rosenzweig is referring to a new frontier for scientists—they’re just beginning to understand the world of the human microbiome, the microorganisms in the body and in our food and soil that are vital to health. As such, farmers will begin talking about manipulating the biome of the products they produce, causing a shift from universal nutritional recommendations to uniquely personalized diets that speak to individual bacterial systems.

2. Meal Delivery is Here to Stay

The logistics behind moving food from Point A to Point B has come a long way over the past few years—but Rosenzweig believes this is only the beginning. Delivery speed and efficiency will only continue to improve, and consumers will increasingly embrace the home delivery of all manner of meals.

3. Robotics

There’s a restaurant scheduled to open in San Francisco where robots cook burgers without any human intervention. Rosenzweig believes even more automation is on the way, which may pose some challenges and tough decisions for restaurant operators in the future.

4. Sensing and Sensors

Rosenzweig said that as soon as 2017, smart phones will be built with sensors that will allow people to scan their food to get information. For example, a chef could tell when fruit is ripe or a diner could identify the type of sushi on their plate and the exact origins of the fish. Wine makers could even pinpoint the sugar content in their grapes.