In a recent webinar, Datassential pinpointed
several trends brought on by the pandemic that it
expects will impact the restaurant industry in 2021,
including the migration of consumers from large
cities to smaller cities and from urban areas into
suburban areas. These consumers, the research firm
says, will likely bring their tastes for global cuisines
such as Indian and Thai with them, perhaps
creating opportunities for restaurants to expand
into areas they otherwise might have shunned.
This migration also allows restaurants that
are in some of these locations where consumers
are moving to introduce experimental ingredients
and flavors more quickly, says Jack Li, founder of
Datassential.
Increased Automation in
Restaurants
The increasing use of automation in foodservice
will continue to accelerate, according to Li, who
cites the addition of kiosks, mobile ordering, and
contactless payments as examples. "A lot of what
used to be human interaction is now automated,"
he says.
While 32 percent of consumers reported using
contactless payment before the pandemic, that had
increased to 48 percent by May, just a few weeks
into the shutdown, and it continued to increase
throughout the year, says Li.
Foodservice automation is also appearing in the
form of innovations such as Sally, the salad-making
robot from technology firm Chowbotics. With
the disappearance of salad bars from restaurants
and retail stores around the country, Sally offers
consumers the ability to customize their salads
without the need for human interaction, Li explains.
The increasing demand for restaurant delivery
has also accelerated another trend that is expected
to last: virtual restaurant brands and ghost
kitchens. These tend to be delivery-only concepts
that offer highly specialized menus and are
sometimes offshoots of existing restaurants.
The expansion of these concepts will allow
for more experimentation by chefs and could lead
to more "limited time" or pop-up restaurants that
could open briefly with special offers, either to test
new menu items or perhaps to test new markets.
Mark Hamstra is a regular contributor to Specialty Food.
WINTER ‡
"At this point, it
appears that
2021 will be an
extension of many
of the changes we
experienced in 2020.
Social distancing,
touch-free, and
transparency will
continue to drive the
way we live our lives,
and the way we shop."
THE NEW NORMAL
