By Katie Belflower

The rapidly evolving foodservice landscape is a perfect playground for trend exploration, and current data* can help us better understand and uncover trends within food and beverage on Canadian menus. Overall, item counts are up 9.8 per cent year over year, suggesting strong growth on menus as operators continue to rebuild from pandemic dips. Delving further, entrées in particular are showing momentum, with entrée item growth coming in at more than 11 per cent in the last year. To differentiate themselves from competitors, operators will have to turn to both established and up-and-coming trends as a source of innovation inspiration.

The fastest-growing flavours on Canadian menus in the last year reveal some interesting trends. Global flavours, including Persian (up 39 per cent) and Lebanese (up 37 per cent), are on the rise on Canadian menus, with this growth highlighting a greater industry trend of global foods increasingly appearing on menus, both in traditional and nontraditional ways. Other fast-growing flavours include spicy options, such as red chile (up 34 per cent), and bright, bold choices, such as lemon herb (up 39 per cent). Looking at the fastest-growing dishes year over year, indulgent, comforting choices are showing growth on menus, including sliders (up 82 per cent), chili and chili cheeseburgers (up 80 per cent) and pork tenderloin (up 53 per cent). Although always relevant on menus, cozy comfort foods will become even more prevalent as we move further into the cooler months of the year.

Let’s look at some macro and micro trends influencing menus. The macro trends are large, dominant trends that have been appearing on menus for years now, and the micro trends are newer, more on-the-horizon trends within those larger buckets, often coming from independent operators with the potential to emerge on chain menus.

Health and wellness

While health and wellness have been important considerations on menus for years now, recent menu trends within this space are reflective of a shift in definitions around health. While more traditional claims have revolved around removing things from one’s diet, such as sugar and fat, an uptick in functional ingredients demonstrates that consumers are evolving their definition of health, with the idea that adding something to a diet, rather than just taking something away, can be just as beneficial.

Here are some examples of restaurant menus that recently featured functional ingredients:

• Beau Mont in Montreal served half-cooked salmon with camelina, which is a functional flowering plant rich in antioxidants that can also act as an anti-inflammatory agent.
• Maxine’s Cafe & Bar in Vancouver added bee pollen to its Honeybee cocktail, which is an ingredient with antimicrobial properties.
• Gio in Halifax menued shrimp and snow crab with nasturtium vinegar. The leaves and flowers of the nasturtium plant can boost the immune system by tackling sore throats, coughs, and colds.

As the health and wellness category continues to evolve, expect to see more health-forward ingredients popping up on menus in new and interesting ways. And look for ingredients with purported calming and stress-relieving properties, as consumers increasingly view mental health as part of the overall wellness picture.

Global fare

Global cuisines are incredibly prominent on today’s menus, and lesser-known regions and ingredients are moving into the menu spotlight as consumers become more comfortable with adventurous options. One trend within this space is the use of more umami inspiration in global sauces on menus. Umami, typically described as a meaty, savoury flavour, packs a serious flavour punch, and these umami-forward sauces are adding some bold global flavour to menus.

Here are some of the restaurants that have highlighted this global trend:

• Bar Gobo in Vancouver offered pork collar with doenjang, a Korean soybean paste.
• Another Korean sauce appearing on menus is yangnyeom, which is made with soy sauce, gochujang, rice vinegar and a sweet element, such as honey, syrup or jam. The sauce is often featured on fried chicken. Te in Toronto served up dark spiced chicken bites with the sweet-and-spicy glaze.

Other umami global sauces appearing on menus include Mexican white mole, nam jim jaew (a Thai fish and chile sauce), and tomato-based Basque Biscayne sauce. Look for even more diversified types of these sauces from around the globe to differentiate menus and up the ante on taste.

Indulgence and comfort

A notable trend on Canadian menus is the incorporation of indulgence and comfort, which makes sense, given that satisfying a craving is the leading consumer need state when choosing a restaurant.** And cravings can often equate to items that consumers associate with comfort. A more obvious indulgence we’re seeing on menus is the idea that more is more. Operators are doubling or tripling up on premium items and ingredients to appeal to those consumers looking for extra comfort. Arby’s Triple Cheese Roast BLT with cheddar, Swiss and Parmesan, and Red Lobster’s Lobster Lover’s Duo with both Maine and Caribbean lobster tails are examples of this trend appearing on menus.

For some quirkier indulgence, we have crossovers and mashups abounding on menus. Breakfast is meeting dinner, and dessert inspirations and ingredients are exerting influence over non-dessert items.

Here are a few ways this trend has been seen served on restaurant menus:

• Edmonton’s Tryst offered breakfast charcuterie, featuring Irving’s Farm bacon, everything bagel crisps, house-smoked salmon, whipped lemon-dill cream cheese, two eggs any style, Lakeside Farmstead brie, pickled red onion, and Ranchero home fries.
• Ricky’s All-Day Grill offered breakfast poutine, with layered fries, cheese curds, gravy, poached egg, hollandaise, green onions, and bacon.
• The Works Craft Burger & Beer menued a S’more Than a Feeling Burger featuring creamy milk chocolate stuffed into 100 per cent Canadian beef, topped with toasted marshmallow topping and graham cracker crumbs.

Overall, we can look forward to seeing continual innovation on Canadian menus, in ways that take major trends and push them beyond what’s expected. Established trends will continue to evolve in new and interesting ways as operators make them their own. Expect to see increasingly function-specific ingredients pop up on menus as consumers seek out healthier solutions. As well, look for more adventurous global cuisines to appear on menus as the foodservice industry explores lesser-known regions and flavours, and anticipate continued innovation in the comfort sphere to manifest in increasingly over-the-top ways.

Katie Belflower is Associate Editor for Technomic, a Chicago-based foodservice research and consulting firm. Technomic provides clients with the facts, insights and consulting support they need to enhance their business strategies, decisions and results. The company’s services include publications and digital products as well as proprietary studies and ongoing research on all aspects of the food industry, including menu trends.

*Source: Technomic Ignite Menu data, Q2 2023-Q2 2024

**Source: Technomic Ignite Consumer data, Q1 2024-Q2 2024