This is part 2 of a series, Part 1 was ramshackle so lets all hope this one is a bit better & more succinct. This post looks into what could be happening in restaurant kitchens and the food being served to you in 2021…

Trends & Predictions

We’ve seen a rise in ghost kitchens over the past few years. The pandemic has been a boon for delivered food thus I wouldn’t bet against this model becoming more and more entrenched. Fundamentally having the infrastructure to quickly spin up new concepts & businesses is really interesting and exciting, not too dissimilar to the food truck scene you could see some really interesting ventures come out of people being able to more affordably setup food delivery services.

One example, is the recent Mr. Beast hamburger chain launch. A famous influencer/YouTuber could use this infrastructure to seemingly miraculously create a chain of restaurants out of thin air. I’m sure this actually took quite a lot of people and time in real life but it’s insanely impressive this could remotely work.

I just launched 300 restaurants nationwide! Just go on your favorite delivery app and order a MrBeast Burger! WE’VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOR FOREVER AND IM SO EXCITED! pic.twitter.com/hn7tXeWrOu

— MrBeast (@MrBeastYT) December 19, 2020

The video itself is a curious watch. I don’t know about the liberal handing out of money and gifts, maybe an experiment in redistributing wealth, even if not then sure works as some form of marketing launch campaign.

A smaller footprint

The endeavour also highlights another trend that seems most likely in the delivery/pandemic times. Restaurants having vastly reduced sized menus. Some factors might weigh into this;

• Tighter finances for restaurant business owners
• likely reduced staff levels due to the need of social distancing in kitchens
• reduced kitchen output
• restricted access to some goods (hello Brexit)
• competition (lots of new entrants using ghost kitchens that might be do one specific dish from a specific type of cuisine)
• traditionally eat-in restaurants needing to pivot business to delivery as not every dish works when being delivered (e.g. Bao, a Taiwanese restaurant, creating a specific delivery food side arm)

As you see with Mr Beast burger, it basically does a form of cheese burger, chicken burger and grilled cheese & a smattering of sides. I could see lots of new places popping up, very specialised in a certain type of dish. I’m not an economist but specialisation would mean more places pop up doing specific types of dishes that could improve output and quality in general. That is probably a reductionist, optimistic view. Especially in cities, these huge multi-page menus might see a bit of a decline.

You might even see more influencers/famous folk stick their name onto flash (quick & short-lived) food companies.

Delivery

If we keep running with the theme that food delivery is still gonna be big in ‘21. Then some things I’d be super interested to see…

• Delivery expands to not just homes/set addresses but to parks and where people gather outside… side story I used to live in South Korea over a decade ago. Even then you could sit out in a park with friends and order food to be delivered to where you sit (see this example vid I just found). As summer begins I’m going to make a guess that someone dreams up this feature in the UK.
• In combo with the rise of ghost kitchens & more delivery specific places open. Then perhaps this means more dishes available specifically created because it travels well (pizza good rattling around on the back of a bike, chips not so good). More bento boxes, more salads, who knows… maybe even some Korean fried chicken.
• related to the above… a radical reinvention of delivery food packaging. This is fuelled by people realising that some types of packaging may not help the dishes retain their crispiness or warmth. Thus desire for new types of packaging, perhaps our sustainability commitments also mean plastic tubs, etc see a decline for newer types of packaging.
• the second point is people investing in the unboxing of food. We’ve lived through unboxing vids and there is evidence out there that people value products more if the experience of unboxing/opening your new product for the first time it is a delightful one. Why not food? The experience of eating is far more than just what goes in your mouth. The smells, the look, the way it is served all are important. Thus, I’m bombastically hoping to see new, interesting ways people receive their food and are delighted when they come to open and serve it.

Will the type of food change?

Lots of vegan/plant-based foods launched in the past few years. Likely see more, lets throw out a random prediction. Maybe some weirder creations such as… imitation seafood? Someone may take a punt at that in ‘21.

Another one getting hype is cultured meat (meat grown from animal cells not from slaughtered animals). After all, this month a restaurant has officially started selling it. One place it might spring up first is maybe in pet food? Why? Well, supposedly 25% of the meat we produce is used in pet food. If collectively we want to reduce the amount of meat we consume (including dogs, cats and other assorted pets) and in turn reduce the environmental impact of meat production then using cultured meat might have some pros.

In general the trend for less meat consumption in the UK I predict will continue. For those continuing to eat meat then more people may care about the provenance of their food (where it was made, created and by whom). This will be interesting as data and tech needs to get involved to make this information easy to consume and interrogate. If I was a marketer then I’d definitely find ways to over promote the localness of whatever items I produce (not necessarily meat) and emphasis the human stories of how stuff was made. Some companies, like Starbucks, are already in this space and we might see more.

Absolutely random list

Here is a bunch of other unassorted thoughts…

• lots and lots more software/tech in back of house kitchens… including lots of cameras/sensors to monitor food cooking, measure wastage, count stock, etc.
• more high end vending machines that deliver much better focused dishes (e.g. stick these in airports while other restaurants are closed/reduced footfall)
• maybe a spike in virtual cooking classes?

Will I be right?

I’ve splattered a bunch of themes and predictions. I’ll make a promise to myself in a year’s time to have a read of this and see how far off the mark I was! See ya in 2021.