The food and beverage industry has remained essential over many years. Customers’ basic needs are met due to the significant association of the foodservice with lodging facilities. People always have reasons to travel, such as education, sports, medical treatment, or leisure. Thus, they depend on foodservice firms for meals. Moreover, the industry contributes significantly to the global economy. The 2020 estimation of the global market was estimated to be seven trillion dollars (Lund et al., 2020). In addition, as customer tastes and preferences vary, increasing demands for organic foods, consumption, and sales patterns continue to be the major trends in the world’s market. Streamlined manufacturing and established cold chain departments have further contributed to market growth. The essay will describe sustainable menus, their essence, and the key emerging trends facing food and beverage firms.
A sustainable menu is essential in the food and beverage industry. A sustainable menu considers a sustainable food system in the customer’s order and preferences. The sustainable menu follows a set of requirements such as providing healthy foods and establishing environmental, economic, and social mechanisms that revolve around food. It checks on the distribution of very sustainable foods, establishing sustainable diets, and minimizing food wastage throughout the supply system. The sustainable food system ensures that food delivered is secure and nutritious for all people that it does not comprise the economic, social, and environmental bases on food generation.
Besides, the Torch Club, NYU has a good instance of a sustainable menu. The club aims at making social and environmental decisions that address all the necessities of special ceremonies and catering services. The Club aims that provide a seasonal menu that sources food locally, minimize wastage and reduce impacts on the environment. Besides, improving food and services quality levels. The firm aims at customizing sustainable menus for events of different customers. Moreover, a sustainable menu can be achieved through various sustainable practices. The Torch Club ensures bread and bakery items are of fresh supplies by reliable artisanal bakeries available locally. All cutlery is of rapidly renewable content and uses green cleaning products that have reduced impacts on human health. Besides, they use locally sourced foods with ingredients grown, harvested, and locally produced. Moreover, maintaining and respecting all the qualities, pureness, and freshness of products for consumers.
The Torch Club menu contains several sustainable dishes. Their breakfast menu has a list where you can choose low-fat foods, including cage-free scrambled eggs, naturally smoked bacon, seasonal sliced fruit, French toast, roasted heirloom Fingerling Potato hash, assorted Yogurt Loaves, and Granola. Either option is served with cage-free tofu scrambles or organic egg whites, Starbucks decaf organic Serena and Tazo organic teas. For the lunch and dinner category, they have salad and entrée selections. The dishes include artisanal bread, Jansal valley Organic olive oil, and assorted Herbal Teas. Besides, they contain signature sandwiches with salad and sandwich selections. On the beverages, they offer soy and Almond milk, Tazo Organic Teas, seasonal fruit-infused Iced Waters, among others. Moreover, the Torch Club Menu contains policies that direct consumers on the minimum number of people an order can hold, for this case, ten people. Also, they contain cancellation policies and lists all the producers and growers associated with the food and beverage company.
A sustainable menu can increase sales and revenues for the food and beverage industry. Solomon, 2020 article states that Tastewise 2020’ study claimed that an additional twenty-three percent of the Americans prefer making their decisions based on sustainability that year. The research discovered that customers were willing to pay more to implement these sustainability changes. Solomon, 2020 adds that in another study, two-thirds of customers in the States would prefer paying more money for restaurants that uphold the green restaurant practices. In addition, Solomon, 2020 claims that the environmentally friendly menu has increased and established more revenue.
Moreover, the article addresses the advantages of a sustainable menu to the food industry. Solomon, 2020 claims that it leads to reduced costs of operation. Pacific Gas and Electric’s Food Service Technology Center noted that out eighty per cent of the annual ten-billion-dollar bill of the commercial foodservice industry was wasted on inefficient cooking and store equipment. Sustainable practices would reduce operational costs for restaurants by thirty per cent. Moreover, the sustainable menu and practices reduce employee turnover, thus increasing employee retention. People would always choose to work under brands that align with personal values (Higgins-Desbiolles et al., 2019). Sustainability is one of the restaurant practices that would promote workers’ morale in providing quality services.
Moreover, a sustainable menu can attract numerous customers. Solomon, 2020 claims that according to the National Restaurant Association, the research showed that sustainability is a major area of concern in the Millennials. The survey found out that fifty-eight per cent of people would prefer restaurants that have the capabilities to offer sustainably grown, raised, and manufactured food products. Moreover, marketing opportunities broaden with sustainability as branding a restaurant as sustainable will gain its media attention and beat competitors. Besides, saving energy, minimizing wastage, and undertaking sustainable practices have greater impacts on the planet and its environment, thus promoting growth.
On the other hand, new trends have evolved in the food and beverage industries. The demand for Planet-based foods increases as consumers require suitable lifestyles. Most vegan websites such as Veganuary.com give people tips on healthy eating without affecting the tastes of foods through consumer education on nutrition and balanced diets. The vegans are discouraging the high consumption of meat and encouraging dairy-free diets. Besides, there is the need to have chicken and meatballs be made from animal cells. The discouragement of having “lab to table” products and encouraging “farm to table” meat products is visible. Besides, in the UK, vegans are avoiding animal products (Epicor, 2020). The number of vegans has increased from 150000 to three million from 2006 to 2018. Moreover, ‘flexitarians’ choose specific days to avoid meat-eating.
Consumers require locally produced foods. In Britain, climate change is of concern compared to previous years (Epicor, 2020). A fifth of consumers run to brands that support and have better sustainability visions compared to others. People still want to eat healthily and fresh ingredients. There is the need to have minimal carbon emissions that would lead to climatic changes. Moreover, these consumers want to know the sources of their meat and dairy products. customers want to be confident they are from humane farms. In 2018, sixty-five per cent of meat buyers found traceability essential. The food and beverage industries will have to highlight their meat or product source, choose suppliers with high standard animal products and embrace meat and dairy-free products.
Indian Street foods are replacing asian street food. People want a different taste of the new types of cuisines. Indian cuisine has a variety of aromatic spices, fruits, and vegetables (Schuetzendorf , 2018). Besides, they are produced in fertile regions and need high-quality chefs. They have different cooking mechanisms and utensils required in the upcoming era. Besides, people prefer smoked and seared foods. Besides, other new flavours are on-demand, such as foods from Mexico, Cuba, the Middle East, and Korea, which are gaining fame (Epicor, 2020). Social media boosts these international cuisines when people share photos during travels and dining with family. It leads to more interest in new food exploration. Additionally, fast-casual demand rises as most people want swift home deliveries, self-service stops, and virtual access. Moreover, cryptocurrency as a form of payment is becoming common. It relates to the self-order stations.
Moreover, the use of cash on operations is phasing out. The restaurants can enjoy minimal bank deposits, theft, handling errors, and increased liquidity and transparency (Schuetzendorf , 2018). Payments are becoming easier through pin-less cards payments or Apple Pay. On the other hand, embracing values and ethics increases when connecting consumers in daily operations. Customers will continue to check on the presence of transparency and ethics other than the quality of the products only. Food and beverage industries will check on their commitment to embracing their missions and visions in providing services and foods. Companies will have to check on how to embrace farming production processes. Besides, ensure minimal waste and encourage recycling of re-usable products. Moreover, zero waste initiatives have played an essential role in banning disposable products such as straws, plastic bottles and coffee cups for single use.
Grab-Go and self-service kiosks trend facilitate human mobility. Customers are not only checking on healthy snacks but also need the best fast snacks. Companies have promoted the slow cooking of traditional recipes. Over two hundred and fourteen per cent product increase in 2017 was due to mentioning slow in the description of products (Schuetzendorf, 2018). Besides, Japan has had food and beverage kiosks across its cities, increasing market opportunities. Incorporating creative and innovative design could increase kiosks’ sources of revenue. It can be achieved at a marginal distribution cost which challenges the existing brick and mortar, restaurant models. Moreover, maintaining high food hygiene levels and perspective among these kiosks will be in high demand.
Homemade products are on the rise. The government has been encouraging the establishment of start-ups where micro-entrepreneurs are trying to carry out explorations. The concepts are being implemented in the food and beverage companies using delivery arena such as Grub Hub, Deliveroo, and JustEat, among others (Schuetzendorf , 2018). Most consumers want to have wholesome foods which require minimal effort. Besides, eighty-two per cent of food demands are from households. In Britain, most households prefer shopping with delivery services. Only sixteen per cent are demanded from offices, and weekends are the busiest delivery times. Moreover, the yearly growth is expected to be at 3.7 percent. The expansion of delivery services leads to demand for more chefs with more distinct products and a wide selection of food and beverage preferences catering to all ethnic groups.
Consumers are on the look on the Instagram able foods. They want meals and drinks that seem trendy and have a visually appealing look. People want to always share their discoveries through photography, where catchy meals will win the market quickly. For instance, sparkly mermaid toast and Frappuccino establish buzzes within a night. Social media websites help ingredients to reach out to more consumers. Some years ago, consumers heard about aquafaba and sea vegetables which are becoming more common and a great source of income. Manufacturers need to keep their tracking high on social sites to promote the supply chain and prevent scarcity of ingredients. Besides, the utilization of social media in product promotion will enable the establishment of Instagram-able product photos.
In conclusion, key trends in the current food and beverage industry transition the market. Consumers are looking for Instagram-able high-quality meals. The homemade products and laxity of in-home cooking have encouraged the demand for food supplied using home delivery services. Moreover, people want to go global where they want foods and beverages from other countries, thus growing the international cuisine. Additionally, vegans are influencing people to take dairy and meat-free products. People want produce from traceable farms. Besides, restaurants want to have cashless transactions where people can use line-less cards, among other payment methods. Moreover, crypto is among the methods yet to get embraced. Grab and go kiosks have promoted the cooking of high quality and slow traditional foods which are wholesome. On the other hand, a sustainability menu is a structure that follows the sustainable food system in promoting the provision of secure foods, has economic and social importance, and is environmentally friendly as much as human health is concerned. The Torch Club restaurant menu has a sustainable menu that minimizes wastage, considers ethical policies, and provides high-quality foods. A sustainable menu attracts new customers, promotes employee retention and turnover, and increases revenue, among other advantages.
References
Antasha Solomon 2020: 13 Easy Ways to Create a Sustainable Restaurant Menu (touchbistro.com)
EPICOR (2020): Top 10 Food and Beverage Industry Trends for 2020 | Epicor UK: article on Epicor website.
Frank Schuetzendorf (2018): Top 10 Trends in the Food and Beverage Industry (ehl.edu). A blog post for Hospitality insights website.
Higgins-Desbiolles, F., Moskwa, E., & Wijesinghe, G. (2019). How sustainable is sustainable hospitality research? A review of sustainable restaurant literature from 1991 to 2015. Current Issues in Tourism, 22(13), 1551-1580.
Lund, S., Manyika, J., Woetzel, J., Barriball, E., & Krishnan, M. (2020). Risk, resilience, and rebalancing in global value chains.
Torch Club – Sustainable Menu PDF.pdf (nyu.edu)
Vegan Made Easy – A healthy plant-based lifestyle – Vegan.com
write