Market Trends

🍳 Eleanor Bardon, 21, former psychology student at University of Leeds, shifts career to hospitality by joining English Lakes Hotels Culinary Academy's apprenticeship at Wild Boar Estate near Windermere. The training program partners with Kendal College offering Level 2 Commis Chef and Level 3 Chef de Partie qualifications. Bardon enjoys the team environment and living on the estate's 72-acre woodland, engaging in hiking and photography. English Lakes Hotels is hiring for various positions.

🍺 Launched in April, Restaurant Hospitality's podcast 'Menu Talk' collaborates with Restaurant Business, featuring weekly episodes with senior editors Bret Thorn and Pat Cobe. Based in New York City, over 30 episodes have aired, discussing foodie adventures, industry events like Menu Directions and the James Beard Awards, and interviewing chefs such as Pepe Moncayo. Listeners can subscribe for new episodes every Tuesday throughout 2025.

🍽 Rake, after an incubation at The Gun in Hackney, starts a long-term residency at The Compton Arms, Highbury on January 9, 2025. Three chefs with 30 years combined experience, formerly of Quo Vadis and BRAT, focus on British cookery, whole beast butchery, and sustainable Cornish fish. The menu features British classics with a twist like the braised squid beef and ale pie. On Arsenal match days, a Cumberland sausage hotdog is served. Sundays offer roasts with traditional sides and British desserts like Treacle tart.

💸 Quick-service restaurants (QSRs) have been losing traffic for over a year due to high menu prices, with inflation in the limited-service sector outpacing the general Consumer Price Index. The 2024 QSR Reputation Ranking by Chatmeter shows customer service issues on the rise: mistakes in orders (+7%), negative staff attitudes (+22%), and manager behavior (+15%). Slow service complaints increased by 8.5%, particularly from digital customers, with "online" mentioned in 24.5% of reviews and "mobile" in 52%. Despite a 19% increase in customer service complaints, pricing issues are still significant, with "overpriced" mentions up by 43% year-over-year. Chick-fil-A leads in overall reputation, followed by Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, and Arby’s, while KFC, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Jimmy John’s, and Subway rank lowest out of 25. Chatmeter analyzed Google Reviews of 100 locations per restaurant using AI sentiment analysis.

🍝 Mall visits, including indoor malls, open-air shopping centers, and outlet malls, are on the rise, with Q1 2024 visits to open-air centers surpassing 2019 levels for the first time post-pandemic. Data from Yelp shows a 7% growth in restaurant concepts in malls from 2019 to 2024, with bubble tea store numbers shooting up by 113%. Top mall food brands by consumer interest include Cheesecake Factory, Din Tai Fung, and BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse. Other growing food categories are waffles (up 77%), vegan food (54%), and Filipino food (36%).

🥘 Chef Jay Kumar of Lore in Brooklyn, N.Y., creates classic dosas made from a fermented rice and lentil batter with fenugreek, offering a vegan, gluten-free, high-protein meal. Dosas, with a 15% increase on appetizer menus, are on nearly 1% of menus. Lore serves masala dosas and uttapam with a Swiss-inspired mushroom ragout. Tapori, opening in Washington D.C. in January, will feature dosas with innovative fillings like spiced potato and cheese, and curried crab. Dosas are now popular in both South and North India and in Pakistan.

💸 Kantar’s Brand Inclusion Index 2024 reveals that nearly 80% of people globally, especially Gen Z, Millennials, LGBTQ+, and those with disabilities, consider a brand’s diversity and inclusion efforts when making purchases. High-growth, underserved populations prioritize these values even more, with 89% in emerging economies versus 71% in developed markets. By 2050, 1 in 4 individuals will be African, highlighting the need for brands to adapt to a diversifying customer base in 2025. - Valeria Piaggio & Ndeye Diagne.

🏖 Over the past year, the tourism industry embraced changes like combating overtourism, integrating technology, shorter getaways, and lifestyle shifts for extended travel. Travel trends predicted for 2024 have become common, despite economic challenges and artificial intelligence advancements. The industry continues to adapt to societal trends and environmental concerns.

💸 Debunking common misconceptions about Revenue Management Systems (RMS), key facts reveal that: 1) perceived high costs are offset by increased revenue and efficiency, 2) modern RMS offer advanced features like real-time pricing and integration with Property Management Systems, 3) implementation is quick with user-friendly interfaces, 4) RMS benefits small properties by optimizing pricing, 5) they require minimal expert oversight, 6) travelers accept dynamic pricing, 7) training is minimal and support is available, 8) RMS reduces staff workload. RMS empowers all property sizes in a competitive market.