Market Trends

🏡 Orient Express is launching its first hotel, Orient Express La Minerva, in Rome by spring 2025, in Piazza della Minerva near the Pantheon. The site, Palazzo Fonseca, dates back to the 17th century and was acquired by Arsenale SpA in 2021. Architect Hugo Toro led the renovation, blending Art Déco with modern design. Historical guests include Stendhal and Pope Pius IX. The hotel features La Minerva Bar, Voliera rooftop restaurant, a ballroom and three meeting rooms.

🥗 Patatas bravas, a traditional Spanish dish, is becoming popular in the U.S. with 75% of the population familiar with it and 45% having tried it. The dish appears on 0.5% of U.S. restaurant menus, marking a 10% increase in the last four years. Its popularity is especially high among Asian and Hispanic consumers. It's commonly seen in independent and fine dining establishments, showcasing global flavors and comfort food appeal.

🏠 Archipelago's Aston Hotel & Residences to open in Madinah's Knowledge Economic City (KEC) by 2027, featuring 519 hotel rooms and 130 serviced residences. Located near Haramain High-Speed Rail Station, the development aligns with Saudi Vision 2030's Pilgrim Experience and Quality of Life Programs. Archipelago, with 55,000 rooms across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and beyond, also plans two hotels in Makkah for 2026. KEC will contribute 18,000+ hotel rooms to Madinah, supporting Saudi's tourism under Vision 2030.

🍳 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.