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More flavor! Bold choices with big impacts

They say that fortune favors the bold, and fortune is not alone in the current culinary world. Today's consumers are looking for bold, new, and exciting flavors, and the restaurant industry is happy to oblige. From fine dining to fast food, bold menu options are popping up throughout the restaurant industry. Today, let's look at some of the features of this trend and how to harness some of this interest in profitable menu items and LTOs at your LBE.

It doesn't seem that long ago that items like pretzel buns and salted caramel were the new flavor trends of the year, which seem tame by today's standards. Over the last decade, consumers' desire for more unique flavors, global cuisines, and out-of-the-box flavor combinations has steadily increased. As foodie culture has grown, its followers have become more sophisticated and adventurous. And like many other trends, this one was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 lockdowns prompted a home cooking boom and a desire to experiment with new and unusual flavors. According to the Seattle Times, spice giant McCormick & Co. reported a 35% increase in sales of their spices in the 13 weeks ending August 30, 2020. We filled our all too plentiful free time experimenting in the kitchen and emerged from our lockdown cocoons eager for new experiences and bold new flavors. Or as Suzy Badaracco, president of Culinary Tides, a trend foresight company in Fort Lauderdale, put it, after COVID, "Consumers have a higher set point of fear."

Who are these new, fearless flavor seekers? Not surprisingly, this trend is being followed by younger diners. According to a recent Mintel survey, over 90% of Gen Z and Millennials, the demographic most likely to visit an LBE, are seeking out new food and beverage flavors, compared with just 36% of the total population. Social media plays a significant part in the discovery of new flavors. According to the same Mintel survey, over 84% of consumers who actively seek out new flavors cited social media as their primary information source. TikTok has incredibly influenced young adults' flavor choices, spawning the viral "swicy" trend we have written about before here and, more recently, the rise of dill pickle-flavored menu options.

Spicy foods are especially popular, with 84% of consumers eating spicy foods at least sometimes, according to Daymon research, and 43% regularly eating spicy foods. That figure increases to 61% for Gen Z diners. Spicy foods are everywhere. Hot honey, a part of the "swicy" trend, is up 128% on menus over the past four years, according to Datssentials' Menu Trends, and Euromonitor found that 20% of new product launches in 2023 had a spicy flavor component. Extra heat is popping up in unexpected places, such as Campbell's ghost pepper chicken soup and Carnation's jalapeno-flavored evaporated milk.

Global food profiles have become increasingly prevalent and don't show any signs of slowing down. Asian, Latin, and Hispanic cuisines are especially popular due to their spicy and unfamiliar flavors. Consumers are looking for unique and authentic global cuisine, not the standard fare usually found in the average Chinese or Mexican restaurant. Think Korean BBQ, Vietnamese Bahn Mi, and Mexican mangonada, a sweet and spicy mix of mango sorbet, Tajin, and chamoy.

Other global cuisines may soon be arriving on tables near you. According to Maeve Webster, president of Menu Matters, we should expect to see more interest and awareness of Scandinavian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European cuisines.

The beverage industry is one of the easiest places to see new flavor trends. A drink is a lower-risk purchase, where many consumers are more comfortable trying something different. Many beverages are jumping on the global food trend by incorporating flavors like lychee, yuzu, ube, and matcha. Florals and botanicals such as lavender, basil, tamarind, and rosemary are also quite popular. In fact, Starbucks incorporates two of these flavors in their iced lavender cream oat milk matcha latte, one of their LTOs for spring 2025. The fact that it's pale lavender and spring green layers make it very instragramable is an added bonus.

And remember that dill pickle trend I mentioned earlier? Pickle-flavored cocktails are enjoying their briny moment in the sun with drinks such as Picklebacks (a shot of whiskey followed by a shot of pickle juice), pickle-infused martinis that replace olive brine with pickle juice, and pickle-y versions of other classics such as margaritas and bloody Marys, Or you could just pick up a bottle of pickle-flavored vodka and make your own creation. And if pickle juice drinks aren't adventurous enough for you, you can always try out Doritos X Empirical, a distilled spirit featuring Doritos nacho cheese flavor.

We often think of trends as the search for something new and different, but not all flavor trends are forward-looking. According to Mintel, 55% of consumers would purchase an LTO with nostalgic ingredients. Nostalgia is trending as a remedy for the increased anxiety people are feeling in their present-day lives. For older adults, nostalgic foods remind them of the carefree days of their childhood. For younger generations, nostalgic food provides them a "retro" experience, a slice of life from what they perceive as a simpler time. These vintage foods are often reimagined in a more sophisticated form, such as gourmet whoopie pies and Hostess inspired snack cakes, cocktails inspired by Gushers or Capri Sun, or handcrafted "cereal milk" ice cream made with cereals like Fruity Pebbles or Fruit Loops. Another nostalgia-driven trend is that of the school cafeteria lunch menu with such items as sloppy joes, tater tots, and, of course, those rectangular pizza slices. Like their snack cake counterparts, these generally include a modern upgrade, such as artisanal flatbread pizza crust and brisket or plant-based protein instead of "mystery meat." Serve them up on a cafeteria style tray for an extra shot of nostalgia.

The easiest way to infuse your menu with some trendy, bold flavor is by introducing a limited-time offering (LTO). LTOs allow you to test out new menu items and be more daring than you might be with your core menu. You can get a feel of what your guests respond to and adjust additional menu items accordingly. In addition, LTOs help keep your menu fresh, which can help lure in new customers and prevent repeat customers from becoming bored. Additions could be as simple as hot honey brushed on your chicken sandwich or a breakfast cereal-themed cocktail.

The bottom line

Bold new flavors are driving restaurant visits and, in turn, visits to LBEs. By experimenting with bold new flavors, you can stand out and keep your menu fresh and relevant. Mike Kostyo, the vice president of Menu Matters, gives this advice for leveraging bold and interesting flavors to draw in your customers - "Stop playing it safe."

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