After several hard years, foodservice businesses are enjoying a renewed sense of optimism. Post-pandemic numbers are impressive, projecting an industry growth of more than $185 billion dollars over the next four years.

As the owner or manager of a fast casual restaurant, you're already welcoming customers back. They're happy to be dining out again, but their habits as consumers continue to evolve.

That means staying flexible while you rework the budget and the menu. It's time to fine-tune your strategies for maintaining customer loyalty and filling the dining room with new guests.

Let's analyze how the latest fast casual industry trends are impacting business.

As a professional chef, your focus on menu design goes beyond fonts and colors. It’s a canvas for organizing and presenting your best dishes to customers while satisfying their tastes. Pleasing consumer palates keeps the dining room full, and vegan menu ideas play an important role in keeping those guests happy.

Regardless of our differences in dietary choices, we all enjoy healthy recipes that put great taste on the plate. The smoky flavor of barbecue is a savory example of a mainstay that’s finally all-inclusive. It’s not meat-centric anymore.

If it were up to them, healthy kids’ menu ideas would probably include lots of burgers, fries and generous sides of mac and cheese. There’s no denying the tasty satisfaction that comes from enjoying classic comfort foods. Still, children need healthy menu options.

Salads aren’t just for lunch and dinner anymore. Home and restaurant chefs are serving healthy salads for breakfast. It’s not about giving up eggs. It’s about discovering a great way to start the day with a nutritious, plant-based morning meal that powers you through lunch and beyond.

When you think about how to make your catering business successful, you have specific goals in mind: making customers happy, building a solid client base and showing a profit. Consider the power of fresh produce to help you hit those important targets.

Ensuring hospital patient satisfaction is a responsibility shared by every member of the healthcare industry. In your role as a healthcare food management professional, you recognize the importance of upgrading old attitudes toward in-house dining from cafeteria settings to menu options. These five healthcare food service trends represent welcome and exciting changes across the industry.

Consumers set the pace with their evolving appetites for the latest trendy foods. All of us in the foodservice industry track their preferences and make our predictions for the year. Let’s narrow that focus to one season with a look at fall food trends for 2025.