The quality and flavor of the food should be a restaurant's top priority, but the atmosphere and experience are also important to many people when choosing where to eat. In 2023, catering will try to "recapture" an audience that wants to go out more often, but isn't willing to do so if the experience of its dinners doesn't far exceed that of eating the same good food, perhaps with delivery, a domicile.
Dinners in 2023: we make them strange
Un new study conducted by marketing firm ADM found that people are increasingly interested in trying different flavors and experiences when it comes to food. the 74% of the global community want to try a variety of flavors while the 63% he stated that he likes to experiment with different recipes.
These findings suggest that people are looking for 'fun and playful places'. A report of Yelp confirms this trend, showing an increase in searches for unusual dining experiences. For example? Well, underwater restaurants (+263% compared to last year) and restaurants with representations such as 'dinners with murder' and the like (+109%).
More reports? I got it! This on food trends Mintel it even suggests the topics for themed dinners. Generation Z and Generation Alpha, in particular, will be inspired by the recent relaunch of thespace exploration. The food and drink market will be inspired, I read, by all things space themed – how? Maybe. Zero gravity dinners don't seem the best to me, especially for digestion.
New culinary experiences: there will be a learning curve
Remember "dinners in the dark"? I am a type of experience born in the early 90s in France. They started from an assumption: by eliminating one of the senses (in this case sight) all the others are enhanced, and the taste of food is better appreciated.
Does this make sense. But what if I told you that among the next trends there are dinners where our senses will not savor what they are seeing? Not deprivation of meaning, but distortion. The James Beard Foundation hosted an "augmented dinner" in New York. Let me summarize brutally: people with Oculus viewers eating surrounded by pink pineapples, blue cherries and flying steaks, in a sonorous and narrative atmosphere.
I wonder if they remember the taste of what they ate. But they will certainly remember how much they paid: 2000 dollars (but they can repeat the virtual experience with different scenarios. I ask: at this point, let's eat at home).
I imagine that time will also clear these modalities, which in Japan are already offering less expensive alternatives (like dining on the plane, but without taking a plane). On the other hand, underwater dinners also seemed like nonsense, but are now popular in many aquariums around the world.
One wonders why they never thought of it before.
