10 Restaurant Trends You'll See In 2025
As the year barrels to a rapid close, the restaurant industry is looking ahead and trying to read its crystal ball. Restaurants and food businesses of all sizes and shapes must assess whether they are positioned for success or failure in 2025.
Certain aspects of dining out will never go out of style. It's safe to say virtually anyone and everyone expects (or at least hopes for) a satisfying, tasty meal upon walking into a restaurant. Attentive, friendly service is another integral aspect of any thriving restaurant's foundation. Beyond those two pillars of dining hospitality, however, the restaurant business is largely characterized by change. From singular mom-and-pop diners to international billion-dollar restaurant chains, eateries of all kinds must constantly keep their figurative finger on the pulse of emerging consumer sentiments and new food trends.
In 2024, we saw a major resurgence in the Caesar salad craze, as well as a growing demand for limoncello. Value was another major factor for restaurant chains this year, as countless fast food and casual dining brands introduced new value meals and promotions in pursuit of budget-conscious customers.
So what's in store for 2025 across America's restaurants? While there's no culinary oracle capable of foreseeing next year's menus with absolute certainty, we can take a look at some well-informed predictions from a few of the most respected and well-known organizations and companies involved in the restaurant and food businesses today. Here are 10 restaurant trends you'll see in 2025.
Hot honey
The National Restaurant Association's 2025 What's Hot Culinary Forecast points to hot honey as a major menu game-changer going into next year. A simple yet supremely tasty combination of honey and chili peppers, hot honey is capable of adding an unmistakable mix of sweet and spicy to virtually any dish. Hot honey is already popping up on a wide variety of dishes ranging from ice cream to fried chicken and pizza, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down next year.
Burnaway cakes
Heading out for a special meal to celebrate your birthday? Be prepared for an especially fiery dessert experience. Burnaway cakes took social media by storm last year, and pioneering crowd-sourced reviews company Yelp predicts they'll continue to be a major trend across dining rooms and restaurants in 2025, as searches for local bakeries and eateries offering these new cakes increased by an astounding 12,276% this year. But what exactly is a burnaway cake anyway? These treats are topped with wafer paper that, when lit, burns away in a safe and fun manner to reveal a hidden image or message.
East Asian flavors
Regional East Asian fare is poised for a major 2025 as modern diners look for a balance between flavorful, adventurous dishes and fresh, all-natural ingredients. Per the National Restaurant Association's 2025 predictions, both Korean and Vietnamese cuisine rank among the 10 top expected restaurant trends next year. While Korean recipes (kimchi, bibimbap) are often characterized by spicy or umami-rich flavors, Vietnamese cuisine (pho, mì Quảng) tends to be a bit lighter on the stomach and prioritize vegetables.
Mushrooms
Fungus is hardly an appetizing subject in most cases, but mushrooms are having something of a breakout menu moment heading into 2025. Functional mushrooms (or mushrooms supposedly offering health benefits like stress relief, improved cognition, etc) came in at number two on the The National Restaurant Association's list of top 5 ingredients for 2025.
Meanwhile, Yelp searches for "mushroom drink" have jumped by 501% compared to last year, and searches for mushroom coffee (up 87%) and mushroom tea (up 10%) have followed similar trajectories.
A major reason for this fungal resurgence is the mushroom's versatility. Functional mushrooms can be used as meat substitutes for entrees, added to desserts as an unexpected topping, and have even begun to be incorporated into various coffee concoctions and other beverages. Many of these drinks claim to provide a euphoric buzz similar to alcohol without all of the subsequent health drawbacks.
Cold brew beverages
The National Restaurant Association predicts that cold-brewed coffees and teas will be the second biggest overall restaurant trend of next year and the top beverage-specific trend. They offer customers the caffeine they crave combined with a much milder, less bitter flavor profile.
Plenty of people love a hot cup of coffee, but many more are turned off by the abrasive taste of scorching java. Cold brew is a more accessible way to enjoy a smooth, energizing drink minus the acerbic taste. The inclusion of "pearls" (boba), or gel-covered spheres that explode with any number of flavors (vanilla, mango, etc), is an exceedingly common ingredient in cold brew beverages as well.
'Newstalgia'
Food can be an incredible source of comfort at the end of a long day. Meanwhile, nostalgia for fond memories of moments (and meals) long past can also provide solace during a trying time. Newstalgia blends both of those warm feelings together by offering a new take on an old classic. Many restaurants nowadays are paying homage to the past while also breaking new culinary ground.
For example, White Castle recently brought back the 1921 slider (introduced over a century ago), albeit with new ingredients like ghost pepper cheese. Taco Bell is also experimenting with an entire "nostalgic menu" right now featuring long discontinued items from decades past, and McDonald's now rolls out a fresh take on its iconic Halloween Boo Buckets (first introduced in the 1980s) every year. Major food conglomerate Nestlé told Food & Wine they believe this 'newstalgia' trend is here to stay in 2025.
Fermented/pickled foods
Fermentation is intended to preserve foods on a utilitarian level, but this process can also add an incredible amount of flavor. And that's not even mentioning the health benefits.
Named as the number seven emerging overall food trend for 2025 by the National Restaurant Association, fermented and pickled foods are finding their way to more and more menus as of late. Why? Whether we're talking pickled veggies, kimchi, or kombucha, fermented food and drink offer a blend of intense flavors, potentially benefit the gut, and promote sustainability. That checks off three major boxes among today's diners when looking for a bite to eat.
Food & beverage flights
No, we're not talking about airline food. 'Flights' at a restaurant refer to a tasting board made up of small portions of numerous dishes or beverages. A local craft beer flight may offer five small glasses filled with various pilsners, lagers, etc. Alternatively, a pasta flight would include different pasta dishes.
While flights have traditionally been used to sample spirits like beer and wine, the National Restaurant Association points out that more experimental, cuisine-centric flights (baked potatoes, deviled eggs) are appearing more and more on menus all over the country. According to Yelp, searches for egg flights (496%) and cookie flights (384%) increased dramatically this year.
No alcohol, no problem
Low-alcohol and entirely alcohol-free beverages are more in demand than ever before as consumers continue to prioritize their health. The National Restaurant Association points to low-alcohol spritzes as a major trend heading into 2025, as these light, bubbly beverages, primarily made up of prosecco, bitters, and sparkling water, offer serious refreshment without the risk of intoxication after a few sips. They also say to look out for flights made up of entirely alcohol-free or low-alcohol beer or wine pairings.
Ordering a cocktail with no alcohol may have raised eyebrows years ago, but cocktail menus nowadays routinely offer low-alcohol or virgin options for most drinks. Any serious cocktail menu in 2025 is going to include plenty of options for the temperate patron, according to restaurant guide Resy.
Sustainability, local food sourcing
Success in the restaurant industry in 2025 looks to be dependent on more than just tasty food and great service. Named as the number one overall trend set to influence where people decide to eat by the National Restaurant Association, commitment to sustainability and local food sourcing should be a top priority for all restaurants heading into the new year.
There's no way around it: Today's diners prefer to see locally sourced ingredients on the menu and the prioritization of waste-reducing strategies intended to preserve the environment and support nearby farms.
Notably, sustainability even ranked above value in the National Restaurant Association's list of macro trends for 2025. This suggests people are generally willing to pay more at a restaurant that has instituted ethical, sustainable business practices over a cheaper option that ignores this critical component of the restaurant business today.
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