If there is one thing the food industry has seen in the last few years it’s major changes and shifts. Restaurant owners have had to make major changes to how they do business and all-new ways of selling food to consumers have popped up. Food trucks aren’t the big game-changer food trend anymore, now it’s meal prep delivery businesses.
The meal prep delivery business has exploded in the last few years thanks to people’s busy lives and the fact that pretty much everyone had to stay home. Meal prep delivery is pretty simple: a consumer goes to a meal provider’s website orders a full ready-made meal and can schedule it to be delivered at a later date. Meal prep businesses even allow consumers to purchase a regular order of meals that can be delivered to them throughout the week. All done just once instead of having to order by phone again and again.
But meal prep delivery isn’t the only thing the foodservice industry should look out for. Here are five food trends you should look out for in 2022:
1. Easy Food
In this day and age, people are just too tired to cook a full meal. Consumers lead busy lives working, keeping up with friends and family, and looking after their families. After all of that, having to go shopping for groceries, finding a recipe, cooking a meal, and then cleaning up after is just too much. People are just tired of food.
At least their own food. Consumers are turning more and more to convenient models of getting food while still trying to maintain a healthy diet. Some consumers have even turned to Soylent shakes; meal replacement shakes that claim to have all the nutrition a person needs.
Consumers just want someone to make the decisions for them, to make the meals for them and their families. And we can see that with the rapid emergence of food services such as meal kits, food subscription boxes, and meal prep delivery services. Consumers are turning to food industry providers to deliver them either snacks, meals with all the right ingredients that they just need to cook, or whole meals already cooked.
And these new players in the food industry are going mainstream in 2022. Meal kit companies are partnering with famous chefs, retailers are partnering with meal kit sites, and food delivery businesses are catering to every niche you can find.
Businesses providing easy food are getting bigger and thanks to their software platforms, easier to access than ever.
2. Restaurant Evolution
Over the last few years, restaurants have had to make major changes with many restaurant owners being faced with the choice to adapt or go under. Fewer and fewer people have been going to restaurants and restaurants are even facing issues with the supply chain, higher food costs, and a stressed-out labor force.
But as 2022 starts restaurants have started adapting to the new climate the foodservice industry finds itself in. Restaurants have implemented robot kitchens, ghost kitchens, smaller menus, more focus on food niches, outdoor seating, and even meal vending machines.
Many restaurants have even adapted to the easy food demand we talked about above. Many restaurant owners have added meal delivery to their business model. And with modern meal prep delivery software, such as Sprwt, it’s easy for a restaurant or even someone in their kitchen to launch a meal prep delivery business.
Expect to see many restaurants change how they do things with many even moving their business online.
3. Packaging innovations
In 2020 and 2021 consumer demand for more sustainable packaging actually dropped a little. But expect that demand to make a comeback in 2022. Gen Z is a generation that cares deeply about the future of the planet and the damage we do to nature, and they are coming into greater purchasing power in the next year.
Consumers are going to once again be looking into the damage single-use plastics cause and will be looking for alternatives such as paper straws, compostable trays, and bags, and produce sold in bulk.
4. Indoor farming
Mother nature can be fickle. How do we ensure that no bad weather, drought, or natural disaster ruins our crops? How can we give crops the optimal environment for them to grow to their biggest yield? We take them inside.
By taking agriculture indoors, farmers can perfectly control the environment their crops grow in ensuring optimum yield.
And these benefits are getting noticed with billions of dollars being invested in indoor farming. One of the people investing in indoor farming is none other than Kimbal Musk, brother to famous billionaire Elon Musk.
While the stores are stocked with a plethora of indoor-grown vegetables, it’s only a matter of time before they are. Expect to see more and more greens in grocers coming from indoor farms.
5. Mushrooms
Mushrooms are hard to describe as “trendy” especially since they’ve been a part of our diet for thousands of years. But you should expect to see them gain even more popularity with consumers this year. A quick look on social media will show a plethora of food and cooking influencers displaying the versatility of the humble mushroom. From oyster mushrooms masquerading as scallops to making vegan chicken from chicken of the woods mushrooms.
Consumer interest is growing beyond button mushrooms and criminis. Consumers are now looking for that meaty umami flavor without the meat calorie or guilt load.
In 2022, you can expect to see a whole lot of mushroom snacks and meals, from mushroom jerky to mushroom chips and mushroom tea. Mushrooms are looking to be the do-it-all food of 2022.
Wrap Up
We hope you enjoyed our list of five food trends to look out for in 2022. Whether you’re a consumer, foodie, restaurant owner, or meal prep delivery business owner, we highly suggest you keep an eye out for these trends and incorporate them into your lives/business. Don’t be left out in 2022!
If you are a restaurant owner or want to get into the foodservice business, as we mentioned above, it’s easier than ever to get into the growing meal prep delivery business. Meal prep delivery business software like Sprwt does all the hard work for you, so you can focus on creating delicious meals for your customers.
Schedule a free demo with Sprwt today to see how Sprwt can help you and your business.