January 2, 2024
With so many foodservice trends emerging every year, it can be challenging to determine which ones to focus on. However, keeping up with the latest food trends can allow you to respond to your customer's demands in real time and offer innovative solutions to industry challenges.
Here are three foodservice trends leading experts foresee in 2024 and how we’re incorporating them into our healthcare facilities.
1. Healthy Ageing
Mintel Food & Drink shared in their annual Global Food and Drink Trends Report that Generation X (Gen X), currently in their mid-40s to late 50s, are looking toward nutrition to help them live well now and in the future.
Nourished, HHS’ new nutrition education program, aims to empower our patients to make healthy choices and create nutritious meals at home. Departing from rigid dietary norms, Nourished encourages a collaborative learning experience, inviting patients, doctors, care teams, and visitors to learn together. This transformative approach breaks down barriers and alleviates the apprehension often associated with dietary adjustments. Participants leave with a new perspective, realizing that embracing healthy eating can be an exciting journey of exploration.
The team has already received great feedback for the first theme, Blended, a series of smoothie recipes focusing on cardiac wellness and heart-healthy foods. HHS plans to bring Nourished to more of our facilities and address other recurring health issues faced by post-treatment patients. We believe Nourished will become a catalyst for change, helping to break the cycle of readmission due to nutrition-related complications.
2. Simplifying Nutrition
Consumers are pushing the food industry to keep nutrition labels simple and limit highly processed offerings. The Whole Foods Market’s Trend Council is already seeing whole ingredients replace complex meat alternatives, with Mintel noting that this trend has been on their watch since 2016 and is going nowhere soon.
We created Global Bowls, one of our culinary initiatives, to combine diverse flavors with fresh, whole foods. Customers can build their own bowls by choosing from six main components: base, protein (including vegan options), vegetables, sauce, crunch, and garnish. We also partnered with The Humane Society of the United States to create Sustainabowls, a plant-based line of Global Bowls with a deeper focus on sustainability.
3. Utilizing Technology
Datassential, a food and beverage market research and intelligence platform, and Mintel predict that technology and robots will play a significant role in meeting consumers’ rising demand for easy access to high-quality, nutritious food.
HHS recently began providing micro markets at some of our locations, bringing healthy options to diners outside of kitchen hours. The high-tech kiosk powered by Byte technology is stocked daily with fresh foods prepared onsite in the kitchen. The kiosk’s tablet menu provides information on different items, including a filter option by meal type or allergen, so that users can make an informed decision at any time.
Looking back on 2023, a year where we still feel the effects of the pandemic, much of the industry faced staffing challenges, and information availability continued to soar, it’s not surprising that consumers are looking for convenience and ways to bolster their health in the new year.
Staying on top of food service trends empowers us to continue providing our customers with creative and forward-thinking solutions while never compromising our standards for delicious and nourishing menu selections.
Download our culinary services booklet to learn more about our food and nutrition program for hospitals.
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