QR codes become defunct

This might be a controversial take, but I think we are seeing the slow death of the QR code — or at the very least, the static QR code. What began as a sanitary alternative during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly aged into a relic that adds little to the restaurant experience. Instead, QR codes will be replaced by an all-in-one in-person dining companion on your phone that knows who you are (if you’re a repeat customer), brings up the menu, allows you to place an order, add to your tab, and pay all in one spot. 

The metaverse gets “taste-o-vision”

The metaverse is supposed to blend the physical world with the virtual one in all-new ways to experience brands. But as restaurants toy with the idea of visiting restaurants in the metaverse and having the real food show up at your door, we think Mark Zuckerberg and Co. should take it one step further with the ability to actually smell and taste food in the metaverse, completely virtually. Perhaps in the next version of the Quest VR headset?

High-speed international food delivery

Delivery platforms are constantly trying to improve their quality, speed, and efficiency. So, picture this experience: ordering dinner from Paris and having it arrive to your door (in America or elsewhere) in the time it would take to deliver a pizza from around the corner. We imagine this would take some sort of teleportation technology or drones that can fly at supersonic speeds (and still keep your food temperature-controlled), so it might be a little bit out of reach for 2023.

Striving for positivity

After nearly three years of crisis-dominated headlines, I can tell you what I DON’T want to see in 2023: the words/phrases “inflation,” “inflationary pressures,” “cost pressures,” “labor pressures,” “labor shortages,” “negative outlook.” I’m sure there are more, but this is a good start. What I do want to see are words/phrases like “recovery,” “renaissance,” “thriving,” and “historically positive in every way.” I realize I may have to wait another year or so, at least for this industry’s full recovery, but a girl can dream.

Deflation

It would be great if the Federal Reserve’s activity led to a sharp and swift deceleration of inflation for the industry and, well, everyone in general. The inflation rate in 2020 was 1.2% and that’s about the only thing from 2020 that would be nice to revisit.

Pie in the sky

A few brands have experimented with three-and-four-day work weeks, and I’d like the model adopted across the entire restaurant industry because then maybe other industries, including restaurant journalism, will catch on.

The plant-based bubble will burst

Although new menu items made with plant-based meat alternatives are being added to chain menus on an almost weekly basis, and the food exhibits at this year’s National Restaurant Association show in Chicago were dominated by alternatives for beef, pork, chicken and seafood, there are simply too many players in the marketplace for most of them to survive.

Layoffs at pea-protein-focused company Beyond Meat have made headlines, as has its slumping stock price, and hype from many of the producers of animal substitutes is contrasted by off-the-record anecdotes from chain representatives that, while trial of meat analogs is high — and not just in the coastal communities where you’d expect it, but nationwide — retrial is low. Furthermore, Baum & Whiteman point out that supermarket sales of “faux meat,” as they call it, have dropped by around 10% in the past year while meat sales continue to rise.

The international food & restaurant consulting firm also argues that these items’ long ingredient lists and ultra-processed nature are a turn-off to consumers.

Moreover, chefs generally don’t like them.

Plant-based proteins aren’t going to go away, but there will likely be a massive shakeout among manufacturers.

Fried chicken burritos

Fried chicken sandwiches have enjoyed rising popularity since before the start of the pandemic, and so have burritos. Yet we rarely see the two combined, at least in the U.S. — they are popping up, usually without rice, in schnitzel-loving Central Europe. The rarity of this item in the U.S. is likely to change, and in fact it already is changing a little; 5-unit New York City-based chain Calexico has fried chicken burritos, and so does Bubbakoo’s Burritos, a chain based in Wall, N.J., that’s approaching 100 units and added regular and Nashville hot chicken varieties earlier this year. Segment leader Chipotle Mexican Grill already has deep fryers, which it uses for its tortilla chips and taco shells, meaning major equipment upgrades wouldn’t be necessary, although other operational hassles are likely, because breading and frying chicken consistently is tricky. But positive responses from consumers might make it worth the trouble. 

On the other hand, fried-chicken experts could easily get in on the action, and indeed Chick-fil-A already has breakfast burritos, and fried chicken nuggets or strips can be added to them.

Black ice

Cold coffee now outsells hot coffee at many coffeehouse chains, but of course their flavor is diluted as the ice melts. For years, clever independent chefs and beverage directors have been freezing coffee in ice-cube trays to offer iced coffee with consistent flavor. Coffee houses could start doing that too, on a larger scale, and offer it as a premium, similar to an extra shot of espresso. As an added bonus, those alluring black cubes floating in a beverage would make for eye-catching Instagram posts.

TikTok will take over the world

Literally. We will all be bowing down to President TikTok soon.

Miniature restaurants

Restaurants will become so small that we will be eating out of little, tiny dollhouse-sized restaurants that take up no real estate with food that grows once you add water.

Abundance at home

The sad desk salad is dead forever. The happy home salad is here to stay.