In late August when New York City extended its “temporary” cap on third-party delivery fees, the city in effect created a quasi-permanent cap on fees due to the stipulations of the order. The city mandate states that the cap will remain in place until restaurants can operate at 100% indoor capacity.

With the positivity rate of coronavirus cases increasing in the city, and the rest of the country, it might be a long time before third-party delivery operators can return to standard fees in New York City or anywhere else where caps have been mandated. The fervor to keep caps in place will no doubt extend to other cities and states well into 2021.

Cities and counties that implemented temporary caps early on during the pandemic include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Clark County, which includes Las Vegas. As the restaurant industry faces a so-called “dark winter” with expanded seating restrictions, expect more cities and states to adopt fee caps. In late November, Washington state joined New Jersey in capping third-party delivery fees. Denver and Chicago also added caps in October and November.

– Nancy Luna

TikTok has gained massive popularity over the past few years, forcing chains to pay attention to the creative — and cheap — marketing tool. Teens have been posting videos about what they like and don’t like with candor, dancing to viral challenges and creating short-form comedic videos on the sub-one-minute video app, which has more than 500 million users worldwide.

TikTok star Charli D’Amelio (this teenager has over 100 million TikTok followers and is the most-followed person on the app) was already a huge Dunkin’ fan, so much so that her fans knew her favorite drink. Dunkin’ decided to build on that and name the drink after her as an LTO. Digital app downloads the day the deal launched reached a new high for the brand.

Dunkin’ also built its entire holiday campaign around the popularity of TikTok dances that exploded during quarantine, even creating its own trending dance.

Arby’s also launched an LTO after a TikTok user became well-known for purchasing a used TV that only showed the Arby’s menu. The saga to return the TV to Arby’s was well-documented and garnered millions of views.

Both brands took trends already existing on the app and added inexpensive and creative videos of their own to produce a big return. The challenge? Riding that wave of popularity before it disappears.

– Holly Petre

Fast-food chains remodel stores every five to 10 years. Some projects are massive and expensive makeovers, like the “Experience of the Future” remodels at McDonald’s Corp. Other remodels involve minor tweaks that include fresh paint and tile. Think Subway, which introduced a low-cost store refresh last year.

About six months into the pandemic, restaurant chains began unveiling new next-gen stores designs — futuristic stores with mobile drive-thru lanes, automatic doors, contactless curbside pickup and increased outdoor seating. Some prototypes eliminate dine-in seating. That’s a clear move fueled by the pandemic, which has amplified consumer demand for convenience and digital ordering options.

Big brands have already unveiled new digital-forward designs such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, Shake Shack, Taco Bell, Burger King and KFC. Expect more to follow in 2021 as limited-service chains look to expand their footprint in urban locations with express format stores.

– Nancy Luna

When Dunkin’ is selling doughnuts with icing laced with ghost peppers and cayenne that’s spicy enough to make some people’s ears ring, you know that really spicy food has truly gone mainstream.

Nashville hot chicken, which was invented by an angry woman who doused fried chicken in very spicy oil in order to punish her husband (she failed; he loved it), is one of the trendiest menu items out there, appearing on pizza and sandwiches, in tacos and more. Chile crisp, a Chinese condiment of oil with crunchy bits of chile, shallot and garlic, has exploded onto the retail scene — another sign that consumers are no longer messing around when they say they want their food to be spicy.

Younger Americans’ growing penchant for spicy food is well documented, as is the fact that, as people get older, their taste buds weaken. Aging Baby Boomers’ desire to excite their numbed palates, combined with their grandchildren’s sense of culinary adventure, will pave the way for food that really brings the heat.

– Bret Thorn

If 2020 was the year of virtual brands, 2021 will be the year of virtual food halls that completely turn the classic IRL model on its head.

Food halls in their former state became impossible in 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic closing indoor dining and discouraging consumers from crowding into large spaces. Still, food halls continue to open with a focus on delivery, giving guests the opportunity to interact with multiple brands at once.

These virtual food halls contain multiple restaurants and cuisines in one building that can be combined. On their smartphones, for example, customers can construct a meal with traditional Chinese spring rolls for an appetizer, shrimp scampi for an entrée and a side of collard greens — all from different concepts — in one delivery order.

In 2021, expect to see virtual food hall expansion, including new locations coming from Spin, virtual brand powerhouse C3, Crave Hospitality Group, and Click.

– Holly Petre

These treats are low in cost, high in comfort and well-suited to difficult times. They have virtually universal appeal and they cross cultural borders, because nearly every cuisine has some kind of fried dough.

Make them into firm fried sticks, possibly with cinnamon-laced chocolate sauce, and you have Latin churros. Make them longer and fluffier, and serve them with condensed milk, and you have Chinese youtiao. They’re nearly infinitely customizable to suit whatever theme you might be going for.

We’ve already seen restaurants that you wouldn’t expect to serve doughnuts put them on the menu, like Japanese beef bowl concept Yoshinoya, and Einstein Bros. Bagels, which, in an effort to stay onbrand, is billing them as “Party Bagels.”

No matter what you call them, you can expect to see more doughnuts on menus across the country in 2021.

– Bret Thorn

The pandemic accelerated pre-existing restaurant technology trends such as online ordering and integrated third-party delivery for many independent restaurants that had long ignored their digital footprint. With dine-in allowed in many U.S. jurisdictions, contactless ordering and payment solutions have become crucial tools for restaurants and diners. Federal, state and local health authorities recommend giving diners these touch-free tools to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.

But these solutions are not temporary. Diners are adapting to the frictionless payments made by using QR codes and SMS links to process checks using mobile devices. No more waiting for a distracted server to process your credit card.

There’s no turning back. This pandemic trend is here to stay. It will likely expand to include loyalty programs that allow restaurant owners to obtain valuable consumer data, while guests earn rewards. For limited-service brands, facial recognition technology can be used for touchless payments at kiosks.

– Nancy Luna

While plant-based burgers that realistically “bleed” elevated the status of meatless proteins in the restaurant industry over the past few years, we predict that 2021 will see phase 2 of the plant-based protein movement: Restaurants selling plant-based entrees that are less processed with simpler, fewer ingredients.

The Impossible Burger and Beyond Burger both tout 18+ ingredients, and, in comparison, meat-alternative industry newcomer Daring introduced a plant-based chicken in 2019 with approximately five ingredients. The company launched to U.S. markets in March 2020 and is currently working with Just Salad as a protein that can be added to any of their bowls and salads.

Their goal? To introduce “clean, sustainable and tasty meat alternatives” to menus and homes nationwide, Daring says.

And they’re not the only one growing beyond the two big plant alternative industry leaders.

Domino’s said in January they would be testing plantbased protein toppings, and McDonald’s is patenting its own meat alternative, which it has dubbed McPlant. It is expected to be introduced to select markets next year across multiple menu platforms including chicken, burgers and breakfast sandwiches.

– Joanna Fantozzi

The food of West Africa remains a mystery to many Americans — or at least they think it’s a mystery: Many Black Americans’ ancestors came from this region stretching from Mauritania to Nigeria during the slave trade, and they brought their foodways with them.

For example, the region’s slow-roasted meats became the barbecue of the American South, and gumbo and jambalaya are likely descendants of jollof rice.

But there are plenty of dishes and flavors that didn’t make the Atlantic crossing, and we’re likely to learn more about them in the year ahead as Black Americans further explore their culinary roots, and other Americans — their awareness heightened in the face of the ongoing social justice movement — are more open to learning about those roots, too.

West African cuisines have a wide variety of meatless items, and much of it is gluten free. They also have a growing number of charismatic chefs promoting the food, including Simileoluwa Adebajo of Èkó Kitchen in San Francisco, Kwame Onwuachi, formerly of Kith/Kin in Washington, D.C., and Kavachi Ukegbu of Safari in Houston.

– Bret Thorn

Even before the pandemic, restaurants were creating new brands available for delivery-only, with only a digital presence to mark their existence.

That trend has accelerated big time in 2020 and will gain strength in 2021 as operators innovate and find ways to grab the attention of consumers. With both chains and independents tapping their underutilized kitchens to grow new delivery-only menus, the virtual restaurant brand space could become the next growth segment within the industry.

More specialists are jumping into the game, from Denver-based Nextbite (HotBox By Wiz) to Virtual Dining Concepts (Tyga Bites) with celebrity influencers behind them. Ghost kitchen operators like Kitchen United and Zuul continue to grow, giving chains space to move into new markets.

Most of the large casual-dining chains are leaning into virtual brands, including Brinker International (It’s Just Wings), Applebee’s (Neighborhood Wings), Bloomin’ Brands Inc. (Tender Shack) and Smokey Bones (The Wing Experience). Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar recently launched the virtual Jolene’s Wings & Beer out of its kitchens, and high-end chef Michael Mina debuted Tokyo Hot Chicken out of his Bourbon Steak restaurant in Los Angeles and the Crave Collective food hall in Boise, Idaho.

For now, it’s mostly chicken wings but more brands are on the horizon.

– Lisa Jennings