The restaurant and hospitality industry is fast moving and has an ever changing landscape. Trends come and go, some are good and some are silly gimmicks that need to be forgotten.

We have picked out some industry trends that we hope stay and grow.

Wines from Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia. These countries represent uniqueness and high quality for a reasonable price. Here are a few names to look out for; Zorah / Armenia, Kozlovic / Croatia, Ktima Gerovassiliov / Greece.

Sophisticated children’s menus. Taking your children out for lunch or dinner? Forget chicken nuggets and French fries. Whilst dishes like burgers and fries aren’t going away any time soon, children’s pallets, just like their parents pallets, have become more sophisticated over the years, in addition to this, parents are more conscientious about what they’re feeding their children. Good job too. Surprisingly J.D Wetherspoons children’s menus are amongst the best in the U.K.

Sustainability. Numerous scientific studies have highlighted the impact our diets have on the environment. The restaurant industry is slowly starting to take notice. Here we list some of the U.K restaurants that are committed to sustainability and seasonality; The Pig, Pensford, 2016 sustainable restaurant of the year winner “Poco” Bristol, and The Ginger Peanut.

Hyper regional cuisine or hyper local are real buzz words at the moment, and fit well with the sustainable restaurant ethos. The benefits of hyper regional food are as follows: locally grown ingredients travel less miles and they reach the consumer quicker, therefore creating a smaller carbon footprint and the produce is more likely to be fresher and more nutritious. The downside to hyper regional cuisine is the expense of the ingredients, but great quality produce comes at a cost.

Designing a well-engineered menu is an important part of any food and drink operation. A well-designed menu can increase sales for any restaurant.

Here are some of most common menu design mistakes we see.

Too many menu items.

Having too many menu items can be overwhelming for diners, making it difficult for them to scan the menu, which leads to diners taking longer to order. Large menus also lack focus and can create confusion around the identity of a restaurant. The other problems with having too large a menu are as follows; 1 The need for more stock which will create more wastage, this will have a negative impact on a restaurants profits. 2 Labour costs will be higher because a restaurant will need more kitchen staff doing more hours which will result in higher wage bills. 3 It takes longer to produce food when you have less multiple orders of the same items being made at the same time; it also takes longer for front of house staff to input menu items into an EPOS system, meaning a restaurant will not be able to serve as many diners in that given period of time.

Poor design and layout.

Restaurant menus should be clear and readable. Using the wrong font style, colour and having long descriptions can make it difficult for diners to scan a menu, and can also give the impression a restaurant lacks style and sophistication. Use short, concise and accurate descriptions.

Some restaurant operators worry too much about being everything to all people, this doesn't work in the long run. Smaller menus are more efficient and more profitable!

A restaurant menu is a reflection of a brands identity and it's values. If menus are worn and stained, a restaurant will appear to be cheap, dirty and old and will give a negative first impression. Always make sure menus are in excellent condition.

Another blog on menu design will be posted in the future.