• Mintel’s 2026 world food and drinks predictions embrace protein-packed components, multi-sensory menu objects, and a concentrate on nostalgia and familiarity.
• Social media feeds are filled with meals and components like Japanese sandwiches, scorching honey, pistachios, and miso, showcasing the recognition of various Asian and Center Japanese cuisines, in addition to candy and spicy combos.
• Cafés are discovering it tougher to squeeze income from espresso alone, so they’re more and more turning to meals; nevertheless, they should prioritise simplicity and high quality over amount.
• Blindly following meals tendencies received’t result in success, particularly as fads like Dubai chocolate more and more fall out of style.

Espresso and meals have at all times gone hand in hand, and for a lot of café homeowners, the recipe for fulfillment lies in curating a menu that’s various but easy.

Similar to espresso, meals evolves with tendencies. Prospects in the present day anticipate not solely modern flavour combos but in addition the consolation of nostalgia. Pairing fashionable, trending creations with acquainted staples creates a balanced menu that coincides with a concentrate on high-quality espresso.

Now greater than ever, as margins run skinny, espresso store homeowners must preserve a detailed eye on their meals choices. Easy, high quality components and cautious, environment friendly preparation shall be important to future success.

Peter Dore-Smith of Kaffeine and Zsuzsa Kerekes of Madal Café talk about the meals tendencies that espresso retailers can observe in 2026.

You might also like our article on pairing meals with specialty espresso all over the world.

Espresso retailers hike costs, however margins nonetheless run skinny

Operating a espresso store in the present day is extra difficult than ever. Inexperienced espresso costs proceed to stay excessive and unstable, working prices are skyrocketing, and extra individuals are opting to brew their very own espresso at residence.

“As a result of normal unfavourable financial local weather and always rising costs, folks have much less out there earnings to spend,” says Zsuzsa, the supervisor of Madal Café in Budapest, Hungary. “They’re extra value delicate, extra targeted on price-quality ratio, and usually eat much less.”

As espresso retailers face mounting stress on their margins, many have raised their costs. Nonetheless, promoting espresso and drinks alone usually doesn’t suffice.

“It’s essential enhance your spend per head or transaction, and you may solely do that by rising your meals gross sales and providing a wider vary of merchandise,” says Peter, the founder and director of Kaffeine in London, UK.

Espresso is surprisingly unprofitable as soon as hire, operational prices, packaging, and wages are factored in. Drinks could retail at US$5, however the precise value of espresso per cup could be very little in comparison with labour bills.

Meals, in the meantime, may be marked up considerably. Choices like sandwiches and salads are cost-effective, because the components may be bought in bulk, preparation is simple, and prospects are keen to pay a premium for grab-and-go choices.

“On this local weather, a primary number of baked items isn’t sufficient incentive to draw prospects and encourage them to spend extra,” Zsuzsa says. “They will purchase related high quality objects from any grocery store or bakery at decrease costs.

“Prospects need the choice not solely to get a espresso but in addition to get pleasure from breakfast or a lightweight lunch,” she provides. “Having a artistic menu could end in a bigger common client spend and extra frequent visits.”

Dishes like breakfast toasts, do-it-yourself ferments, smoked salmon bagels, and poached eggs are basic menu objects that prospects will at all times gravitate in the direction of. 

“We now have at all times had a weekly altering lunch menu the place we alter the salads, quiche, and crammed brioche every week,” Peter explains. “Our prospects are coming for meals in addition to espresso.”

Remaining cautious when following tendencies

For the reason that rise of Instagram and TikTok, many in style meals tendencies have captured the eye of shoppers worldwide, prompting espresso retailers to include a few of them into their menu choices.

Dubai chocolate, dubbed by the Wall Road Journal because the “subsequent pumpkin spice”, is the obvious instance. The pistachio, tahini, and kataifi (or kadayif) pastry-filled chocolate bar grew to become a viral world sensation in late 2023. Its sweet-slightly savoury flavour mixture, palpable crunch, and paint-splattered look faucet into the explosive demand for multi-sensory meals experiences.

Espresso retailers are leaping on the pattern, crafting Dubai chocolate lattes, matcha drinks, and croissants that attraction to prospects searching for indulgence and luxurious.

Nonetheless, following meals tendencies that seem on social media, which frequently final only some months earlier than fading into obscurity, isn’t a sensible enterprise technique. Already inflicting world provide shortages of pistachios, the Dubai chocolate pattern is rapidly changing into overpopularised, and curiosity is prone to begin waning as extra merchandise flood the market.

“For probably the most half, social media tendencies are transient, and it’s extra necessary {that a} enterprise develops its personal set of values and follows them,” Zsuzsa says. 

Flat whites and cappuccinos served in croissants, as soon as a preferred social media pattern, are a living proof. Though visually interesting, these trending menu objects lack practicality, rendering them mere advertising gimmicks as soon as prospects have them in hand.

“Leaping on a viral pattern isn’t a good suggestion for a enterprise, as it would quickly fade away and depart you with nothing,” Peter says. 

If espresso retailers fail to ship on their promise of high-quality merchandise, they danger undermining their authenticity – a important side of specialty espresso.

“Crucial factor is to be extremely constant in your choices, the standard of your product, and with a good and affordable pricing construction so that individuals preserve coming again,” Peter provides.

Which meals tendencies ought to espresso retailers look out for in 2026?

The flexibility to maintain up with meals tendencies can set one espresso store other than one other; nevertheless, blindly following them received’t result in lasting success. As an alternative, café operators and baristas want to know which of them will work for his or her enterprise and prospects.

Trying extra broadly at how client preferences are shifting is a helpful place to begin.

“Shoppers have gotten increasingly more acutely aware relating to their well being and the influence they’ve on the surroundings,” says Zsuzsa. “Additionally they put extra emphasis on good high quality, honest commerce, and high quality components.”

The US$4.5 trillion world wellness economic system is rising twice as quick as the worldwide economic system. In keeping with Ogilvy, 73% of world shoppers thought of wellness an important ingredient of a model’s technique in 2020 – together with meals and beverage merchandise.

Whereas this rising demand has given strategy to the useful espresso market, there has additionally been a rising curiosity in high-protein, gut-friendly, and minimally processed components. Meals like cottage cheese, fat-free Greek yoghurt, and kimchi at the moment are generally seen on “FitTok” – a nook of TikTok that options exercise plans, recipes, and different fitness-related content material, which has garnered greater than 64 billion views.

However on the similar time, indulgence and familiarity haven’t disappeared. Comforting, wealthy, and decadent meals objects – equivalent to banana pudding (popularised by Magnolia Bakery in New York Metropolis), cereal milk, and birthday cake – proceed to attract in prospects, usually with a nostalgic or modern twist.

Umami-forward and spicy-sweet flavour combos are gaining reputation, drawing inspiration from various Asian and Center Japanese cuisines. Miso caramel, scorching honey, tahini, and black sesame are more and more present in baked items or integrated into savoury dishes, providing extra advanced flavour notes and tapping into globalised meals tendencies.

How espresso retailers can develop their meals menus and make a revenue

Growing a meals menu that’s each engaging and cost-efficient, whereas sustaining a balanced method, may be difficult – particularly one which units you other than opponents.

“To develop an attention-grabbing meals menu, first you want the imaginative and prescient from the homeowners and senior administration, then make use of the appropriate folks to have the ability to execute that imaginative and prescient and convey it to actuality, and proceed to assist them as they proceed to develop it,” Peter explains. 

“Simplicity is vital throughout all menus, so you must begin there and work your approach up,” he provides. 

This implies specializing in easy but high-quality components. Providing an easy toast menu, together with each candy and savory choices, may be probably the most worthwhile methods to observe meals tendencies. 

Sourcing bread from native suppliers and together with menu objects like whipped ricotta and scorching honey, almond butter and raspberry jam, and miso-braised mushrooms permits café operators to make use of easy, minimal components – protecting prices down whereas additionally elevating menus.

“Simplicity is commonly undervalued,” says Zsuzsa. “A high-quality, easy toast menu is best than having one thing too elaborate that you would be able to’t execute accurately and persistently.

“You may not fulfill each demand, however well-curated and good-quality meals choices are sufficient to get your prospects to spend extra and frequent your espresso store extra usually.”

Japanese sandos – made utilizing milk bread (or shokupan) and a wide range of easy components – have turn out to be a current viral social media pattern, additionally showing on extra grocery store cabinets.

Fillings historically embrace tamago (a mix of mashed hard-boiled eggs and Japanese mayonnaise), katsu (breaded pork or hen cutlets, often served with a slaw), and strawberry and sweetened whipped cream. Using minimal components permits espresso retailers to rapidly batch put together meals prematurely, whereas additionally providing persistently visually interesting choices that attraction to shoppers searching for selection.

Following meals tendencies ought to improve the espresso expertise, not detract from it. Easy, high-quality menu objects that faucet into in style flavour combos make sure that café operators can handle prices, draw intrigue, and supply consistency.

In the end, the objective is to encourage prospects so as to add “only one thing more” to their order, serving to espresso retailers handle their backside strains and diversify income.

Loved this? Then learn our article on how to decide on meals and snacks to your espresso store.

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