Menu innovation remains important in a market that still needs to encourage diners to spend as ongoing caution over spending lingers despite improvements in the wider economy.

Furthermore, consumers’ willingness to try new dishes and flavours is giving the foodservice market space to be creative when it comes to menu development. For example, regional American cuisines, elevated vegetable dishes, niche ethnic flavours and specialist products such as Asian bao are all trending at the time of writing.

The fact that a third of diners now consider themselves foodies is also creating opportunities for restaurants to use standout dishes to push peer-to-peer recommendations and marketing on digital platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.

This report looks at food flavour trends on menus in the foodservice market and developments in eating out preferences in the UK. Its aim is to explore the existing trends in menu development and look forward to what is on the horizon.

The issues of flavours on menus can be interpreted in a number of ways and can be investigated from a number of angles, however, due to the diverse nature of this subject, not all areas can be explored within the remit of this report. Therefore this report is not intended to be used as a menu-planning guide.

This report highlights key trends currently affecting the eating out market and their effects on menu development. It also explores some of the major issues affecting the direction of the eating out market in general. This report is primarily based on Mintel’s exclusive primary research of consumer attitudes and Mintel’s observations of the trends in the UK dining out market.