Catering & Hospitality Trends To Watch In 2025
The food service/hospitality industry is forever changing and evolving thanks to customer preferences and taste trends. The New Year brings the opportunity for change and levelling up, perfect for incorporating new ideas and designs into your establishment. With so many emerging trends for the restaurant industry in 2025, there’s plenty to choose from. This blog will take you through some of the more popular ideas and suggest easy implementations so you stay on trend and in the know.
Environmentally Friendly Focus
As with the past few years, there’s a renewed focus on environmentally friendly products. 7 in 10 customers say that sustainability is an important factor in dining choices and 71% of consumers agree that they try to lead an environmentally friendly lifestyle, according to Bidfood. Food sourcing is key for a lot of restaurants and sourcing your meat and vegetables from local suppliers makes a lasting impression on customers. This also helps your local community by returning investment to smaller farms, shops and suppliers.
For a quicker more instantly recognisable change, you can switch out all your disposables for biodegradable options. Vegware is a leading brand in the biodegradable market and we stock a large selection of their products. They are the global specialist in plant-based compostable foodservice packaging including cups, cutlery, straws and takeaway containers. Their catering disposables are made from plants, not plastic and they use renewable, lower carbon or recycled materials and can all be commercially composted with food waste. Vegware can be commercially composted with food waste where available. Their products break down in 12 weeks in an industrial composting facility turning into soil which is suitable for growing in.
If you serve both hot and cold drinks, Dispo has a wide range of compostable and biodegradable cups. Dispo lids are among the heaviest and strongest available in Europe. The triple-wall ripple cup provides the best heat insulation as the unique design includes a corrugated paper wrap which offers increased hand comfort and heat insulation.
Vegan & Vegetarian Options
Vegan and Vegetarian lifestyles have been on the rise for years and 2025 is no exception. Veganuary is a campaign that encourages people to try out the vegan lifestyle for the month of January and last year over 25 million people worldwide tried vegan in January. With these dietary customs showing no signs of slowing down, you want to make sure your business is equipped to support these customers.
Stickers and skewers are simple ways of labelling food in buffets, for example at breakfast or dessert. We have vegan skewers, vegan stickers and vegetarian stickers to clearly label which foods are suitable for different dietary needs. Where table service is used we also offer a wait paid that has options to highlight allergens and dietary needs, making it easy to clearly communicate different food needs such as vegan and vegetarian lifestyles. Purple utensils, such as tongs, can also be used for vegan food service as this colour is saved for allergen needs.
Outdoor Dining
Al Fresco, social yards, beer gardens, whatever you want to call it, outdoor dining is in. 61% of consumers want a memorable experience when it comes to dining (according to Bidfood) and outdoor dining seems to be on the rise. After being a mandatory solution during the pandemic years, customers are now choosing to enjoy their food and drink in the fresh air. Elluminati and Modern Restaurant Management are just a few of the several organisations that highlight outdoor dining in their 2025 predictions.
If your guests are eating outside, you want to make sure they can actually see their food to appreciate it. This is where table lamps are a necessity and we have plenty of wireless styles to suit every establishment. These lamps have a usage period of 5-40 hours and with short recharging times, they’re a perfect solution for outdoor dining, where plug-in lamps are ineffective. Most of them have adjustable brightness levels as well, allowing customers to choose the light that best reflects their dining mood. Similarly, outdoor candles are a more rustic alternative, Bolsiuis Twilight Candles are wind-resistant and ideal for outdoor use.
Interactive Food Stations
An interesting new trend is interactive food stations. Customers love engaging with their food in any way they can, so this allows you to be super creative with your arrangement. From buffets to build-your-own pasta bars, the options are limitless! We have plenty of buffet equipment to assemble a buffet that best suits your food and restaurant, from platters and bowls to chafing dishes to keep food warm. Stand risers are a fantastic way to elevate food presentation and add an interesting height dynamic to otherwise flat buffets.
Gastronorm pans are versatile and high-quality, a great choice for salad bars, dessert buffets and build-your-own stations. Whether you require deep pans for soups and stews, or shallow pans for salads and sandwiches, we have something to meet your unique needs. Gastonorm pans (sometimes referred to as GN pans) come in different sizes, take a look at our handy guide to understand the different sizes. These pans make it super easy to present large and smaller dishes in a buffet-like style, allowing customers to choose for themselves what they want to eat.
Don’t forget the accessories! Having the perfect presentation is meaningless unless customers can easily serve themselves. Our buffet utensils come in a range of materials and sizes, easily providing you with everything you need to serve food efficiently and with ease. Not only are our utensils practical, but they’re also stylish which is key for buffets when presentation is key.
Group Dining
After a few years of smaller dinners out being the focus, it seems that larger group meals are back in fashion. OpenTable (a frequently used table reservation service) data shows a 13% increase in dining for parties of six or more, indicating a shift in the pattern for group dining. Bidfood backs this up, with 48% of consumers saying they like the idea of sharing an experience with friends and family.
To accommodate this, why not stock up on platters and larger crockery pieces? Churchill Super Vitrified Stonecast has been a popular choice for restaurants for years and they offer a multitude of platters in almost every colour imaginable. Canvas Grey Plates are great for fresh ingredients to stand out, whereas Patina Rust Red Chefs Plates are best for sharing spicy dishes thanks to the splash of deep red.
Group dining also indicates larger food orders, starters are often ordered along with mains and desserts. Serving boards can help to break up the courses, using an Acacia Wood board for starters versus crockery for the mains gives a visual representation of this separation. Get creative with your presentation, paddle boards are fantastic for cheese and crackers and large platters are perfect for smaller desserts such as cake slices or individual pastries.
Stay On Trend With Cooksmill
There are so many ways to update and refresh your restaurant for 2025, so why not give it a go? Cooksmill has absolutely everything you need for your catering location and with speedy free delivery on orders over £60, start shopping today and bring in the New Year with an exciting bang!
