Food is an essential component in events and business life and catering can really set your experience apart. With consumers today being increasingly well educated when it comes to the latest innovation and ideas in food, as well as more committed to issues such as sustainability and transparency in the food chain, it’s important to be on top of the latest trends to ensure your catering hits the spot. Some of the key catering trends for 2020 include:

Eating locally

Whether it’s as a result of a desire to reduce carbon footprint or simply looking to get to know local tastes and flavours, many of us today are looking to eat more locally. This is currently being reflected as a catering trend with innovative menus designed from locally sourced ingredients becoming increasingly popular.

Convenience

Food that comes in small portions and can be grabbed and eaten while on the move represents another key catering trend for 2020. This reflects the hectic lives that many of us lead today and the need for dining options to be easy and fast. Important to note is the fact that, while convenience is key, this trend also requires standards of taste and nutritional content to be maintained.

Clean eating

Healthy food is a serious movement in the hospitality sector today, from veganism to eating more fruit and veg. Catering trends are adapting to absorb this with menus that feature high-protein, low-fat meats and fish, as well as vegetables and wholegrains becoming increasingly the norm.

Minimal food waste menus

There are two benefits to opting for reduced food waste menus for catering: minimising your own costs and improving your sustainability credentials. As well as working with local producers to reduce carbon footprint, other ways to do this include ‘nose to tail’ eating and ensuring that recycling is prioritised events.

Catering to different dietary needs

From gluten intolerance to halal or kosher requirements, catering today can require a great deal of consideration of diversity. The trend for 2020 is in providing versatile options that encourage and celebrate this diversity, making it easy for everyone to enjoy their eating experience without having to compromise to do so.

Making food the main event

Given the vast rise in the volume of Instagram posts relating to food, it’s no surprise that another key trend for 2020 is to make your catering stand out. Edible décor or DIY options – such as a taco or pizza station – are all ideas that enable catering to be a much greater part of any experience. Where this is successful it can not only generate a vast amount of positive feedback from those who ate with you but also plenty of social media visibility too.

Catering can be an event defining experience and so it’s worth investing in ensuring this fits your goals. These key trends for catering in 2020 represent a range of opportunities to better engage, whether that’s with your own staff in-house or with attendees at events you organise, by providing a truly memorable eating experience.