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Hospitality trend predictions often talk about how close we are to eating insect salad, with permission of grasshoppers, or bars being run by ultra-efficient robots. We do not doubt that all this, presented in the most cutting-edge fairs and used in many restaurants in Tokyo, will come to our lives. But we like to talk about things that are closer to home, more implementable, and that excite us more, to be honest.
The Bar
n fact, when making a first list of ideas, the first thing that came to mind was the proliferation of new bars in 2023, which we expect to continue this year. The customer is somewhat tired of the lack of improvisation that the trendy restaurant forces you to do. The idea of “let’s go down and have a bite to eat”, or “let’s meet at this place, and from there we’ll see”, there are many nostalgic people who want it back, and that is what we get from more informal businesses -where reservations are not normally accepted- and where much depends on the ability to find a place at the bar or the desire to queue (a trend that may take shape in Spain in 2024). However, this does not mean that we can’t eat incredibly well, asCasa Canito, Los 33, or Bar Trafalgar, in Madrid; Bar Mistela in Valencia or El Maravillas and Colmado Wilmot in Barcelona.
The food industry floods the rest of the sectors
We are especially excited to see how gastronomy transcends its industry: retail brands, whether luxury, food, or even toys, diversify their businesses, create experiences, and add value to their brands through the hospitality industry. Cafés by Zara or Aime Leon Doré, restaurants of major brands such as Real Madrid’s Uno hamburger restaurant or the Blue Box of Tiffany’s jewelry store led Gucci Ostería de Massimo Bottura or Ralphs by Ralph Lauren.
Also pop-ups like the Malibu Beach Barbie Café in Chicago and Nueva York r Chanel’s Lucky Chance Diner in Brooklyn, or brand takeovers in beach clubs this summer! (trend alert) like Fendi at the Puente Romano Hotel in Marbella, Louis Vuitton at Zuma in Mykonos or Dolce&Gabanna at Casa Amor Saint Tropez.
Doing things differently
We believe that the trend is to go out of the trend, to break some barriers, and not to open just another hamburger restaurant, even though for some it will obviously be a good business. Our country offers many opportunities because we are eager to learn about concepts that we see abroad and that have not yet arrived, or to be really creative and give a twist to business as CasaPei has done with its coffee-dumplings duo, Persimmon’s and its Georgian cocktail bar, Maizajo‘s taqueria and tortilleria of creole corn in Mexico, or Bao‘s charming restaurants in London.
We want vegetables
The vegetable world always appears in trend lists but is never reflected in restaurant menus. We know that animal protein is delicious and tasty, but there are people doing wonders with cabbage, radishes, celery, or artichokes. Just look at Haramboure‘s dishes (oh, that cabbage terrine or the new confit cauliflower) or Clara‘s green beans in Barcelona. In addition, it allows us to lower the costs of raw materials and the PVP to get lower average tickets (trend, watch out) so that the customer can repeat without fear.
We like the merchandising (different) and the packaged product of the restaurants.
The visionary Javier Bonet has done it impeccably with his Niños Héroes-designed Galería Comercial, the new café that is sweeping Los Angeles, La La Land Kind Café, has it right and the merchandising is very protogonistic in its spaces. Also, Elena Reygadas, Mexico’s most popular chef and another queue generator, has a store where you can get a candelabra or a jam. The nice thing is that every time you spread it on your toast, you remember that meal: isn’t that the best way to build customer loyalty?
Old recipes
Traditional cuisine is intermingled with the apparently simple and coexists with the increasingly marked disappearance of tasting menus in use: there is a search for the cuisine of all life, with which we can often innovate by recovering old dishes that are wonderful and that many have never tried, such as the stew of beans, pheasant and trumpet of the dead of the new Varra restaurant in Madrid. The Omar and the whole La Ancha group are clear that drinking from “the old” is synonymous with success even if it is the most contemporary restaurant in Madrid.
Omakase vs Tasting Menu
The diner, many times, to eat a perolo and not hundreds of dishes, or to choose what he eats, even if it is haute cuisine, as they impeccably do at Desde 1911. We really like the “Trust the Chef” menu model that Nakeima has been doing for so long, or that works great at the Llama Inn in Peruvian. Of course, the diner has the baton to say “enough, more, or I want to repeat, please”.
Pre-made cocktails and drinks with low alcoholic content
On the one hand, something that until recently might have seemed disingenuous, but on reflection is much better: we want our negronis to come in a bottle that has been prepared in advance of service, and knowing that this gives precision to the preparation of the recipe. Plus when it comes to serving it’s almost prettier (see A Bar with Shapes for a Name), and faster. In drinking, there is a world to discover in kombuchas, with 1-2% alcohol, Ama Brewery as a national example that is triumphing abroad, and Low ABV (low alcohol content) cocktails, as a formula for drinking in moderation.
A restaurant is a business
At the operational level, we believe that data analytics for business decision making is now accessible to everyone. There can be no excuse for not having a profit and loss statement, menu engineering, or a well-assembled CRM.
El año de los proveedores
Is it our feeling or is it real that at many tables of non-specialists people talk about the person behind the product we consume? Discarlux meat, Hola Coffee‘s specialty coffee, JC Mackintosh‘s bluefin tuna, Familia Hevilla‘s tomatoes, Puchero‘s chocolate, or Cobardes y Gallinas‘ eggs, are protagonists in menus, communication, and dishes. Will the reality show of livestock farmers come in 2024? In the meantime, as our friends at Zearreta say, people are going to see, and live, the farms where it all happens. Trend.
Honesty, brought to transparency, and mixed with customer training.
We have to be frank, as in France ;), where they now force restaurants to mark which dishes have been prepared in the restaurant and which have not, and we believe that this frankness can be intermingled with an explanation, to the customer who wants it, of how restaurants work. How much it costs for a dish to reach the table, what is really the fifth range or what is involved in a decoration as beautiful as that of Kol in London, which even has a section on its website so you can see how many artisans it works with.
But, without a doubt, what we expect to be the big trend of 2024 is love
We expect good vibes in restaurants, to be a good businessman, a good customer, a good waiter or a good critic/influencer. This is one of the great pleasures that exist in the world. Understanding each other’s work, being understanding, dialoguing, forgiving, thanking and helping must be in fashion. In short, respect. The customer has to understand that behind a service, a dish, or a cool restaurant there is a lot of work. And those of us who work in this sector (which in Anglo-Saxon language is the hospitality business, a very literal thing) have to remember that we work serving, which, as our friend Nino Redruello says, can be VERY nice. The hotelier has to make the diner feel at home; and the diner has to relax and remember that he goes to restaurants to enjoy himself.