December 31, 2025 • 33 mins
Join Paul Barron and Cherryh Cansler as they sit down with industry expert Suzy Badaracco from Culinary Tides to forecast the biggest restaurant trends for 2026. This year-end episode explores how Gen Z is reshaping dining expectations, the AI versus hospitality debate, why comfort food isn't making a comeback despite economic pressures, and the rise of mood-based menus and subscription dining services. Discover insights on anti-viral marketing, the importance of "vibe" over speed, and why off-premise dining is becoming more experiential than ever.
#RestaurantTrends #FastCasual #FoodIndustry
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Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
#RestaurantTrends #FastCasual #FoodIndustry
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/fast-casual-nation--3598490/support.
Get Your Podcast Now! Are you a hospitality or restaurant industry leader looking to amplify your voice and establish yourself as a thought leader? Look no further than SavorFM, the premier podcast platform designed exclusively for hospitality visionaries like you. Take the next step in your industry leadership journey – visit https://www.savor.fm/
Capital & Advisory: Are you a fast-casual restaurant startup or a technology innovator in the food service industry? Don't miss out on the opportunity to tap into decades of expertise. Reach out to Savor Capital & Advisory now to explore how their seasoned professionals can propel your business forward. Discover if you're eligible to leverage our unparalleled knowledge in food service branding and technology and take your venture to new heights.
Don't wait – amplify your voice or supercharge your startup's growth today with Savor's ecosystem of industry-leading platforms and advisory services. Visit https://www.savor.fm/capital-advisory
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Back here on the Fast Casual Nation podcast, the one
that has started it all, and of course joining me
is miss share Candler. How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I am doing fabulously for our last podcast of the year.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
It is, it is, It is here on December sixteenth,
as we record this, of course goes live the following week,
which will be the week before Christmas, and then we
will go dark into the night before we re zoom
in twenty twenty six. And of course we've got a
lot of features that we're going to be doing in
(00:33):
twenty twenty six, lots of trends that we'll be picking
up in January, a lot of new guests, is going
to be a lot of stuff, so stick around for that.
Today is of course going to be a different one,
and that is going to be talking about the trends
for twenty twenty six and what that might look like.
And this is overall restaurant trends. So we have an
expert joining us today, so we're looking at both restaurant
(00:56):
menu and food trends, but also just in general. So
stick around, we'll be right back. My name is Paul Baron.
(01:18):
As the early pioneer in fast casual, I've seen the
industry evolve from just a few operators to the most
sought after segment by consumers around the world. Now we're
planning to shape its future. Tap into decades of my
expertise identifying the emerging brands and tech winners in the
space saber capital, we'll be fueling the next generation of
(01:42):
fast casual innovation. All right, here we go. We are
back here on the Fast Casual Nation podcast. Cheryl. Let's
just jump right into it. A couple of points that
you shared with me in the past was some of
the growth in the area of food trends, and not
only food trends, but the connection to some of these
(02:04):
new demographics. What are you seeing right now?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, I think it's interesting and then we're gonna we're
gonna talk with Susie about this in just a few minutes.
But young people aren't drinking as much as us old people,
so I think that is definitely changing.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, they're healthier, you know. I mean when they do drink,
it's like fancy craft cocktails. They might have one instead
of you know, seven five, So uh.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, seven okay, jeez, okay.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I think that's that's going to be a big change.
For the whole restaurant industry and the beverage industry as well.
You know, we've seen fast casual brands, those that do
ad cocktails get to hire check spin and it is
kind of fun. But that's bringing in mocktails now too,
So there's you know, these gen z kids are happy
to spend money on mocktails with We've seen the dirty
(02:56):
soda trends in this article that you're about to pull
up from our guest today, Susie is a little fun,
kind of playful way of talking about you know, the
martinis are out. Yeah they're not totally out, but people
are consuming them in a different way.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Well, listen, I stopped drinking several years ago, so I
can attest to this, and it wasn't you know, for me,
it wasn't an issue. It was just, you know, I thought, gosh,
you know, why do I even do it? You know,
because I'm not really a big fan of alcohol. For
me personally, I like bourbon, but even that was getting
(03:34):
to the point it was like, you know, it's too
much work. You had to go find it. Then, you know,
all these bourbon collectors. One of my best friends, he's
a big bourbon aficionado, but to me, it just wasn't
that enticing. And then, of course then I started reading
all of the bad things about alcohol that happened to
your body as I started to research it, and now, oh,
(03:57):
this is crazy. Well, so maybe this trend is maybe
these gen Z kids are much smarter than we think they.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I mean, they're much smarter than us in a lot
of ways. I think this is probably just one of them.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, just one of the issues. Well, we're going to
get into the twenty twenty six trends and what that's
going to look like, both from a food side of
things menu and maybe some dining habits as well. So
we want to bring in Susie about Arocco, who is
coming in from Culinary Tides. Susie, how are you good?
(04:30):
How are you excellent? Excellent? Welcome into the podcast. So
this is your first time on the show too, right,
we haven't had her before, have we?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
No?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
No for this first time? Awesome? Well, we will definitely
make you to never want to come back. Let's get
into it a little bit about kind of what we're
seeing right now. If you look at this whole idea
around value and let's talk about value in general, because
(04:59):
this is one of the issues that the industry is
facing right now, price point pressure on the spending pressure
on the consumer. Now we have a new maybe really
a new innovation around you know, desperate day parts which
are spread out all through the day. Snacking is bigger.
What are you seeing around the value contradiction that is
(05:20):
playing into the market right now.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Experience doesn't disappear, it's kind of moved into the consumer's home.
So when the so if you're talking about gen Z
with value, they will pay for the experience. Yeah, so
they're not necessarily shopping for the price, like how cheap
can it be? Because they will justify if they think
(05:44):
it's valuable. They'll justify paying for it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
If they justify experience. Does that reduce their frequency?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
No, because remember that generation also doesn't. They're young enough
where they don't have other costs that older generations have, Right,
they may not have kids, they don't have a house payment, right,
so they can they're using their money differently because they
don't have the same overhead that the older generation have.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Well, they have one big overhead and that is you
know about ninety percent inflation that the older generation didn't have, Right,
So that cost has kind of been moved from you know,
those kind of things over to real cost, which is
of course hitting the market, which I think is the
you know, the issue we're talking about is that price
is a big problem right now. Share are you seeing
(06:31):
or continuing to see price being taken by the brands
right now as we go into the end of the year.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I think that they took price already a lot this year,
and I don't think I'm not seeing them taking price
right now. I think they can see that inflation is
crazy and people are mad, and I think they're trying
to figure out ways to offer more value for the
same price.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
And also gen Z doesn't want cheap food. They want
reassurance before they spend.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Do you think that's good for fast casual or do
you feel like that because we're seeing some of that
and even in the QSR in the casual dining space.
Where do you think is the sweet spot for gen
Z right now?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
The sweet spots for like where they're buying or.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Where they're dining. Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
So much distinguishing between like QSR as fast casuals or
even grocery food service. They don't want they'll pay more
but only if they feel smart about the choice. So
they're not necessarily shopping for what like where they're going
like versus fast casual. They want to go where they
feel smart about what they're choosing.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Have you seen that Burger King meal deal thing with
SpongeBob right now? It's like eighteen dollars or something, but
you get a whole bunch of food. And so, I mean,
as soon as that came out, my niece was like,
we got to go, you know, and she's taking the
pictures and it was her money, you know. I was like,
I could not. I don't want to spend it eighteen
dollars at Burger King for one person, but it was
(07:59):
her money. Like you said earlier, Susie, she doesn't have
any other overhead. I mean, I pay for everything except
for her fast food habit. So yeah, you can think
about it this way.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Dining is a social currency. It's not just a meal.
So if it feels intentional, shareable, customizable, they will spend
on it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right, And then it's an opportunity for her to post
on social you know, so get attention that way too.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, they're not gen z isn't cheap, they're just risk averse.
They will not buy if they feel there's a risk.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So you get cheesy bacon tots, a burger is that
shake and then like a pie of some sort.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, And then it's some kind of toy or something.
And she's fourteen and she still was excited about the
little toy thing that came with it.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Interesting, Well, there you go, mister Crabs, cheesy bacon tots.
They're going after the kids. They're going after the kids.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's always the kids. The kids are the gateway drug.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Well, and we see more of this right now, especially
as a lot of these QSR brands are trying to
impede on fast casual, which is kind of the blend
that is happening. One thing we're going to be doing
here on this show is we're going to be crossing
over into a lot of other categories that will be
centered around the fast casual mindset, the psychographic versus just
(09:20):
the category, because we are seeing this consumer diverge into
casual dining and also into QSR as you just witnessed
right there with what's going on, Let's talk about the
speed versus experienced dilemma, because speed is still an issue.
Susie when you think about just performance. QSR is winning
(09:41):
most of the time there on drive through, Fast Casual
is trying to get under eight minutes on delivery to
the counter. Do you think that matters right now? For
a consumer?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Gen Z doesn't hate waiting, they hate not knowing. There's
a difference. So if they understand what happening, they they
are willing to wait, so they want like clear time promises.
They want you know, separate lanes so they feel like
they're moving forward. So speed and vibe aren't opposites because
(10:14):
there's two things they are looking for when they go out.
Ability for speed might be one, but the vibe of
the weather. So what's happening in different moments. So speed
matters when hunger is the focus, but vibe matters when
dining is social or identity driven. So if they're going
for vibe, they're not looking for speed necessarily.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Right now, twenty five percent choose off premise specifically because
of the vibe. Is lacking the vibe, they will taste
the vibe. What is the vibe?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Just the emotion, the feeling, what is the overall experience?
So it's not about the food, it's about the atmosphere.
So gen z Cancils delivery quickly because time equals control.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I feel like I'm back in the ninth.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Yeah, it feels like a lot for them. So if
there's no hide, there's no reason to stay.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
They're out of here, bab.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
I mean that's that's so they'll eat at home, they'll
eat it, go to the friend's house, wherever they're going.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But when we eat Chipotle a lot, and they never
the teenagers never want to eat and they want to
take it. They want to pick it up and take.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Because the vibe is no good.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
They want to and they exactly, I'm going to go
next time I'm in Chippotle, I'm just gonna in the line.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'm going to just start asking what do you guys
think about the vibe in here? Yeah, they're probably going
to go, dude, what's this? What's this dude talking to before?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Crazy guy in here talking about the vibe?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Like, Yeah, if the if the room doesn't give them
something to feel, they'll take the food and go.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
All right. So let's talk about when you think, especially
around this whole area around speed price. Uh, because right
now it is kind of a contradiction both on the value,
contradiction of what you get versus because we've had several
CEOs talk about this whole price can We just had
the smash Burgers on last week talking about that very tall.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Speaking of price and value, have you seen what Outbock's
doing right now? No, get me down, you go, okay,
I Outback Steakhouse. I just read about this yesterday. If
you go dine in, So you go down dine in,
and then for just ten dollars extra, you can take
home a second fully cooked entree with a side to
take home for the next day's lunch. So you go
in there and get your steak and then for ten bucks.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
That's a smart move. Oh yeah, that's smart. I do
that in restaurants anyway, you know, kind of if we
go to a restaurant, I'll just order an extra dinner
and throw it in there. I know it's a little pricey,
but it's better than a lot of these meal box
things that if you think about the average slag, I
use factor seventy five, no pun, but factor seventy five's
(12:51):
it's like thirty five dollars a meal. You know, by
the time you get shipping and everything in and I'm like,
I never eat a shout.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Back, and I'm like, I never eat there. I haven't
eaten out Back in like ten years. But I'm like, okay,
we're going to do that, and I'll get our ten
dollars take home meals for the next day.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Boom, there you go. So and then you can probably
just add a little bit of something to it, and
you've got a nice little steak. Oh that's steak.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Look, yeah you get you get a steak and a
side or a chicken and a side for ten bucks,
and you can order it like on table side like
I think they have like the QR codes. Now there
are those ziosk things, so you can.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'll see three course. I like that one. I'll see
three course and look at that burger. Oh my lord,
have you seen this?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
That looks amazing?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Whoa, whoa, whoa, this is crazy my Okay, that's going
to go head to head with Tom Ryan. Yeah, he
was talking about he was talking about that last week,
you know, because we were getting into the whole idea
around burgers, kind of replacing the the idea of meals
and going into more of a culinary component. Interesting. I
(13:56):
like this, Well, okay, I don't know if that'll make
me go to outback, but I might go over there
just to explore it, to see what's up. What would
you say right now for predictions in this area of
value and speed and even in the essence of maybe
how brands are reaching these consumers. What do you think
(14:18):
is a good prediction for next year, Susie? For brands,
I think.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Restaurants are going to stop chasing gen z as a
monolith and start designing.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Kind of dual systems. So one system's optimized for speed
and certainty they're not.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Sitting there wondering. The other one would be optimized for
social presence emotional payoff.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Oh okay, that's interesting that you say that, because I
have a prediction brewing around this topic that is the
rise of the anti viral marketing anti yes, yeah, so yeah,
that's limitings social presence, you know, creating more exclusives, you know,
(15:03):
you had to be there kind of thing, you know,
to make it, you know, because that really creates a
pent up demand, especially if you can just get it
to go viral via word of mouth and you not
necessarily create trying to create viral moments, which is a
big problem right now in the industry. Everybody's chasing that
viral moment exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Consumers want to discover restaurants. They don't want to be
marketed to yep. Yeah, they want to find it more
or share.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Have you seen anybody that's doing things like that right
now where they're limiting their social exposure. Not yet.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I haven't seen that at all. I think it's everybody's
still chasing. But all right, we're herded here. First, Paul's
prediction of twenty.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Two, the prediction for twenty twenty six. I'm going on
record for that one. Susie's got one in there. We're
going to come back to this time next year and
see who's right. Let's get into the takeover section here,
because this is of course gets into AI pretty much
AI everything. I mean, I saw that there was an
(16:07):
AI toilet the other night, not in a restaurant brand,
but an AI toilet.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Now, okay, I need some more context, Like.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
It's a smart toilet. Is when you go for you
that the lighting and it creates a new you know,
puts a nice little fresher in the air. Have you
seen these?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I hope that there's like some music and some mood lighting.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I don't got mood lighting. It's the whole thing. It's
like an experience. It creates an experience for the bathroom.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I feel like there's some things that AI does not
need to touch, and this is one of them.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
What do you what are you expecting this year, Susie.
When you look at AI in general.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
From the consumer's point of view, AI cannot replace hospitality.
What it does is it removes clutters, so hospitality can
show up. So as long as brands keep that in mind,
they cannot replace the human connection. And that's what that's
what consumers are looking for.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Do you think that really or are you just saying
that because this is the hospitality industry. They're trying to
protect themselves because if without hospitality they have nothing.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Now, I haven't seen any research that shows that they're
leaning into AI for that reason. Like it's very convenience,
it is in the background or removes cluk, but they're
not wanting to inn they want to interact with the
human interesting at all points. This showing up not just
the food industry, shows up in all industries. Consumers don't
want to they want to have a human touch point.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I'm just thinking point I got to push back on
that because this was a statement that was made often
in two thousand and seven, eight and nine, when the
iPhone was introduced and people were saying, yeah, this is
nobody's going to use this for a device to interact
with your brand. They don't want to use that. They
(18:00):
don't you know, the technology. Don't worry about it. You know,
they told me this so many times, you know, these
restaurant leaders and CEOs. I'm like, no, this is going
to change every way that you interface to a consumer.
I even wrote that in the book, as I said,
this is the cat you guys need to understand. This
is the next evolution. So I don't know, I just
(18:21):
think AI is just the next iPhone. You know, it's
just the next tech that's going to be absorbed and
they're going to figure out ways to use it.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, think of it this way. Bots handle transactions, humans
handle moments. What are consumers looking for? They are looking
for moments, just like I talked about.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
With Okay guys, you guys, wait, I think you're both
pretty I think you're both right. So it's okay. So
I think that gen z especially want to use those
kiosks in their phones. But the second there is an
issue there's got to be a human there to help
them and make them feel are.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You kidding me? I look for no human. I know
no human. I know this human doesn't even know what
they're doing. I need somebody.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
If you think about going, if you go to Walmart
or whatever, even in those checkouts and Target and it's
like sometimes that crap doesn't work, and it's like the
second there it's installed, I'm looking around, going there better
be a human coming right over here. If I'm buying
wine and I got to show a human my ID
and there's like the light comes on, so the human
will come over. I'm like, it's got to be asap,
or why the heck am I using this checkout self
(19:27):
checkout anything.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
I think that's old old school thinking. I think it's
it's that's done. Those days are gone, those days are.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I feel like if the tech is perfect, yes, maybe,
but where the tech is still not perfect, there's even
to the time.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I think it just needs to be pretty good. Yeah,
and it's going to outperform. I don't know. I have
a real question as to whether this will truly start
to displace hospitality jobs. And I think at scale, just
the AI models that we continue to see and you know,
we're watching this in a lot of different brands right now,
and I'm hearing this from a lot of CEOs, is
(20:04):
they are planning more jobs going to these tools, much
more jobs going to these tools, because they understand labor
is one of the biggest issues. And that's question. I
always ask, what about hospitality, you know, and they're like,
what about profit?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
And I'm like, okay, they're not watching consumer behavioral research
because the winners will use AI as an invisible infrastructure,
not as a front stage replacement.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
We are going to find out. We're going to find
out next year. We're going to find out, Susie, if
AI starts to invent hospitality equations.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Here's my prediction. Next year, at this time, we are
going to be having the exact same conversation exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I disagree.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
It's going to be like, oh, is it going to
take away blah blah blah and take away jobs and
here's the bites on and here's why it is. And
we're still going to be doing the same exact convo.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I think technology is going to become more ambient. It's
always on, but it's rarely noticed.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Whoa I don't know about that. I noticed those iPhones
pretty heavily.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I well, if you think about it, if it works well,
it should be rarely noticed. I should just be part
of your DNA. You just go in and order and
if it's not, if it doesn't mess up, then you
barely notice it.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Okay, show me one, Just give me one example of that.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
The brands that will win won't showcase tech. They'll showcase
how it makes the guests feel. That's what the focus
should be on, is how the guests feels.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I don't know about this. I'm thinking LCD sign as.
They're showcasing that all over the place. The kiosk are
out in front like on some you know, Grand Carnival pad.
Then you've got all this interface stuff that's happening in
the drive through. It's like they want you to know
that they're in this tech industry. I don't know. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
But you can't lose sight of the food or then
you're so it's got to be a balance.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
If you don't have guests, doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Well, I mean, this could be one of those eras, ladies.
This could be one of those eras where you know
it's an old industry trying to hold on to old
ideas and they just won't let go, and then the
ideas go past them and some other business model creates
something else. You know, I'm concerned about that with the
restaurant industry.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Well what do we do then, because we got to
have the tech. But you also, I do think you
still have people still want to feel connected.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Well, I mean, you look at I think the gen
Z has already kind of given you a little bit
of a you know, kind of a forethought on how
they are thinking about food occasions. They're much fewer in
terms of setting down for a meal, you know, they
go to a completely different model snacking variations of how
(22:58):
they choose. I don't know. I think if this continues
at this pace, you know, food is going to become
a byproduct of life instead of a focus, which is
what it has been over the last thirty years. It's
been a focus of the gen zs and the boomers.
I don't know if millennials, well millennials too, but gen
Z and jen or excuse me, gen X and gen Z.
(23:21):
I think those are the ones that'll be interesting to
find them moving into the next phase. So, all right,
what is your prediction. I think we made a few here,
but any others that you would say in terms of
where AI and tech might take us next year.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
I think the best restaurant tech is the kind that
guests don't realize they're using.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I don't know one right now, So yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Do you have an example, because I mean, if I'm
not Mike McDonald using the kiosk, I know I'm using
the kiosk, isn't it or it's just so inherent it
doesn't matter, Like when I go to Panera, I go
straight to the chaos of the customer.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Oh, okay, I see what you mean. It's ok.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Just to an end.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
It's again, it's taking the noise out of getting to
the food. It's like, Okay, here's how I ordered. You're
getting to the food faster, but it's not interfering with
the experience.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
They want to take a seamless that's.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
A possibility for sure. All right, Well, let's get into
the next section of twenty twenty six trends that could
be happening, That is the menu revolution. What that might
look like? Tell us what is the menu revolution? Susie?
Is there any hot points that you feel these are
the ones that's going to hit.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Well, we're still not going to be eating comfort food
where it's still going to be.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
No, oh god, no, absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
No comfort Okay, if we start eating comfort food, bury
your head in the sand, because we're absolutely in a
hard recession.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
We're basically in a hard recession. So why aren't we
eating comfort foods?
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Have you seen the stock for McDonald's.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
I can tell you by we're not eating it. Okay, Okay,
So we've talked about this before. COVID is really what
changed things. So before COVID, if we were in the
financial status we're in right now, before COVID, like twenty
nineteen to four this is happening, we would absolutely be
in comfort food. The reason we're not is because when
(25:19):
we went through COVID for a couple of years, it
raised our fear level set point much higher across the
whole world. So we're not as panic we don't get
as panicked as easily anymore.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
This could really play into a lot of categories because
I think, you know, we talked about this with Tom
last week and many others who've kind of been going
this direction. What was your thought on that?
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, I thought I thought it was interesting what Susie
was saying about how you know we have it takes
a lot more to get us a panic, and when
we don't eat comfort food really until you know, you
get in your jammi's and you it's sat and you
eat your mac and cheese, and we're not doing that,
We're still still going forth. So I think the bulls
and the protein and those kinds of things are still
still quite popular.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I have a big prediction for twenty six in this
category what would be yours.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I think that we are going to get more to
comfort food and big huge burgers and those kinds of
foods are going to be back in sooner than later.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
The thing I'm watching and you know, we get a
chance to talk to a lot of brands because we're
always shopping deals, you know, so people are looking for
money to grow their businesses. I always come in and
look at them. And one area that I was introduced
to and I started to do more research on this
was mood based menus. And the concept is pretty straightforward.
(26:39):
It's like stress relief, energy focused sleep. It's already being
done in what we've seen in the supplement side of
the business. And then a lot of these products that
have been growing companies like ag one verso many of
those who are creating, you know, scientific products that are
building around that. Maybe we see that coming in the
(27:02):
pre what we'll see in the menu section for twenty
twenty six. So that's my prediction. Look for mood based menus.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I definitely could see that you already have like Tropical
Smoothie Cafe and Smoothie King doing those kinds of mood
based offerings. And with everybody being on GLP one, I
know that you know, we've talked about how snacking has
gotten so much more popular over the past year or two.
I think the snacking is going to be even more
because when you're on that drug, you have to eat
(27:31):
a lot. You're just not hungry exactly smaller portions.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah, definitely. Last question I wanted to hit on in
terms of the predictions for next year, and that is
the deliverying off premise dining transformation that might or might
not take place. We had the rise of ghost kitchens.
Over the last several years, we've seen kind of a
whole scenario around the experience economy has gone home and
(27:55):
now you have third party aggregator dominance, which is where
mainly what you've got is gen Z's kind of using
a lot of these apps as almost their crave app.
You know, like my crave app is going to be
this one. My crave app is going to be that one.
Anything that you're predicting around third party for this year
for twenty twenty six, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
If it's necessarily a third party, but I do think
the delivery and carry out trends is going to get
more is going to get even more experiential. We've we
talked about, you know, Chipotle doing their meal for four
to six people where you can build your own. We
had Gray's Craze on several weeks ago and they talked
about the shortcoutery trend and you know people bringing those
(28:39):
home and having parties. So I think it's going to
definitely be You're going to have to up your game
when it comes to catering and out home dining to
win because there's just a lot of competition out there.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, here's my prediction for this category, and that is
by end of next year, we'll start to see subscription
dining services. And what I mean by that is you're
going to pay a flaf fee you know, let's say
one hundred bucks a month ending on the restaurant, you know,
or a network of restaurants, because it could be casual dining,
(29:10):
and you'll start to see AI optimization on the variety
and value of what you can get access to, so
it won't be unlimited to the menu, and then think,
you know, think of it almost like Netflix for dining,
you know, so look for that.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I like that. I think that's a great cool idea.
I don't know if I personally would like that, because
then I would be stressed about making sure that I
got my money my descriptions.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Do you have?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
How many subscriptions do I have? You know? Did I
get my did I get my burrito this time? So
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I have AMC for movies. That's an experiential Okay, that's
that's a subscription that I pay monthly on and you
get so many free movies most of the time, I
don't even use them. That's the thing. Okay, right with
the half priced popcorn year round, AMC did so you
get half priced poper. I think they're doing a brilliant
a job on marketing this, and that'll be something that
(30:03):
we haven't seen in food, and I think we will
for next year.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
You're then like the coffee subscriptions like that Panera did
the you know sweet Green that a subscription for a minute.
I don't know if Sweet Green is still doing that
subscription thing that they did. They tested it like a
year ago. I think.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Yeah, eventually the convenience factor starts to create the infrequency
of it, you know, and you're still paying for it.
So there is now with AI, I think you could
see if AI models could be applied to this with
the kind of menus and things that you could make
available within it and figure out where the break point is,
you know, because there is a breakpoint, I think, and
(30:37):
all as.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
A consumer, I would want it to say as a consumer,
for me to do that, for me to make that commitment,
I have to have them like pinging and me going, oh,
you've got ten days.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
To use it. That's what the AMC kind of does
that with movies.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
But from an operator perspective, you probably don't mind obviously
if they're still paying and they're not coming in as participating. Yeah,
as a consumer, I'm like, I'm not doing this unless
i know I'm going to get my money's more so
I need them to.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Help make it a really good deal.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah, and they help behind it.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I'm telling you the AMC model works. You're going to
have your what it's kind of like the all you
can eat buffet, right, You're going to have the people
that abuse it and win, and then you're going to
have everybody else that barely touches it, and you end
up still having all you can eat buffets. You know.
So I think that might be an interesting one. We'll
(31:29):
come back next year. We'll look at this video and
catch that. I've got five minutes to go here, and
we're going to go into wild card trends. Here we
go rapid fire, everage innovation. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
More mocktails? Which is crazy to me because I would
never waste money on a mocktail, but gen Z loves it.
So I think it's just gonna.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Mocktail to the moon. Your friend, your friend and person.
I think she's your personal friend, Taylor Swift.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Right, Oh yeah, personal friend.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
So she of course has started this whole craze around sourdough.
Is this something do we need to worry about this?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I kind of feel like it's done. I mean I
was everywhere on TikTok. Like six months ago, I could
not and I was like can, I don't care. I
don't do this, I don't I don't need advice about starters.
But people were loving it, but I haven't heard anything
about it for a while.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Kind of been Yeah, it's kind of been off the
off the radar. Last one I want to hit on
is where we could see some new capitals for both
fast casual, specifically around pizza, and I wonder also if
Chicken could play into this, because if you think about
cities for pizza, you probably think Chicago, New York, may
(32:42):
maybe Detroit. We may see some changes on that. And
then if you think about Nashville Chicken, you're going to think,
you know, you know, Nashville hot. You know, there's all
sorts of scenarios that play into that. So we may
see some new centers for fast casual.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Denver, Austin comes to mind. Austin comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
For a good brands down there, for sure, really.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Good brands down there. Atlanta has always been a hot spot,
but I think Austin is is kind of up and coming.
Esc to watch pizza, pizza and burgers.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Where are you guys holding the next year's Fast Casual Summit.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
We are holding that in Texas in Arlington.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Oh, Dallas. Okay, all right, very cool. That'll be a
fun one. All right, guys, you know what to do.
Make sure and like and subscribe. We're going to do
more of these Predictions and Future Trends podcast as we
get into next year. This is our last podcast for
the year, so thanks for tuning in. We will catch
you next time. Right here, a Fast Casual nation. Take care,
Back here on the Fast Casual Nation podcast, the one
that has started it all, and of course joining me
is miss share Candler. How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I am doing fabulously for our last podcast of the year.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
It is, it is, It is here on December sixteenth,
as we record this, of course goes live the following week,
which will be the week before Christmas, and then we
will go dark into the night before we re zoom
in twenty twenty six. And of course we've got a
lot of features that we're going to be doing in
(00:33):
twenty twenty six, lots of trends that we'll be picking
up in January, a lot of new guests, is going
to be a lot of stuff, so stick around for that.
Today is of course going to be a different one,
and that is going to be talking about the trends
for twenty twenty six and what that might look like.
And this is overall restaurant trends. So we have an
expert joining us today, so we're looking at both restaurant
(00:56):
menu and food trends, but also just in general. So
stick around, we'll be right back. My name is Paul Baron.
(01:18):
As the early pioneer in fast casual, I've seen the
industry evolve from just a few operators to the most
sought after segment by consumers around the world. Now we're
planning to shape its future. Tap into decades of my
expertise identifying the emerging brands and tech winners in the
space saber capital, we'll be fueling the next generation of
(01:42):
fast casual innovation. All right, here we go. We are
back here on the Fast Casual Nation podcast. Cheryl. Let's
just jump right into it. A couple of points that
you shared with me in the past was some of
the growth in the area of food trends, and not
only food trends, but the connection to some of these
(02:04):
new demographics. What are you seeing right now?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, I think it's interesting and then we're gonna we're
gonna talk with Susie about this in just a few minutes.
But young people aren't drinking as much as us old people,
so I think that is definitely changing.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, they're healthier, you know. I mean when they do drink,
it's like fancy craft cocktails. They might have one instead
of you know, seven five, So uh.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, seven okay, jeez, okay.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I think that's that's going to be a big change.
For the whole restaurant industry and the beverage industry as well.
You know, we've seen fast casual brands, those that do
ad cocktails get to hire check spin and it is
kind of fun. But that's bringing in mocktails now too,
So there's you know, these gen z kids are happy
to spend money on mocktails with We've seen the dirty
(02:56):
soda trends in this article that you're about to pull
up from our guest today, Susie is a little fun,
kind of playful way of talking about you know, the
martinis are out. Yeah they're not totally out, but people
are consuming them in a different way.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Well, listen, I stopped drinking several years ago, so I
can attest to this, and it wasn't you know, for me,
it wasn't an issue. It was just, you know, I thought, gosh,
you know, why do I even do it? You know,
because I'm not really a big fan of alcohol. For
me personally, I like bourbon, but even that was getting
(03:34):
to the point it was like, you know, it's too
much work. You had to go find it. Then, you know,
all these bourbon collectors. One of my best friends, he's
a big bourbon aficionado, but to me, it just wasn't
that enticing. And then, of course then I started reading
all of the bad things about alcohol that happened to
your body as I started to research it, and now, oh,
(03:57):
this is crazy. Well, so maybe this trend is maybe
these gen Z kids are much smarter than we think they.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
I mean, they're much smarter than us in a lot
of ways. I think this is probably just one of them.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Yeah, just one of the issues. Well, we're going to
get into the twenty twenty six trends and what that's
going to look like, both from a food side of
things menu and maybe some dining habits as well. So
we want to bring in Susie about Arocco, who is
coming in from Culinary Tides. Susie, how are you good?
(04:30):
How are you excellent? Excellent? Welcome into the podcast. So
this is your first time on the show too, right,
we haven't had her before, have we?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
No?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
No for this first time? Awesome? Well, we will definitely
make you to never want to come back. Let's get
into it a little bit about kind of what we're
seeing right now. If you look at this whole idea
around value and let's talk about value in general, because
(04:59):
this is one of the issues that the industry is
facing right now, price point pressure on the spending pressure
on the consumer. Now we have a new maybe really
a new innovation around you know, desperate day parts which
are spread out all through the day. Snacking is bigger.
What are you seeing around the value contradiction that is
(05:20):
playing into the market right now.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Experience doesn't disappear, it's kind of moved into the consumer's home.
So when the so if you're talking about gen Z
with value, they will pay for the experience. Yeah, so
they're not necessarily shopping for the price, like how cheap
can it be? Because they will justify if they think
(05:44):
it's valuable. They'll justify paying for it.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
If they justify experience. Does that reduce their frequency?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
No, because remember that generation also doesn't. They're young enough
where they don't have other costs that older generations have, Right,
they may not have kids, they don't have a house payment, right,
so they can they're using their money differently because they
don't have the same overhead that the older generation have.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Well, they have one big overhead and that is you
know about ninety percent inflation that the older generation didn't have, Right,
So that cost has kind of been moved from you know,
those kind of things over to real cost, which is
of course hitting the market, which I think is the
you know, the issue we're talking about is that price
is a big problem right now. Share are you seeing
(06:31):
or continuing to see price being taken by the brands
right now as we go into the end of the year.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I think that they took price already a lot this year,
and I don't think I'm not seeing them taking price
right now. I think they can see that inflation is
crazy and people are mad, and I think they're trying
to figure out ways to offer more value for the
same price.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
And also gen Z doesn't want cheap food. They want
reassurance before they spend.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Do you think that's good for fast casual or do
you feel like that because we're seeing some of that
and even in the QSR in the casual dining space.
Where do you think is the sweet spot for gen
Z right now?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
The sweet spots for like where they're buying or.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Where they're dining. Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
So much distinguishing between like QSR as fast casuals or
even grocery food service. They don't want they'll pay more
but only if they feel smart about the choice. So
they're not necessarily shopping for what like where they're going
like versus fast casual. They want to go where they
feel smart about what they're choosing.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Have you seen that Burger King meal deal thing with
SpongeBob right now? It's like eighteen dollars or something, but
you get a whole bunch of food. And so, I mean,
as soon as that came out, my niece was like,
we got to go, you know, and she's taking the
pictures and it was her money, you know. I was like,
I could not. I don't want to spend it eighteen
dollars at Burger King for one person, but it was
(07:59):
her money. Like you said earlier, Susie, she doesn't have
any other overhead. I mean, I pay for everything except
for her fast food habit. So yeah, you can think
about it this way.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Dining is a social currency. It's not just a meal.
So if it feels intentional, shareable, customizable, they will spend
on it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Right, And then it's an opportunity for her to post
on social you know, so get attention that way too.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, they're not gen z isn't cheap, they're just risk averse.
They will not buy if they feel there's a risk.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So you get cheesy bacon tots, a burger is that
shake and then like a pie of some sort.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, And then it's some kind of toy or something.
And she's fourteen and she still was excited about the
little toy thing that came with it.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Interesting, Well, there you go, mister Crabs, cheesy bacon tots.
They're going after the kids. They're going after the kids.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's always the kids. The kids are the gateway drug.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Well, and we see more of this right now, especially
as a lot of these QSR brands are trying to
impede on fast casual, which is kind of the blend
that is happening. One thing we're going to be doing
here on this show is we're going to be crossing
over into a lot of other categories that will be
centered around the fast casual mindset, the psychographic versus just
(09:20):
the category, because we are seeing this consumer diverge into
casual dining and also into QSR as you just witnessed
right there with what's going on, Let's talk about the
speed versus experienced dilemma, because speed is still an issue.
Susie when you think about just performance. QSR is winning
(09:41):
most of the time there on drive through, Fast Casual
is trying to get under eight minutes on delivery to
the counter. Do you think that matters right now? For
a consumer?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Gen Z doesn't hate waiting, they hate not knowing. There's
a difference. So if they understand what happening, they they
are willing to wait, so they want like clear time promises.
They want you know, separate lanes so they feel like
they're moving forward. So speed and vibe aren't opposites because
(10:14):
there's two things they are looking for when they go out.
Ability for speed might be one, but the vibe of
the weather. So what's happening in different moments. So speed
matters when hunger is the focus, but vibe matters when
dining is social or identity driven. So if they're going
for vibe, they're not looking for speed necessarily.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Right now, twenty five percent choose off premise specifically because
of the vibe. Is lacking the vibe, they will taste
the vibe. What is the vibe?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Just the emotion, the feeling, what is the overall experience?
So it's not about the food, it's about the atmosphere.
So gen z Cancils delivery quickly because time equals control.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I feel like I'm back in the ninth.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Yeah, it feels like a lot for them. So if
there's no hide, there's no reason to stay.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
They're out of here, bab.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
I mean that's that's so they'll eat at home, they'll
eat it, go to the friend's house, wherever they're going.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But when we eat Chipotle a lot, and they never
the teenagers never want to eat and they want to
take it. They want to pick it up and take.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Because the vibe is no good.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
They want to and they exactly, I'm going to go
next time I'm in Chippotle, I'm just gonna in the line.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'm going to just start asking what do you guys
think about the vibe in here? Yeah, they're probably going
to go, dude, what's this? What's this dude talking to before?
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Crazy guy in here talking about the vibe?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Like, Yeah, if the if the room doesn't give them
something to feel, they'll take the food and go.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
All right. So let's talk about when you think, especially
around this whole area around speed price. Uh, because right
now it is kind of a contradiction both on the value,
contradiction of what you get versus because we've had several
CEOs talk about this whole price can We just had
the smash Burgers on last week talking about that very tall.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Speaking of price and value, have you seen what Outbock's
doing right now? No, get me down, you go, okay,
I Outback Steakhouse. I just read about this yesterday. If
you go dine in, So you go down dine in,
and then for just ten dollars extra, you can take
home a second fully cooked entree with a side to
take home for the next day's lunch. So you go
in there and get your steak and then for ten bucks.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
That's a smart move. Oh yeah, that's smart. I do
that in restaurants anyway, you know, kind of if we
go to a restaurant, I'll just order an extra dinner
and throw it in there. I know it's a little pricey,
but it's better than a lot of these meal box
things that if you think about the average slag, I
use factor seventy five, no pun, but factor seventy five's
(12:51):
it's like thirty five dollars a meal. You know, by
the time you get shipping and everything in and I'm like,
I never eat a shout.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Back, and I'm like, I never eat there. I haven't
eaten out Back in like ten years. But I'm like, okay,
we're going to do that, and I'll get our ten
dollars take home meals for the next day.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Boom, there you go. So and then you can probably
just add a little bit of something to it, and
you've got a nice little steak. Oh that's steak.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Look, yeah you get you get a steak and a
side or a chicken and a side for ten bucks,
and you can order it like on table side like
I think they have like the QR codes. Now there
are those ziosk things, so you can.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I'll see three course. I like that one. I'll see
three course and look at that burger. Oh my lord,
have you seen this?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
That looks amazing?
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Whoa, whoa, whoa, this is crazy my Okay, that's going
to go head to head with Tom Ryan. Yeah, he
was talking about he was talking about that last week,
you know, because we were getting into the whole idea
around burgers, kind of replacing the the idea of meals
and going into more of a culinary component. Interesting. I
(13:56):
like this, Well, okay, I don't know if that'll make
me go to outback, but I might go over there
just to explore it, to see what's up. What would
you say right now for predictions in this area of
value and speed and even in the essence of maybe
how brands are reaching these consumers. What do you think
(14:18):
is a good prediction for next year, Susie? For brands,
I think.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Restaurants are going to stop chasing gen z as a
monolith and start designing.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Kind of dual systems. So one system's optimized for speed
and certainty they're not.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Sitting there wondering. The other one would be optimized for
social presence emotional payoff.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Oh okay, that's interesting that you say that, because I
have a prediction brewing around this topic that is the
rise of the anti viral marketing anti yes, yeah, so yeah,
that's limitings social presence, you know, creating more exclusives, you know,
(15:03):
you had to be there kind of thing, you know,
to make it, you know, because that really creates a
pent up demand, especially if you can just get it
to go viral via word of mouth and you not
necessarily create trying to create viral moments, which is a
big problem right now in the industry. Everybody's chasing that
viral moment exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Consumers want to discover restaurants. They don't want to be
marketed to yep. Yeah, they want to find it more
or share.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Have you seen anybody that's doing things like that right
now where they're limiting their social exposure. Not yet.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I haven't seen that at all. I think it's everybody's
still chasing. But all right, we're herded here. First, Paul's
prediction of twenty.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Two, the prediction for twenty twenty six. I'm going on
record for that one. Susie's got one in there. We're
going to come back to this time next year and
see who's right. Let's get into the takeover section here,
because this is of course gets into AI pretty much
AI everything. I mean, I saw that there was an
(16:07):
AI toilet the other night, not in a restaurant brand,
but an AI toilet.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Now, okay, I need some more context, Like.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
It's a smart toilet. Is when you go for you
that the lighting and it creates a new you know,
puts a nice little fresher in the air. Have you
seen these?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I hope that there's like some music and some mood lighting.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
I don't got mood lighting. It's the whole thing. It's
like an experience. It creates an experience for the bathroom.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I feel like there's some things that AI does not
need to touch, and this is one of them.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
What do you what are you expecting this year, Susie.
When you look at AI in general.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
From the consumer's point of view, AI cannot replace hospitality.
What it does is it removes clutters, so hospitality can
show up. So as long as brands keep that in mind,
they cannot replace the human connection. And that's what that's
what consumers are looking for.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Do you think that really or are you just saying
that because this is the hospitality industry. They're trying to
protect themselves because if without hospitality they have nothing.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Now, I haven't seen any research that shows that they're
leaning into AI for that reason. Like it's very convenience,
it is in the background or removes cluk, but they're
not wanting to inn they want to interact with the
human interesting at all points. This showing up not just
the food industry, shows up in all industries. Consumers don't
want to they want to have a human touch point.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I'm just thinking point I got to push back on
that because this was a statement that was made often
in two thousand and seven, eight and nine, when the
iPhone was introduced and people were saying, yeah, this is
nobody's going to use this for a device to interact
with your brand. They don't want to use that. They
(18:00):
don't you know, the technology. Don't worry about it. You know,
they told me this so many times, you know, these
restaurant leaders and CEOs. I'm like, no, this is going
to change every way that you interface to a consumer.
I even wrote that in the book, as I said,
this is the cat you guys need to understand. This
is the next evolution. So I don't know, I just
(18:21):
think AI is just the next iPhone. You know, it's
just the next tech that's going to be absorbed and
they're going to figure out ways to use it.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Well, think of it this way. Bots handle transactions, humans
handle moments. What are consumers looking for? They are looking
for moments, just like I talked about.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
With Okay guys, you guys, wait, I think you're both
pretty I think you're both right. So it's okay. So
I think that gen z especially want to use those
kiosks in their phones. But the second there is an
issue there's got to be a human there to help
them and make them feel are.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
You kidding me? I look for no human. I know
no human. I know this human doesn't even know what
they're doing. I need somebody.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
If you think about going, if you go to Walmart
or whatever, even in those checkouts and Target and it's
like sometimes that crap doesn't work, and it's like the
second there it's installed, I'm looking around, going there better
be a human coming right over here. If I'm buying
wine and I got to show a human my ID
and there's like the light comes on, so the human
will come over. I'm like, it's got to be asap,
or why the heck am I using this checkout self
(19:27):
checkout anything.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
I think that's old old school thinking. I think it's
it's that's done. Those days are gone, those days are.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I feel like if the tech is perfect, yes, maybe,
but where the tech is still not perfect, there's even
to the time.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I think it just needs to be pretty good. Yeah,
and it's going to outperform. I don't know. I have
a real question as to whether this will truly start
to displace hospitality jobs. And I think at scale, just
the AI models that we continue to see and you know,
we're watching this in a lot of different brands right now,
and I'm hearing this from a lot of CEOs, is
(20:04):
they are planning more jobs going to these tools, much
more jobs going to these tools, because they understand labor
is one of the biggest issues. And that's question. I
always ask, what about hospitality, you know, and they're like,
what about profit?
Speaker 3 (20:21):
And I'm like, okay, they're not watching consumer behavioral research
because the winners will use AI as an invisible infrastructure,
not as a front stage replacement.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
We are going to find out. We're going to find
out next year. We're going to find out, Susie, if
AI starts to invent hospitality equations.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Here's my prediction. Next year, at this time, we are
going to be having the exact same conversation exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
I disagree.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
It's going to be like, oh, is it going to
take away blah blah blah and take away jobs and
here's the bites on and here's why it is. And
we're still going to be doing the same exact convo.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
I think technology is going to become more ambient. It's
always on, but it's rarely noticed.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Whoa I don't know about that. I noticed those iPhones
pretty heavily.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
I well, if you think about it, if it works well,
it should be rarely noticed. I should just be part
of your DNA. You just go in and order and
if it's not, if it doesn't mess up, then you
barely notice it.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Okay, show me one, Just give me one example of that.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
The brands that will win won't showcase tech. They'll showcase
how it makes the guests feel. That's what the focus
should be on, is how the guests feels.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I don't know about this. I'm thinking LCD sign as.
They're showcasing that all over the place. The kiosk are
out in front like on some you know, Grand Carnival pad.
Then you've got all this interface stuff that's happening in
the drive through. It's like they want you to know
that they're in this tech industry. I don't know. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
But you can't lose sight of the food or then
you're so it's got to be a balance.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
If you don't have guests, doesn't matter.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Well, I mean, this could be one of those eras, ladies.
This could be one of those eras where you know
it's an old industry trying to hold on to old
ideas and they just won't let go, and then the
ideas go past them and some other business model creates
something else. You know, I'm concerned about that with the
restaurant industry.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Well what do we do then, because we got to
have the tech. But you also, I do think you
still have people still want to feel connected.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Well, I mean, you look at I think the gen
Z has already kind of given you a little bit
of a you know, kind of a forethought on how
they are thinking about food occasions. They're much fewer in
terms of setting down for a meal, you know, they
go to a completely different model snacking variations of how
(22:58):
they choose. I don't know. I think if this continues
at this pace, you know, food is going to become
a byproduct of life instead of a focus, which is
what it has been over the last thirty years. It's
been a focus of the gen zs and the boomers.
I don't know if millennials, well millennials too, but gen
Z and jen or excuse me, gen X and gen Z.
(23:21):
I think those are the ones that'll be interesting to
find them moving into the next phase. So, all right,
what is your prediction. I think we made a few here,
but any others that you would say in terms of
where AI and tech might take us next year.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
I think the best restaurant tech is the kind that
guests don't realize they're using.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I don't know one right now, So yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Do you have an example, because I mean, if I'm
not Mike McDonald using the kiosk, I know I'm using
the kiosk, isn't it or it's just so inherent it
doesn't matter, Like when I go to Panera, I go
straight to the chaos of the customer.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Oh, okay, I see what you mean. It's ok.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Just to an end.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
It's again, it's taking the noise out of getting to
the food. It's like, Okay, here's how I ordered. You're
getting to the food faster, but it's not interfering with
the experience.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
They want to take a seamless that's.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
A possibility for sure. All right, Well, let's get into
the next section of twenty twenty six trends that could
be happening, That is the menu revolution. What that might
look like? Tell us what is the menu revolution? Susie?
Is there any hot points that you feel these are
the ones that's going to hit.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Well, we're still not going to be eating comfort food
where it's still going to be.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
No, oh god, no, absolutely not.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
No comfort Okay, if we start eating comfort food, bury
your head in the sand, because we're absolutely in a
hard recession.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
We're basically in a hard recession. So why aren't we
eating comfort foods?
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Have you seen the stock for McDonald's.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
I can tell you by we're not eating it. Okay, Okay,
So we've talked about this before. COVID is really what
changed things. So before COVID, if we were in the
financial status we're in right now, before COVID, like twenty
nineteen to four this is happening, we would absolutely be
in comfort food. The reason we're not is because when
(25:19):
we went through COVID for a couple of years, it
raised our fear level set point much higher across the
whole world. So we're not as panic we don't get
as panicked as easily anymore.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
This could really play into a lot of categories because
I think, you know, we talked about this with Tom
last week and many others who've kind of been going
this direction. What was your thought on that?
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yeah, I thought I thought it was interesting what Susie
was saying about how you know we have it takes
a lot more to get us a panic, and when
we don't eat comfort food really until you know, you
get in your jammi's and you it's sat and you
eat your mac and cheese, and we're not doing that,
We're still still going forth. So I think the bulls
and the protein and those kinds of things are still
still quite popular.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I have a big prediction for twenty six in this
category what would be yours.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
I think that we are going to get more to
comfort food and big huge burgers and those kinds of
foods are going to be back in sooner than later.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
The thing I'm watching and you know, we get a
chance to talk to a lot of brands because we're
always shopping deals, you know, so people are looking for
money to grow their businesses. I always come in and
look at them. And one area that I was introduced
to and I started to do more research on this
was mood based menus. And the concept is pretty straightforward.
(26:39):
It's like stress relief, energy focused sleep. It's already being
done in what we've seen in the supplement side of
the business. And then a lot of these products that
have been growing companies like ag one verso many of
those who are creating, you know, scientific products that are
building around that. Maybe we see that coming in the
(27:02):
pre what we'll see in the menu section for twenty
twenty six. So that's my prediction. Look for mood based menus.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I definitely could see that you already have like Tropical
Smoothie Cafe and Smoothie King doing those kinds of mood
based offerings. And with everybody being on GLP one, I
know that you know, we've talked about how snacking has
gotten so much more popular over the past year or two.
I think the snacking is going to be even more
because when you're on that drug, you have to eat
(27:31):
a lot. You're just not hungry exactly smaller portions.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yeah, definitely. Last question I wanted to hit on in
terms of the predictions for next year, and that is
the deliverying off premise dining transformation that might or might
not take place. We had the rise of ghost kitchens.
Over the last several years, we've seen kind of a
whole scenario around the experience economy has gone home and
(27:55):
now you have third party aggregator dominance, which is where
mainly what you've got is gen Z's kind of using
a lot of these apps as almost their crave app.
You know, like my crave app is going to be
this one. My crave app is going to be that one.
Anything that you're predicting around third party for this year
for twenty twenty six, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
If it's necessarily a third party, but I do think
the delivery and carry out trends is going to get
more is going to get even more experiential. We've we
talked about, you know, Chipotle doing their meal for four
to six people where you can build your own. We
had Gray's Craze on several weeks ago and they talked
about the shortcoutery trend and you know people bringing those
(28:39):
home and having parties. So I think it's going to
definitely be You're going to have to up your game
when it comes to catering and out home dining to
win because there's just a lot of competition out there.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Yeah, here's my prediction for this category, and that is
by end of next year, we'll start to see subscription
dining services. And what I mean by that is you're
going to pay a flaf fee you know, let's say
one hundred bucks a month ending on the restaurant, you know,
or a network of restaurants, because it could be casual dining,
(29:10):
and you'll start to see AI optimization on the variety
and value of what you can get access to, so
it won't be unlimited to the menu, and then think,
you know, think of it almost like Netflix for dining,
you know, so look for that.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I like that. I think that's a great cool idea.
I don't know if I personally would like that, because
then I would be stressed about making sure that I
got my money my descriptions.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Do you have?
Speaker 2 (29:34):
How many subscriptions do I have? You know? Did I
get my did I get my burrito this time? So
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I have AMC for movies. That's an experiential Okay, that's
that's a subscription that I pay monthly on and you
get so many free movies most of the time, I
don't even use them. That's the thing. Okay, right with
the half priced popcorn year round, AMC did so you
get half priced poper. I think they're doing a brilliant
a job on marketing this, and that'll be something that
(30:03):
we haven't seen in food, and I think we will
for next year.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
You're then like the coffee subscriptions like that Panera did
the you know sweet Green that a subscription for a minute.
I don't know if Sweet Green is still doing that
subscription thing that they did. They tested it like a
year ago. I think.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Yeah, eventually the convenience factor starts to create the infrequency
of it, you know, and you're still paying for it.
So there is now with AI, I think you could
see if AI models could be applied to this with
the kind of menus and things that you could make
available within it and figure out where the break point is,
you know, because there is a breakpoint, I think, and
(30:37):
all as.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
A consumer, I would want it to say as a consumer,
for me to do that, for me to make that commitment,
I have to have them like pinging and me going, oh,
you've got ten days.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
To use it. That's what the AMC kind of does
that with movies.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
But from an operator perspective, you probably don't mind obviously
if they're still paying and they're not coming in as participating. Yeah,
as a consumer, I'm like, I'm not doing this unless
i know I'm going to get my money's more so
I need them to.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Help make it a really good deal.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah, and they help behind it.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I'm telling you the AMC model works. You're going to
have your what it's kind of like the all you
can eat buffet, right, You're going to have the people
that abuse it and win, and then you're going to
have everybody else that barely touches it, and you end
up still having all you can eat buffets. You know.
So I think that might be an interesting one. We'll
(31:29):
come back next year. We'll look at this video and
catch that. I've got five minutes to go here, and
we're going to go into wild card trends. Here we
go rapid fire, everage innovation. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (31:42):
More mocktails? Which is crazy to me because I would
never waste money on a mocktail, but gen Z loves it.
So I think it's just gonna.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Mocktail to the moon. Your friend, your friend and person.
I think she's your personal friend, Taylor Swift.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Right, Oh yeah, personal friend.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
So she of course has started this whole craze around sourdough.
Is this something do we need to worry about this?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I kind of feel like it's done. I mean I
was everywhere on TikTok. Like six months ago, I could
not and I was like can, I don't care. I
don't do this, I don't I don't need advice about starters.
But people were loving it, but I haven't heard anything
about it for a while.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Kind of been Yeah, it's kind of been off the
off the radar. Last one I want to hit on
is where we could see some new capitals for both
fast casual, specifically around pizza, and I wonder also if
Chicken could play into this, because if you think about
cities for pizza, you probably think Chicago, New York, may
(32:42):
maybe Detroit. We may see some changes on that. And
then if you think about Nashville Chicken, you're going to think,
you know, you know, Nashville hot. You know, there's all
sorts of scenarios that play into that. So we may
see some new centers for fast casual.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Denver, Austin comes to mind. Austin comes to mind.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
For a good brands down there, for sure, really.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Good brands down there. Atlanta has always been a hot spot,
but I think Austin is is kind of up and coming.
Esc to watch pizza, pizza and burgers.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Where are you guys holding the next year's Fast Casual Summit.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
We are holding that in Texas in Arlington.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Oh, Dallas. Okay, all right, very cool. That'll be a
fun one. All right, guys, you know what to do.
Make sure and like and subscribe. We're going to do
more of these Predictions and Future Trends podcast as we
get into next year. This is our last podcast for
the year, so thanks for tuning in. We will catch
you next time. Right here, a Fast Casual nation. Take care,
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