Trends

Keeping the foodservice equipment marketplace up to date with the latest menu and concept trends.

Advertisement

Trends: Better Breakfast

Move over, boring breakfast sandwiches. Fast-casual, upscale quick-serves and even full-service restaurants continue to revamp their menus to feature more innovative and healthful offerings as the morning meal goes all day.

Better Breakfast Sandwiches

Breakfast sandwiches have not fallen out of favor with consumers, but this morning meal mainstay continues to get more creative. On the menu:Split-Bread-Day-1-077-Final-lowresSplit Bread Breakfast Sandwich at Split American Kitchen

  • Bacon, egg and harissa sandwich (112 Eatery, Minneapolis, Minn.)
  • Cinnamon roll French toast breakfast sandwich (C&M Café, Los Angeles)
  • Biscuit breakfast sandwich with egg, pepper jack cheese, applewood smoked bacon, avocado and lemon-garlic aioli on a homemade buttermilk biscuit (Devil’s Teeth Baking Company, San Francisco)
  • Fairfax sandwich with cage-free soft scrambled eggs, chives, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, sriracha mayo, warm brioche bun (Eggslut, Los Angeles)

(Source: Andrew Freeman & Co.)


Breakfast Bowls

cali-bowl-freshiiCali smoothie bowl at FreshiiBowls are everywhere at lunchtime, filled with grains, veggies and more. Following this trend, operators now swap buns for lower-carb bowls at breakfast, filling them with eggs, thickened smoothies with toppings and more. On the menu:

Smoothie Bowls

  • Cali smoothie bowl with green smoothie, banana, mango, strawberries, granola and coconut toppings. (Freshii)
  • Acai cups with an acai berry and banana base topped with granola and mango, berries and other fruit. (Grabbagreen)Grain Bowls
  • The Brass Breakfast Bowl comes with farro, heirloom tomatoes, toasted sesame seeds, falafel, feta cheese, sunny-side-up egg and sumac vinaigrette. (Lexington Brass)
  • Mango bowl with brown rice, chia seeds, coconut, pineapple, quinoa, almond milk and granola. (Grabbagreen)

Scramble Bowls

  • Mostly a vegetable bowl that includes sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, roasted kale and other seasonal veggies with soft-boiled eggs, Green-Eggs--Kale-bowl-copyFreshii’s Green Eggs & Kaleavocado and optional house-made breakfast sausage or Niman ranch bacon. (Dig Inn)
  • Soft scramble with three eggs, bacon, homemade pork or chicken apple sausage, Mexican chorizo, vegetables and aged cheddar, goat cheese or parmesan. (Split American Kitchen)
  • Green Eggs & Kale scramble with feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, broccoli and pesto. (Freshii)Hash Bowls
  • Veggie hash bowl with black beans, egg, kale, red onion, red pepper, yams and creamy avocado sauce. (Grabbagreen)
  • Chorizo Hash with two poached pasture eggs, Mexican chorizo, kale, winter squash, roasted sweet potatoes, poblano peppers, red onion, sundried tomatoes, and aioli. (Split American Kitchen)

The Lumberjack Breakfast

In a return to classic, diner-style breakfast, The National Restaurant Association cites the lumberjack breakfast, or fry-up, as a top trend that continues to heat up. The hearty meal combines eggs with bacon, sausage, pancakes and potatoes. At Lumberjack, a breakfast-all-day, diner-style chain with nine locations in California and one in Las Vegas, the menu features indulgent two-egg platters with chicken fried steak, pork loin and corned beef hash as well as combos pairing eggs with meat, potatoes and sweeter items like pancakes, Belgian waffles and banana nut or cinnamon French toast. Founder Jeff Garrett plans to open 25 to 50 more locations on the West Coast over the next 5 years.


What's Hot

  • Avocado toast
  • Chorizo scrambled eggs
  • Coconut milk pancakes
  • Overnight oats
  • Hash

Source: The National Restaurant Association's 2017 "What's Hot" Culinary Forecast