As Eater pointed out (with tongue firmly in cheek), food trend predictions are notoriously finicky things, seemingly selected at times with little more than a divining rod or crystal ball.
For food purveyors, trend predictions can a double-edged sword — offering the potential for embracing cutting edge innovation (who doesn’t want to be the one to launch the next big thing?) while running the risk of being too edgy to be embraced on a wider level.
A fleeting fad is not sufficient to build a business on, says Annika Stensson of the National Restaurant Association in this New York Times piece on this very topic. The trends that tend to take hold are actually the ones that develop more slowly and can take years to reach the mainstream.
So when it comes to trends, how do you know when to adopt what’s hot and when to drop it like it’s hot? Consider the following questions when deciding whether to invest in sourcing those cool new “functional mushrooms.”
Want to try a trend on for size before fully diving in? Try these 5 tips for launching successful LTOs. And let us know what trends you’ve seen soar or fall flat in the comments below.