Ranch water, mangonada (pictured above), ube, and a spicy Indian chicken dish were among the restaurant menu items that showed strong gains in the first half of 2022, according to a report from Datassential.
In a webinar last week, the research firm revealed highlights from its Midyear Trends Report, which identified the menu trends that have been gaining the most traction. Several of those trends have also been adapted as CPG products at retail.
Leading the pack was ranch water, an alcoholic beverage that has increased 182 percent in restaurant menu penetration in the past 12 months, according to the Datassential report. It contains tequila, lime and, typically, Topo Chico mineral water, and it has already inspired a range of ready-to-drink retail products, said Claire Conaghan, associate director of content at Datassential.
“It’s not that much different from a hard seltzer,” she said, noting that hard seltzers had been setting the pace for fast-growing menu items in recent years.
In fact, High Noon Seltzer, made with vodka and real fruit juice, was also one of the top gainers on restaurant menus, with an 85 percent increase in menu penetration in the last 12 months. The brand has become a market leader in ready-to-drink cocktails, Conaghan said, likening it to the appeal of Spindrift carbonated water, which is also made with real fruit juice.
Another big gainer was birria, which has evolved from its traditional Mexican formulation featuring stewed goat or lamb to instead incorporate beef or other proteins, giving it more appeal among U.S. consumers. The meaning has also evolved, Conaghan said, so that it now describes the flavor more than the dish itself, much in the way the terms “carnitas” and “barbacoa” have changed over time.
Birria, which is up 90 percent on restaurant menus in the last 12 months, can be served as a bowl of stew on its own, or with the juice from the stew on the side for dipping tacos made from the stewed meat.
“It’s taco meets French dip, sort of,” said Jack Li, executive chairman at Datassential.
Other flavors and dishes gaining traction include:
• Mangonada, a cold, smoothie-style beverage made from a combination of sweet-and-spicy flavors — often either mango or chamoy for the sweetness and tajin for the spice, along with lime and sometimes salt. It’s up 80 percent on menus, and is also increasingly appearing as a flavor in CPG products.
• Ube, the purple yam with origins in the Philippines, which has been appearing on more menus for the past few years. It is poised to accelerate thanks to both the fun color it imparts on a variety of dishes, including ice cream and other desserts, and its sweet flavor, said Conaghan.
• Affogato, which has moved into the “adoption” stage of menu penetration. “What’s not to like about pouring some espresso over gelato?” said Conaghan. She noted that the increasing popularity of affogato is also leading to a bump in menu activity around Australian iced coffee, which is cold coffee with ice cream.
• Chicken 65, a spicy, deep-fried chicken dish that originated in Chennai, India. It has increasingly appeared on the menus of traditional Indian restaurants, Conaghan said, and can be either an appetizer or an entrée. It is traditionally served with a spicy, chili-garlic sauce, and sometimes with yogurt “for a cooling effect,” she said.
The growing presence of the dish on Indian menus reflects an overall trend toward innovation at Indian restaurants, Conaghan said.
“Even older Indian restaurants are evolving the menus,” she said. “Restaurants are doing more flexing, showing where the family is from on the menu.”
Several Indian flavors and ingredients, such as chai and turmeric, have been widely adopted in mainstream foodservice, but a host of less familiar dishes have been appearing more and more at Indian restaurants, and could be poised for more widespread adoption, Conaghan said. These include dishes such as milk dumplings (a sweet, donut-like dessert); paneer dum biryani (a slow-cooked dish that is steamed with its own juices), and papdi (fried dough crackers that can be served as a snack with a variety of sauces).
Among other trending flavors and foods cited in the report are:
• Dessert hummus, which has gained widespread distribution at retail thanks to Boar’s Head. Flavors include dark chocolate, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and others.
• Crab Rangoon, which has apparently been newly discovered by Gen Z thanks to TikTok, according to Conaghan.
• Egg bites, which have been available at Starbucks for years but have now become widely available at retail as well.
• Greek yogurt, which has also been popular for a long time, but is now appearing more frequently in new applications, such as sauces, Conaghan said.
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