Catering Trends: Customisable Menus

In fact, in a recent survey 56% brits said they already do this in Restaurants and 94% of restaurateurs have said they would happily meet the desires of consumers by initiating this change in their restaurants.

Infographic Source: Jill Weatherburn

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Why is customisation becoming popular?

Consumers diets are constantly changing, as spoke about in our latest blog the increase in Veganism and plant-based diets in general have taken over the food industry with over 600,000 people labelled as Vegan in 2018 as surveyed by Vegan Society . Consumers are after healthy products and ones that meet their lifestyle, allowing them to pick and choose the food that goes into the dish gives them control over the nutrients that they are consuming. With 1 in 5 Brits describing themselves as a ‘picky eater’, customisation allows consumers to adapt the dish by taking out specific foods that they dislike and substituting it for a product that fits their taste or dietary preference.

By allowing room for customisation within menus it allows: - consumers be more adventurous with food - helps them drift away from the repetitiveness of the same meals and try something different - It gives people an opportunity to add variation to a dish, experimenting with new or familiar herbs and spices.

Arla Fibre did a poll where 7 in 10 Brits admitted they would like to add more variation into their diet, this is where customisation can help people add in that variation.

Vita Mojo

Vita Mojo is a London based quick service restaurant, the company allow consumers to customise their own dish by calorie count, taste, ingredients or budget. With not only offering a custom menu, they offer fresh food that is cooked from scratch and ethically sourced seasonal produce. The company recently received funding so they able to expand and take their concept worldwide, which shows the popularity of people wanting to customise food to meet consumers preferences and their reviews prove the demand by one consumer saying "Excellent quality of the food, friendly service. The customisation aspect is amazing. Highly recommend!" and it doesn’t stop there with many reviews stating the same thing, the customisation concept is becoming a craze with us Brits.

We've got some great new winter salads to help you recover from the post- xmas excesses. A great mixture of #broccoli, #wildrice #cashews #toastedseeds #mojosaladleaves and your choice of #chickenbreast or #oumph! They are not only filling but nicely balanced with a good amount of protein and fibre #likemealprepbutbetter #myvitamojo #livetoeat #freshfromscratch #fresh #nopreservatives #nothingtohide

24 Likes, 2 Comments - Vita Mojo � (@vitamojo) on Instagram: "We've got some great new winter salads to help you recover from the post- xmas excesses. A great..."

Example of meal customisation

Food Network released an article with 15 creative one-bowl power meals that can be customisable. They listed 21 various whole grains, vegetables, beans or lean proteins, nuts, berries and seeds to choose from and giving the opportunity for the consumer to add whatever else they want in the bowl.

A couple of the customisable bowls that they uploaded were:

• Brown Rice Bowl with Curried Roasted Cauliflower and Green Chutney. This dish would look colourful on our Creme Monet Bowl

Quinoa Bowl with Chicken and Avocado Cream. This dish would look nicely presented on our Steelite Pebble Creek Bowl

Do you think you could implement more customization on your menu? We can see a defined increase in how popular this trend has become; with more and more companies marketing the idea and consumers starting to adopt and advocate it. Restaurateurs are now catering to consumer dining habits by applying these customisable menus and being on the front foot of such trends can really help drive new traffic and existing customer loyalty.

Look out for more catering trends on our blog over the next coming weeks, providing tips on how to improve your commercial business.

Enjoyed this article? Read our Catering Trends: Plant Based Diets article where talk about the increase of plant-based diets within the food industry. Read it Here