50 stories in 50 years: 2010-today

Undoubtedly, the top story over the past decade was the emergence of the coronavirus in early 2020 and the huge impact it made on all onsite dining markets. FM provided continuous coverage of the unfolding emergency, documenting best practices and adjustments made by the industry as they were rolled out, through print issues bolstered by its online presence during 2020 and exclusively online after that as the magazine went all-digital beginning in January 2021. One significant editorial result of this effort was the introduction of Foodservice Heroes, a celebration of front-line personnel that has become an annual feature.

FM spent the decade preceding the pandemic following up on major trends affecting onsite foodservice, from food trucks and food as medicine to zero waste and plant-based dining. It also began its run of Power Players listings, building on the template established by its annual Top 50 Contract Management Companies listing with roundups of the activities of the largest operations in the various major onsite dining segments.

Beginning in 2021, an all-digital FM not only continued to cover the evolving COVID crisis with features on topics like labor issues, serving remote populations and cutting-edge technologies, but introduced an annual Best K-12 Meals feature, an annual healthcare recipe contest and popular podcast and video interviews featuring key figures from across the industry. 

Related:50 stories in 50 years: the 2000s

Meanwhile, the twice-weekly online series of “5 Things” roundups of news items from around the country was extended with a special weekly “5 Tech Things” installment that focused in on foodservice-related technology developments to keep FM readers informed about the latest goings on in the emerging era of automation.

Here are 10 cover stories from the years 2010-2020 plus a look at the content filling the all-digital FM that launched in January 2021…