Which food trends do you predict will be hot in the new year?

“Patients will want more personalized, made-to-order menu items, and hospitals will be enhancing their room-service menus to provide more customizable food like rice bowls. The use of technology to capture these orders will include ordering kiosks in retail and bedside locations. Our customers want fresh and made to order whenever possible. They’re looking for Asian cuisines. Vietnamese pho continues to be one of our most popular items.”
—Dan Henroid, M.S., R.D., director, nutrition & food services, sustainability officer, UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco

“For us, spice is the word! Our kids have really been asking for more heat in their entrées.”
—Tony Geraci, director of nutrition services, Memphis City Schools, Tennessee

“Guests are seeking hand-crafted food from small, local companies, like chocolate malted porter caramel corn made with local beer from the Avery Brewery. Also, we will be seeing more cuisines like Filipino, African and others that are less mainstream now than Thai or Greek, etc.”
— Lisa Poggas, M.S., R.D., nutrition and environmental services director, Parker Adventist Hospital, Parker, Colo.

“For millennial diners, health and wellness, supporting regional food systems, grass-fed beef, plant protein, sustainable seafood (including trash fish) and animal welfare are trending now. Gluten-free growth is flat. Whole grains are back.”
—Ken Toong, executive director, auxiliary enterprises, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst