Post-covid hotel restaurants face issues on every level.
While the public is ready to go to new places and sample new foods, supply chain problems and worker shortages make it harder than ever to put meals on the table. As a result, everything in your kitchen, from layout and design to your dessert menu, needs careful planning. Here are the hot new trends hotel owners should consider when setting up their hotel kitchen.
As a hotel owner, is a hotel kitchen an important consideration for business? Many travelers may not immediately think of hotel kitchens as an important feature of the hotel. Most hotel guests might consider a continental breakfast a perk, especially when traveling with family or young kids. But what about room service, an in-house restaurant and bar, and attracting year-round patrons when hotel room occupancy is low? Staffing and maintaining a functional hotel kitchen is required if you want to provide food service you can be proud of.
All of these aspects are important considerations for hotel kitchen design. A great hotel kitchen design incorporates speed, efficiency, and minimal waste, all while producing delicious food that restaurant patrons and hotel guests alike rave about.
Here are some important modern restaurant kitchen design trends to consider as a hotel owner.
Hotel Restaurant Kitchen Design Trends
1. Menu Concept Considerations
It may sound unconnected, but your menu concept is essential to your hotel kitchen design. If you’re planning farm-to-table, for example, you’ll need to maximize refrigerator space and won’t need a huge freezer. The equipment and stations in your kitchen should be tailored to your menu concept and laid out for smooth workflow.
2. Ergonomic Design
Kitchen workers spend a lot of time on their feet. Ergonomic kitchens are designed to keep hotel kitchen staff comfortable and boost efficiency while they are working. The goal of ergonomic kitchen design is to minimize bending, hunching over, reaching, crouching, or walking around the kitchen to find items.
Ergonomic considerations include comfortable counter height and conveniently placed appliances and storage. For example, small refrigerators might be located under counter stations, so when a customer orders salmon, the cook manning the fish station would not have to go to the walk-in. Instead, all the fish they need for the evening would be within easy reach. Ergonomic hotel kitchen layout results in fewer people rushing around the kitchen for ingredients and reduced physical demands on the kitchen staff.
3. Pickup Options
Many people are still uncomfortable with dining room exposure but may not want the limited room service menu either. Today, a pickup station for food to go is a great compromise solution and a hot hotel kitchen trend. Pickup options are great for hotel guests who’d like to enjoy a meal in their rooms, or outside patrons who just want to enjoy your menu.
4. Robotics in the Kitchen
Restaurant staffing is a significant concern, and most kitchens are feeling the pinch. The National Restaurant Association (NRA) reported that half of their members expected labor recruitment and retention to be their top challenge in 2022. As a result, many restaurants have turned to technology to accomplish some of the repetitive work formerly done by humans. Today, robots are flipping burgers, making salads, and delivering room service orders.
5. Greening up your Kitchen
Consumer sentiment is clear about environmental issues. Customers want to do business with companies who care about social issues, and restaurants are under the lens. Single-use packaging and disposable items with no real purpose are out.
Restaurants are notorious sources of single-use products—straws, foam or plastic cups and lids, plastic utensils. Hotel restaurants are uniquely positioned to eliminate all single-use packaging and please customers simultaneously. Even in-house takeout can be served on real plates with real cutlery and glasses. If you absolutely must use single-use packaging, choose biodegradable paper whenever possible.
Menu Design Trends for Hotel Kitchens
When you’re working out your hotel restaurant kitchen design, the menu concept is a major consideration, and wellness is the primary concern for consumers. Here are a few of the growing restaurant menu trends for 2022 and beyond.
1. Fresh, Local, Clean, and Green
Farm-to-table isn’t a new trend, but current supply chain issues have made it such a practical solution that more restaurants are relying on local sourcing. The import crisis coupled with health-conscious consumers demanding clean, organic, locally sourced foods ensures this hotel kitchen trend will likely continue to grow.
2. Detox Vacations
Healthy getaways are an emerging travel trend. An increasing number of vacationers are seeking “detox vacations” where they can unplug, relax, and eat healthily. Hotels that provide an authentic local experience and healthy eating options are popular.
The desire for healthier lifestyles will also influence bar food trends. Bar patrons are looking for flavorful non-alcoholic choices on the menu, in addition to the usual drink choices.
3. Sustainable Practices
In general, consumers are more sensitive to environmental concerns. Sustainable hotels boast green spaces, eco-friendly construction, minimized water use, energy-saving appliances and lighting, and sensible waste management. In a hotel built with sustainability in mind, the hotel kitchen design supports the farm-to-table concept and may even include a garden for the freshest possible vegetables and herbs.
4. Smaller Menus
In 2021, food-industry market-research firm Datassential analyzed menu data from 4,800 restaurants and found that 60% of restaurants were serving smaller, more focused menus. Smaller menus are more manageable for a smaller staff to produce, and downsizing the menu means less kitchen waste and fewer supply chain issues.
5. Special Diet Menus
In their growing quest to get healthy, people are embracing specific diets. Popular diets include keto, paleo, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, and Mediterranean. Many hotel kitchen trends capitalize on changing diet preferences. Some of these diets have overlapping features, so it’s not necessary to create full menus for each diet style. Label menu items where appropriate and offer a variety of choices.
Plants are the rising superstars of any menu. Restaurants located everywhere from tiny hotels to pricey resort hotels are adding new (and sometimes surprising) plant-based options to their menus. From chickpea pasta and ice cream to meatless meat products, plant-based foods are in the spotlight.
6. Vegetable Extravaganza!
Adding a variety of vegetable dishes to your menu makes sense from every perspective. Consumers are interested in eating healthy, vegetables are part of all but the most extreme diets, and they are the easiest and cheapest food items to source locally. The staffing shortage and rising food costs make it harder to cut restaurant costs. Loading plates with cheap, delicious vegetables can help keep diners happy and restaurant expenses lower.
7. Comfort Foods
Grandma’s Sunday Supper is back on the table. The stay-at-home requirements during the pandemic inspired some new cooking skills, and a lot of people turned to old-fashioned comfort foods. The International Food Council reports that nostalgia is a trend, with more folks looking for meatloaf, fried chicken, and other classic mom-to-table fares.
8. CBD-Infusions
There’s a growing demand for CBD-infused food and drinks. Menu items including coffee, cocktails, desserts, and dressings infused with CBD oil are popular but not legal in every state. So, before you decide to use CBD-infused products in the kitchen of your hotel, make sure you understand local and state laws. CBD oil is popular for its relaxing quality—it’s great for stress relief, but does not make people high.
What hotel kitchen trends will you embrace? Even if your concept is based on ethnic cuisine, you should be able to incorporate locally sourced foods and healthy choices. Don’t forget to include healthy options on your children’s menus as well. Check out Fodor’s best hotel restaurants in the U.S. for kitchen trends and inspirations.
