As deeply niche sub-sections of society form online, so too do we see the social media segmentation food culture. In one sphere, a high-protein, carnivorous, raw meat, and raw milk diet appeals to some; in another, a vegan, oat milk matcha, and chia-rich diet engages others. Meanwhile, TikTok scrollers look towards experimental snack trends and Dubai chocolate. Despite this hyper-segmentation, observations and research from across the country are uncovering the trends that are gaining overall momentum in the food and beverage industry — and the ones which are fading into obscurity.
Protein
The importance of protein consumption has crept into public consciousness over the course of 2025, a result of fitness and health culture. You may have noticed the word becoming prolific on supermarket shelves, making its way in large letters onto the packaging of cereal, muesli bars, drinks, and of course, cottage cheese. Research from food and agriculture multinational Cargill noted that 61 per cent of US consumers report increasing their protein intake in 2024, up from 48 per cent from 2019.
The data also tracks closer to home. Among younger Australians, red meat consumption is increasing, according to Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA). The company says more people are reporting they’re increasing red meat intake, rather than less, for the first time since the organisation began its tracking. 87 per cent of those increasing their meat intake cited health-related reasons like its value as a source of protein (58 per cent).
“Australian beef, sheep meat, and goat meat is packed with essential nutrients like iron and protein, and it’s a staple in our diet for good reason,” says MLA Managing Director Michael Crowley.
Healthy eating
Whether its keffir, kombucha, or a collagen-infused café latte, the Australian consumer is looking towards health-conscious options. Melbourne specialty coffee pioneer St. Ali recently paired up with Australian sports nutrition brand Pillar to launch a collagen cold
brew with vitamin c to enhance absorption. Collagen (apart from its protein-rich appeal) is said to support tendon and ligament health, speed up recovery, and reduce injury risk.
Businesses like Esca Group’s Middle Eastern style charcoal chicken restaurant Henrietta are adapting for more health-conscious audiences. For the brand’s Bondi outpost, Executive Chef Ibrahim Kasif has devised a lighter, share-style menu of healthy, coastal-inspired dishes, with a list of salads he says “might even steal the show”.
Artificial Intelligence
2025 has seen AI take off across a number of fields. But in the hospitality industry, many are still struggling to understand how to unlock its potential. Ordermentum
Founder and CEO Adam Theobald predicts that by 2026, AI will be integrated into every part of hospitality, from smarter inventory management, to pricing that updates dynamically, and predictive insights that help venues plan ahead. “There’s growing interest in predictive tools: forecasting demand, optimising pricing, and managing cash flow,” says Theobald. “Another big shift we’re seeing is education; people want to understand AI, not just use it.” To address this, Ordermentum — a software company providing wholesale online order management for the food and beverage industry
— recently launched F&B Leaders After Hours, a program bringing industry together to share what’s working and to demystify AI.
Businesses like Ordermentum are investing heavily in AI because of how transformative it can be for their customers.“We’ve built tools that directly remove friction from the day-today running of hospitality businesses, saving up to 80 per cent
of the cost, time and errors of traditional manual data entry,” says Theobald.
“Our AI generates product descriptions automatically, helps suppliers understand credit risk, provides pricing insights, and with our Omni feature, it even captures off platform orders automatically,” he says. “Every one of those tools is about giving time back to our customers.”
For businesses looking to begin implementing AI, Theobald says to start small and practical. “Don’t think of AI as a silver bullet — think of it as a tool that becomes really
powerful when you’ve got your foundations right.”
Basic is beautiful
More chefs are leaning into the idea of simple, beautiful food. As Rosheen Kaul
noted in Hospitality’s September-October 2025 edition, “There are some very skilled chefs doing very simple food. Chefs who have worked exclusively in fine dining and then they’ve gone off and started growing food. They’ll sometimes just have two things on the plate — like radicchio they grew with incredible olive oil — and the flavour is absolutely sensational.”
Marriot International’s recent Future of Food report also noted that guests were looking towards “fine-casual” dining. “Comfort food is a new luxury. In a fast-moving unpredictable world, guests crave familiarity and comfort food done exceptionally well. We’re seeing chefs applying fine-dining techniques and premium ingredients to everyday favourites,” says Marriott International Asia Pacific excluding China Director of Restaurants and Bars Daniel Ayres. In Australia, Marriott’s top three most popular in-room dishes were burgers, club sandwiches, and chicken.
Alt milks
While plant-based foods seem to be going out of fashion, plant-based milks are holding strong. Riccardo Martin, the co-owner of Forest Lodge specialty coffee shop Ichigo Ichie, says that milk varieties like oat have now overtaken demand for once-popular skim milk. “At one stage Australia was only ordering skim milk, whole cream, and soy. But now oat is slowly taking over soy and definitely taking over skim — we’re hardly using skim at all,” says Martin. Meanwhile, the liquor industry is catching on. Baileys recently released a plant-based coffee toffee liqueur with an oat milk base. The drink reflects changing tastes, with 36 per cent of Australians drinking plantbased
milks monthly, and 16 per cent weekly.
Social battery
For many in the biz, social media can be a blessing some days and a curse on others. Seen by many as a “necessary evil”, one thing is certain: the bittersweet world of Instagram and TikTok is here to stay for the foreseeable future, and it continues to strongly impact consumer decisions. According to Marriot International’s survey,
75 per cent of its Asia Pacific venues report that social media influences guest decisions around restaurant and bar bookings.
Nostalgia persists
Restaurateurs and café owners around the country are saying “out with the new and in with the old” — and diners are lapping it up. The trend isn’t groundbreaking: doily-laden tables at Baba’s Place, chip butties at Splash in Petersham’s Fanny Durack Aquatic Centre, and the retro-futuristic aesthetic of Trippas White Group’s sky-high Bar 83 are among the nostalgic nods that have sprung up in recent years.
But with newcomers like Sydney’s Joe’s Tavern, which is serving up vintage milk bar-style knickerbocker glories, Brisbane’s Marlowe with its 1960s-worthy coral trout wellington, and Melbourne’s latest “it” café Queensberry St Co-op returning to perfectly simple fried breakfasts and omelettes worthy of an early 2000s cafe, it’s
evident the trend is persisting.
Vegging out
When New York’s ritzy Eleven Madison Park emerged from covid in 2021, it decided to do things a little differently. The restaurant took a leap, driven by climate change, and relaunched as vegan. Think mille-feuille without butter, meringue without eggs, almond-milk ricotta, sunflower butter, and “land caviar” (also known as tonburi, a Japanese food made from the dried seeds of the summer cypress plant). But in mid-October 2025, the restaurant announced its veg days were over, and meat was making a comeback on the menu (although a plant-based version is still available).
Eleven Madison Park represents a broader trend: In Australia, Sydney’s Newtown has long been a hub for the vegetarian and vegan community, boasting thriving restaurants like King St’s vegan pizzeria Gigi’s. But Paisano and Daughters’ replaced its vegetarian newcomer Flora about seven months after it arrived, despite positive reviews. What do closures like this suggest for the vegetarian community? Simply from anecdotal evidence (and stats from MLA showing an increase of meat eaters), we think the number of strict vegans and vegetarians is decreasing.
Dubai chocolate
A couple of years ago it would have been difficult to predict that a block of chocolate costing between $20-$39 would gain as much momentum as Dubai chocolate did between 2024 and 2025, despite cocoa prices beginning to rise in 2022. The chocolate-coated kataifi pastry and pistachio treat kicked off thanks to TikTok virality in late 2023. With supermarket versions of the chocolate now sitting around $20, the cost-of-living crisis still inherently impacting consumers, and the fleeting nature of online trends, it’s difficult to see this one sticking around for much longer.
Boozy burnout
It’s a problem the drinks industry has been grappling with for some time now: Australians, especially younger ones, are drinking less than ever. As leading drinks market analyst IWSR recently recorded, the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds who consumed wine monthly halved between 2010 and 2023. Now, they’re looking towards non alcoholic options, or opting to drink one or two glasses of wine rather than a whole bottle.
This article was originally published in the November / December edition of Hospitality magazine. Explore the magazine or subscribe here.
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