From trend to table: UFS unpacks the latest food trends in its all-new Future Menus Vol. 4 report
/Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) releases Future Menus Vol. 4, its annual report highlighting the trends that are set to shape the foodservice industry (restaurants, cafés, pubs and similar businesses), locally and globally in the near future.
In its fourth year, the 2026 edition of the report is yet another invaluable resource for chefs in Australia and New Zealand, with its comprehensive toolkit of ideas for the 12 months ahead.
According to Future Menus Vol. 4, 2026–27 will be the year of:
new eating behaviour, such as snackification, functional foods and indulgence, each reimagined in accessible new formats
Gen Z taking its place as the driver of a changing food landscape that prioritises authenticity, originality and value for money
people of all generations seeking joy in meaningful dining experiences.
“Chefmanship is at the core of everything we do at UFS. Future Menus brings real value to foodservice professionals by equipping them with practical solutions, which leads to more profitable kitchens.”
The Australia and New Zealand edition brings to life the trends UFS uncovered in last year’s Vol. 3, with fully localised content that includes all-new trending and emerging ingredients and techniques, exciting new recipes, and product solutions for effortless execution.
The four trends covered in Future Menus Vol. 4 are not short-term hypes. They represent long-term structural shifts, rooted in evolving societal, economic and industry developments:
Culinary Roots—Going beyond nostalgia, this trend is reimagining heritage as a living, joyful, delicious journey, making ancestral recipes and ancient techniques more accessible and relevant to today’s diners.
Street Food Couture—The art of street food has grown into one of the leading creative powers of gastronomy, where kitchens reinvent classic recipes with gourmet ingredients, modern cooking techniques and cultural fusions.
Borderless Cuisine—This trend is not ‘fusion’ for the fun and show of it, but instead a chance to see real and exciting culinary exchanges on a plate that build cross-cultural connection through authenticity and creativity.
Diner Designed—This trend is giving diners what they crave: a sense of choice, with eating experiences that bend a little to their needs and permit them moments of control to make dining feel empowering and fun.
For this edition, UFS has widened the scope of the recipe selection to include dishes that are easier and more cost effective than ever to execute, yet still perfectly capture the essence of the trends. From food trucks through to restaurants, there are recipes for every application.
“Staying on top of market trends is essential for business success. That’s the real strength of Future Menus.”
The research UFS carried out for Future Menus Vol. 4 included input from more than 1,100 chefs across 20 countries, in-depth interviews with 88 external mainstream chefs, an analysis of thousands of search trends and input from the 250 UFS chefs around the world to translate knowledge into practical ideas for real kitchens. The research also included discussions with 200-plus Gen Z diners.
Future Menus: globally researched, locally relevant.
