What are the hottest trends on restaurant menus for 2014?  A new survey just released by the National Restaurant Association asked professional chefs and the American Culinary Federation.  They say the trend for locally sourced meats and seafood will be the most important trend with locally grown produce coming in at number two. Whether you call it "farm to table" or locally sourced, this seems like a trend that is here to stay.  The local sourcing of meats and seafood sourcing were ranked "HOT" by 81% of the chefs with 79% saying the same about produce.

The restaurant brokers recently interviewed Dr. Dubost, a nutritionist and spokesperson for the National Restaurant Association and she keyed in on "Kids nutrition" as a trend.  The rankings on this annual report certainly support that discussion. Within the top 20, Healthful Kids' meals took the number four position, Children's nutrition weighed in as the 7th hottest trend for next year, whole grain items in kids meals made the number twelve position and fruits and vegetables as kids' side items came in at number 19.  

Here's a look at the top twenty trends identified for 2014 ranked from top to bottom. 

1. Locally sourced meats and seafood
2. Locally grown produce
3. Environmental sustainability
4. Healthful kids’ meals
5. Gluten-free cuisine 
6. Hyper-local sourcing (e.g. restaurant gardens)
7. Children’s nutrition
8. Non-wheat noodles/pasta (e.g. quinoa, rice, buckwheat)
9. Sustainable seafood
10. Farm/estate branded items
11. Nose-to-tail/root-to-stalk cooking (e.g. reduce food waste by using entire animal/plant)
12. Whole grain items in kids’ meals
13. Health/nutrition
14. New cuts of meat (e.g. Denver steak, pork flat iron, tri-tip)
15. Ancient grains (e.g. kamut, spelt, amaranth)
16. Ethnic-inspired breakfast items (e.g. Asian-flavored syrups, Chorizo scrambled eggs, coconut milk pancakes)
17. Grazing (e.g. small-plate sharing/snacking instead of traditional meals)
18. Non-traditional fish (e.g. branzino, Arctic char, barramundi)
19. Fruit/vegetable children’s side items
20. Half-portions/smaller portions for a smaller price

The entire list of trends is broken down every way you can imagine from ranking on preparation methods (by the way, Pickling is the winner in the category) to Cocktails where Onsite barrel-aged drinks lead the list followed by culinary cocktails and regional signature drinks.

The survey did not limit itself to cuisine alone The chefs participating in the survey answered questions about online reviews, a topic we've recently tackled on the restaurant brokers radio show.    

The survey question was:  How do online reviews by consumers on sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor affect restaurants?  The answers are not surprising.  

52% say negative reviews are damaging to customer traffic and sales
48% say positive reviews mainly attract first-time visitors 
37% say online reviews are more important that newspaper/magazine reviews 
Only 11% believe that consumers don’t trust online reviews 
1 in ten don't have an opinion since 10% don’t know 
9% say online reviews only matter to younger consumers
Slightly more than 1 in twenty (only 6%) say online reviews don’t have much of an impact.

It also seems that chefs are working to make recipes more healthy since 59% say they are "making efforts to adjust dishes/recipes to be more healthful, for example, by using more fruit and vegetables or reducing sodium?"  Only 6% responded no and 33% say, "I try, but not all recipes are easily adjusted."  

When asked which trend has staying power, 38% of the chefs believe the hottest menu trend 10 years from now will be Environmental sustainability 38% followed by Local sourcing at 22%, Health/nutrition at 18% (e.g. low-fat, reduced sodium, whole grain), 

Children’s nutrition 10%
Gluten-free cuisine 8%
Other 4%

The restaurant brokers have an upcoming radio show on the topic of technology so we were glad to see the National Restaurant Association ask the question, "What is the hottest technology trend in restaurants for 2014?"  The answers:

• Tablet computers (e.g. iPad) for menus, wine lists and 27% ordering
• Smartphone/tablet apps for consumers 25% (e.g. ordering, menus, daily deals)
• Smartphone/tablet apps for chefs/restaurateurs 19% (e.g. recipes, table management, POS tracking)
• Mobile/wireless payment options 16%
• Social media for marketing/loyalty programs 13%
• Other 1%