When people talk about restaurant and dining trends, they typically go right for the plate - meaning they talk about new foods, new ingredients, new food sources and the like. But restaurant trends these days go far beyond the plate - off the menu and into other areas you’d likely not think of right away.

So let’s jump into some 2017 trends that we see happening around the world and see if you saw them coming.

One of the most-common cooking elements in a QSR kitchen is easily cooking oil Used for frying, grilling, dressings and a few dozen other functions, oil is liquid gold for chefs.

Cooking oils makes food cook fast, taste good and even look good too. But working against the use of conventional cooking is the demands of consumers who want healthier options. It was just a few short years ago that the world started to make the shift away from partially-hydrogenated oils. Sure they could be stored for a long time. Their shelf life was great for the QSR industry, but the oil was a big source of trans fat which, according to dieticians and researchers, can lead to heart disease.

If you think brand loyalty is a thing of the past, think again. We hear talk of patrons going from brand-to-brand-to-brand and we just assume that it's because loyalty has jumped the shark when, in fact, the opposite is true. People leave brands because brands aren't giving them a good enough reason to stay. And in no place is those more true than in the quick-serve, fast-casual restaurant space. 

So is there anything a QSR in today's market can do to lower the likelihood of a patron exodus in search of a brand that better-suits their needs? You bet. And we'll sum it up here in two words:

It never fails - new years bring new trends which always seems to bring new words and phrases to describe them. This year is no different, so we figured we’d give you a head start on 5 new industry words you’re likely to hear now - and moving forward.

Chef-driven. There was once a time when chefs were the hidden faces of restaurants. They were rarely seen, but often revered as the hidden hero of the menu. Today is a much different story. With so many celebrity chefs on the map there is a new trend of having the chef be at the center of...well...just about everything. Whether a brand cashes in on a chef’s celebrity status, or they merely use chef-developed menu items to signify healthy and natural offerings, this trend is a response to increased demand for healthier items that are rich in creativity and dimension. And those things come from, usually, chefs.  

With many of us trying to do the right thing, choosing healthier food, when we eat it’s no wonder so many restaurants are making a shift to healthier menu ingredients.

Recently, Papa John’s (the global pizza brand) made good on its promise to eliminate a number of chemicals and ingredients from its menu items and ingredients list. The list of ingredients that the brand removed includes:

- Synthetic Beta Carotene

- Caramel Color