What Will Thrive in 2025

The Canadian foodservice industry is poised for an exciting rebound, driven by the easing of economic pressures on the consumer. Overall foodservice performance is expected to exceed that of 2024, with national and regional restaurant chains leading this growth. And, as consumers return to their favourite restaurants in greater numbers, they will be welcomed back with less-conventional foods and beverages on the menu. Read ahead to discover Technomic’s 2025 Canadian foodservice expert predictions.

Confidence Returns to Foodservice

There’s promising news for Canada’s foodservice industry. Macro-economic and foodservice-specific conditions are showing positive trend lines that will continue through next year. After enduring near-record lows in consumer confidence—due to high interest rates, soaring housing costs and political uncertainty, among other things—the outlook is beginning to brighten. As financial pressures ease and menu inflation returns to historical norms, consumers will feel empowered to spend discretionary income at restaurants. By the middle of 2025, expect foodservice to experience greater stability and positive, more predictable customer traffic.

A Greater Divide

The gap between independents and chains is set to widen. While independent operators continue to face profitability challenges and resource constraints, they will find a measure of stability in 2025. Chains, however, emerged from the pandemic with their customer bases and balance sheets intact, positioning them as now ready to make investments in menu innovation, off-premise programs, technology and elevated service experiences. This divergency will lead to a more pronounced disparity in performance between the two segments over the near term.

Restaurants to the Rescue

Canadians will turn to restaurants as an escape from everyday pressures in the year ahead. Dining out provides a more affordable way to unwind and indulge, and rising consumer confidence and disposable income will encourage more guests to turn to restaurants as a welcome retreat from cautious spending. This uptick in restaurant visitation will especially be true for weekend occasions, when guests are eager to splurge on culinary experiences. In response, expect chain restaurant operators to invest in dining room upgrades and exceptional hospitality, particularly robust staff training to enhance service quality and the in-store experience overall.

Courting Controversy

Operators will increasingly lean into chaos cookery to differentiate from competitors and capture consumer interest, especially via social media-friendly limited-time offers. Expect to see more buzzworthy yet potentially polarizing items, such as olive oil coffees or 4/20-inspired offerings. Shock-factor (some even seemingly inedible) ingredient callouts will abound on menus, especially at independents, including MSG, acid (such as lactic acid or acid phosphate), and animal entrails and other unconventional parts. And finally, operators will turn to more over-the-top, indulgent mashups (think a s’mores burger or turducken-style protein pairings) to attract culinary adventure-seekers.

Umami Tsunami

Novel and nontraditional umami elements will proliferate on menus. Umami is one of the five basic tastes, used to describe savoury or mouthwatering items, and is a key component in many global cuisines. As such, we’ll see more traditional global umami bombs such as miso, soy sauce and gochujang continue to find momentum in radical ways, while new umami-focused international condiments will also flourish, including Thai fish-and-chile sauce nam jim jaew and Korean fermented soybean paste doenjang. And look for more common and comforting umami ingredients, such as mushrooms and tomatoes, to show up in increasingly interesting and unorthodox ways, including unique preparations (think tomato raisins), quirky infusions (including mushroom sodas and tomato water) and as plant-based alternatives (such as Kentucky-fried maitake mushrooms).