The top food trends for 2027 are Yemeni cafés, white peach, burnt Basque cheesecake, shakshuka-led North African spice, hyper-local styles like cheesesteak egg rolls, complex heat, smoked chiles, fig pairings and beer cheese. Each food and beverage trend on this list grew faster than fries on the same 30,760 US restaurant menus from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026.
Most food trend lists tell you what got talked about. We show what grew faster than everyday items on the same menus. Below are the nine food trends for 2027 that cleared that bar, and the shifts in the food and beverage industry behind them. For the ingredient-level view, see flavor and ingredient trends 2027. For what chains and independents are doing with these trends, see restaurant industry trends 2027.
The bar every trend had to beat: +11%
We followed the same 30,760 US operators, 7,313 chains and 23,447 independents, whose menus we captured in both Q2 2025 and Q2 2026. Comparing the same restaurants a year apart means menus newly added to our data can't fake growth. Each chain counts once, and so does each independent.
Then we set a bar. On those same menus, the median of 12 everyday items, including Caesar salad, fries, cheeseburgers and wings, grew 11%, mostly because menus list more items over time. A trend counts only if it beats +11%. Anything with fewer than 30 operators is labeled an early signal.
Café openings come from Dataplor US store records. Diner appeal comes from MenuData Pulse, a survey of 903 US adults fielded October 29 to 30, 2026. Instagram posts show how each trend looks in the wild; they are not part of the counts.
Nine food and beverage trends for 2027, ranked by growth
Trend | Status | Headline number | Reach today |
Yemeni cafés | Breakout | +352% cafés open since the end of 2023 | 1 in 250 new US cafés in 2025 |
White peach | Breakout | +106% operators | 2.0% of operators |
Burnt Basque cheesecake | Breakout | +96% operators | 0.7% of operators |
North African spice | Brunch-led | +64% shakshuka | 1.3% of operators |
Hyper-local styles | Emerging | +30% cheesesteak egg rolls and wontons | 0.8% of operators |
Complex heat | Chef-led | +27% salsa macha | 1.2% of operators |
Smoke without fire (smoked chiles) | Watch | +22% hatch chile | 0.8% of operators |
Fig | Classic | +20% operators | 5.7% of operators |
Beer cheese | Steady | +18% operators | 1.8% of operators |
Source: MenuData operator panel, same 30,760 US operators, Q2 2025 to Q2 2026 (bar +11%). Yemeni cafés: Dataplor US store records.
Four of the nine are flavor stories: complex heat, smoked chiles, North African spice and white peach. Our flavor and ingredient trends guide ranks every heat and spice we tracked, including the ones that stalled. Here we focus on the shifts underneath, and on the dishes and formats.
Three shifts behind the 2027 food trends
Three food industry trends sit underneath the list.
Diners want a third place that isn't a bar. Yemeni coffee houses are open late, serve no alcohol and invite guests to sit for hours. They are the fastest-growing café format in the country. In 2025, one in every 250 new US cafés was Yemeni, and only 4% have closed. We cover their spread in restaurant industry trends 2027.
"GLP-1 friendly" isn't selling yet. Plenty of 2027 forecasts lead with GLP-1. Diners aren't there yet: only 22% would order items labeled GLP-1 friendly. That's the lowest of the 20 concepts we tested, even though 46% have heard the term. The full report breaks every concept out by GLP-1 household.
Familiar dishes in new formats beat new dishes. The plain cheesesteak grew 8%, below the bar. Cheesesteak egg rolls and wontons grew 30%. Basque cheesecake is still a cheesecake, and fig is moving from the cheese board into mains. Diners order a new format more readily when the flavor is one they already know.
Burnt Basque cheesecake nearly doubled
Burnt Basque cheesecake is a crustless cheesecake baked hot until the top scorches and the center stays soft. Operators serving it nearly doubled, from 112 to 219 (+96%), and 88% of them aren't Spanish restaurants. It looks imperfect and photographs instantly, which suits the move from plated desserts to rustic ones. One home recipe drew 22,093 likes on Instagram.
The spread runs through cuisines, not courses: 98% of it is still dessert. New American menus are up 132%, Italian menus nearly tripled, bakeries rose 80% and coffee shops doubled. Japanese and Korean cafés made the cake their own with matcha and ube. Chefs keep stretching it, with pumpkin miso in San Jose, burnt corn in Kansas City and qahwa in College Park. New formats include minis, lava, muffins, shakes and ice cream.
It needs no water bath and batches easily, which suits volume. Chains have barely started: it's on under 1% of chain brands. That's white space for a bakery-café or coffee chain, or a frozen dessert supplier, to move first.
Hyper-local styles travel as shareable formats
Hyper-local styles are a city's signature dish, served in a format people can share. Detroit has its square pan and crispy edge. Philly has steak, onions and cheese. The trend is the place, not an ingredient.
What travels is the recognizable part of the dish. Cheesesteak egg rolls and wontons grew from 191 to 249 operators (+30%). Cheesesteak burgers and sliders rose 13%, and tacos and empanadas 11%. The plain sandwich still carries the volume, at 3,448 operators, but it grew only 8%. Detroit-style pizza is an early signal, on 21 operators, with Domino's launch driving the buzz online.
Shareable appetizers are the easiest way in for bars and casual dining, and they're the format chains can roll out.
Beer cheese is leaving the pretzel, slowly
Beer cheese is a steady trend, not an explosive one. Operators carrying it grew 18%, from 480 to 567, which puts it on 1.8% of operators. Two in three still serve it with a pretzel.
The growth is in new uses: beer cheese soups rose 35% and tacos 24%. Breweries make it with their own beer and name it on the menu, which turns a commodity dip into a house signature. Of the operators carrying it, 83% are American restaurants, bars and pubs. Only 2% are German. Plan game-day LTOs every fall. Cheese and sauce suppliers selling to bars have a clear opening.
Two of the nine trends are drinks
White peach is the fastest-growing flavor in the report, at +106%, and most of that growth is in cocktails, tea and sparkling drinks. Yemeni cafés are taking milky, cardamom-heavy chai into the mainstream: named chai outside Indian menus grew 68%. Moroccan mint tea, part of the North African trend, grew 35% from a small base. Our flavor and ingredient trends guide covers how each one is used.
Where the white space is for 2027
The emerging food trends worth acting on pair strong growth with low reach. Basque cheesecake, salsa macha, chili crisp and hatch are all on under 2% of chain brands. Those are the lanes a supplier or chain can still lead. For manufacturers, that means frozen and batch-ready Basque cheesecake, heat-forward sauces and seasonal hatch. For bar and casual-dining chains, it means shareable regional appetizers and a fall beer cheese LTO.
Every company reading this list sees the same nine trends. The advantage goes to the team that works out first which one fits its own portfolio. That is what Insights and Innovation at MenuData is for.
Dashboards don't make decisions. People do.
Frequently asked questions
What are the biggest food trends for 2027? The biggest food trends for 2027 are Yemeni cafés (+352% since 2023), white peach (+106%), burnt Basque cheesecake (+96%), shakshuka (+64%) and cheesesteak egg rolls (+30%). MenuData measured each one on the same 30,760 US restaurant menus from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026. Each grew faster than everyday items, which rose 11%.
What is burnt Basque cheesecake? Burnt Basque cheesecake is a crustless cheesecake from San Sebastián, Spain, baked at high heat so the top scorches and the center stays soft. US operators serving it nearly doubled in a year, from 112 to 219, and 88% of them are not Spanish restaurants.
Are GLP-1 friendly menu items a trend? Not yet. In a MenuData survey of 903 US adults in October 2026, only 22% said they would order items labeled "GLP-1 friendly." That was the lowest of 20 food concepts tested, even though 46% had heard of it.
What is a hyper-local food trend? A hyper-local food trend takes a city's signature dish and serves it in a new, shareable format, such as cheesesteak egg rolls or Detroit-style pizza. Cheesesteak egg rolls and wontons grew 30% on US menus in a year, while the plain cheesesteak grew 8%.
Is beer cheese still popular on menus? Yes. Operators serving beer cheese grew 18% in a year, to 567 of 30,760 tracked US operators. Two in three still serve it with a pretzel, but beer cheese soups (+35%) and tacos (+24%) are growing faster.
Get the full 2027 Trends report
The MenuData 2027 Trends report covers all nine trends, with the dishes and chefs behind each and the full consumer detail: 20 concepts ranked by appeal and awareness, who wants each flavor by generation, and where diners would buy it.
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