Food Trends Catering's Cinco specials

Catering is the story here — not a restaurant launch, not a recipe blog, and not really a viral food moment on its own. Food Trends, a New York catering company, used Cinco de Mayo week to spotlight a menu built for offices and events, with compact, photogenic items like mini vegetable empanadas and birria chicken tostadas. The bigger point is simple: these dishes are being sold less as meals and more as easy, premium party infrastructure. That is what makes the menu interesting. ### What actually went on sale? Food Trends published a 2026 Cinco de Mayo catering menu with several themed packages, from breakfast taco bars to self-serve bowls and hors d’oeuvres. The menu includes birria-braised chicken as a taco-bar protein, plus passed and stationary small bites like mini mole chicken empanadas and mini vegetable empanadas. A separate spring-summer hors d’oeuvres menu also lists a birria chicken tostada with pickled corn and jalapeño salsa, lime crema, cotija, and micro cilantro. ### Why those two items? Because they fit the current catering sweet spot. Empanadas and tostadas are handheld, easy to portion, and easy to style for photos. Food Trends’ mini vegetable empanadas are framed almost like a finished social post: spinach, fava bean, corn and potato, cotija, Tajín dust, and avocado oregano lime aioli. The birria chicken tostada does the same thing — as traction with diners. ### How is Food Trends pricing this? Like an event company, not a casual takeout shop. The Cinco menu puts taco bars at $44.95 per person with a 10-person minimum. Build-your-own Mexican street bowls start at $25.95 per person for classic proteins and $30.95 for premium ones. The mini vegetable empanadas are $39 per dozen, and the cantina platter runs $325 for 60 pieces or $450 packages. ### Is this a one-off holiday stunt? Not really. The same mini vegetable empanadas appear on Food Trends’ broader spring-summer drop-off menu, and the birria chicken tostada appears on its general hors d’oeuvres list. So Cinco de Mayo looks less like a totally separate menu and more like a seasonal merchandising push using items the company already knows how to produce and present. ### Why lean so hard into “mini” food? Because event catering lives on flexibility. Small bites let planners feed mixed groups, cover dietary preferences, and keep service moving without committing every guest to one plated entrée. Food Trends explicitly sells customization, diet-friendly options, and formats ranging from drop-off lunches to staffed galas. You are selling celebration, not just calories. ### What does the birria angle tell you? Birria has moved from niche menu item to mainstream flavor shorthand. Putting it on chicken instead of the more familiar beef version makes the item easier to adapt to broader event service while keeping the recognizable label. The catch is that this is not authenticity marketing in any deep sense. It is flavor branding — using names guests already know to make catering menus feel current and craveable. ### So what is the real takeaway? Food Trends’ Cinco push shows where a lot of catering is headed — toward social-looking, easy-to-share, holiday-themed small bites sold in polished packages. The news is not that empanadas or tostadas exist. It is that a caterer is turning them into premium event products with clear per-person pricing, built-in visual appeal, and just enough trend language to help clients say yes.