National Restaurant Show spots 5 trends

Restaurant Business reported on May 20 that five product themes stood out at the National Restaurant Association Show after four days of booth tastings in Chicago. The trade publication said the 2026 Show ended Tuesday at McCormick Place and featured about 2,200 exhibits spanning food, beverages and equipment. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) The National Restaurant Association said more than 53,000 people attended the event, which ran May 16-19. Together, those reports offered a snapshot of what suppliers are pushing and what restaurant operators are being asked to test next. (nationalrestaurantshow.com) ### Which five trends did Restaurant Business say stood out on the floor? Patricia Cobe of Restaurant Business wrote that the five standouts were duck-based cured meats, functional refreshment beverages, vegetable-forward meat alternatives, matcha used as a cold-foam topper, and lighter Italian aperitifs. She framed them as products that “popped out” during the Show’s four days of tasting. Restaurant Business said several exhibitors were sampling duck bacon, duck prosciutto and duck sausage, extending a broader restaurant habit of turning familiar formats into new proteins. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) The same article said plant-based meat analogs were less prominent this year, with more products built from vegetables such as roasted artichokes instead of imitation meat. ### Why did beverages take up so much of the conversation? Restaurant Business said ready-to-drink THC and CBD beverages were widely available for sampling, while functional sparkling drinks from Osia were pitched around specific effects including relaxation, energy and uplift. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) The National Restaurant Association separately said THC-infused beverages and low-sugar flavored syrups were among the more prominent items on the Show floor. The Association said Pepsi’s Drips sugar-free syrups were being marketed for mocktails and were due to debut in August. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) That lines up with a broader push toward nonalcoholic and lower-sugar drink formats at a show that also highlighted beverage stages and mixology programming. ### Was plant-based still a theme, or had the pitch changed? Restaurant Business said the plant-based category was still present, but the emphasis had shifted away from faux meat toward vegetables taking the form of burgers and other center-of-plate items. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) Its example was Sud ‘n Sol burgers made with roasted artichokes and Mediterranean seasonings. The National Restaurant Association pointed to a similar, though not identical, direction. In its own Show roundup, it highlighted plant-based protein and “alternative beef” from Chunks, which it said was a clean-label vegetarian protein and a 2026 FABI Award winner. (restaurant.org) ### Where did menu flavor and format experimentation show up? Restaurant Business said matcha was moving into more mainstream formats through fruit flavors, oat milk and sweetened cold foam. It cited Technomic data showing mentions of matcha on menus rose 3.6% year over year, with growth coming from lattes, iced teas, bubble teas and toppings. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) The same article said Italian aperitifs were being reformulated into lighter cocktail builds, citing Savoia Rosso as a lower-alcohol shortcut for a Negroni-style drink. The Association’s broader trend materials also pointed to global flavors, beverage experimentation and savory spice blends as active areas for operators. (restaurant.org) ### How much of this was about food, and how much was about restaurant operations? The National Restaurant Association Show described itself as a place to explore sustainable packaging, plant-based foods, beverages and cutting-edge technology. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) Its preview materials also pointed attendees to the TECH Pavilion, Global Food Expo and Beverage Room Stage, underscoring that product discovery and service technology were being marketed side by side. Restaurant Business’s May 20 roundup focused on what editors tasted, not on adoption rates by operators. But the official Show materials and Association coverage make clear that suppliers were pitching menu innovation alongside automation, packaging and other operating tools. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) The National Restaurant Association has already posted dates for the next edition of the Show. The 2027 National Restaurant Show is scheduled for May 22-25 at McCormick Place in Chicago, where exhibitors and operators will return to test which of this year’s products become next year’s staples. (nationalrestaurantshow.com) (restaurantbusinessonline.com)