Breakfast traffic at restaurants around the country is picking up speed, to the delight of restaurant operators everywhere. One of the reasons for this is the newfound focus on innovative breakfasts that are bringing new, exciting creations from one coast to another.
The old breakfast standbys, like eggs, sausage, and toast, are still very much alive and well on restaurant menus. But there are also several new dishes popping up that are breathing new life into the first meal of the day.
Innovative Breakfast Trends
Here are three of the most popular new breakfast concepts we’re seeing in restaurants:
Sweet Weekends
Customers have always been prone to choosing hearty, savory breakfast entrees during the week, then on the weekends, they tend to order rich, sugary sweet meals. As such, restaurants are satisfying that early day sweet tooth with all kinds of over-the-top renditions of waffles, crepes, French toast, and all the sweet fixins you can imagine.
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Even IHOP has gotten on board with this innovative trend. Its King’s Hawaiian roll French toast and its indulgent Big Island Breakfast Stack are especially popular. Hawaiian sweet rolls are sliced, French toasted, and then stuffed with ham, lingonberries, cheese, and two fried eggs. Decadent additions include whipped cream and ice cream.
Creative Bowls
Breakfast eaters have long been ordering oatmeal and grits in the mornings, but they are now looking for grain-centered breakfasts that go above and beyond the everyday ingredients. Protein is being incorporated into grain bowls now, and the trend is catching on quickly.
Examples include bowls with a base of quinoa, brown rice, and farro that are topped with chicken breast and poached or scrambled eggs. Then, the bowl is served with avocado and drizzled with a light, lemon balsamic vinaigrette. Kale and watermelon radish are well-loved garnishes.
Other exciting bowls we’re seeing at breakfast include those with sorrel pesto, hot sauce, French sheep feta, lemon, frizzled onions, cardamom ghee, and more. They just don’t make grain bowls like they used to!
Second Breakfast
The concept of eating “three square meals a day” has been dying out for quite some time, and we’re seeing independent restaurants all over the country finally tapping into the opportunity to offer more – specifically, they’re offering second breakfasts.
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A Technomic report on snacking shows that 44% of consumers eat snacks when they get to school or work. It’s the perfect time for second breakfast! Restaurants are delightfully catering to the surge in customers who want to eat a mid-morning meal.
“Brunchfast” menu items often include grab-and-go choices that can be anything from sous vide egg items to coconut chia pudding. Breakfast cookies made with oats, honey, peanut butter, coconut, and chocolate chips tend to fly off the counter. Breakfast snacks are dissolving that “three-meals-a-day” rule, and no one seems to be complaining about it.
Be on the Lookout for Other Breakfast Innovations
Some other innovative breakfast trends spreading through restaurants include smoothie bowls and breakfast hash that goes above traditional meat, potatoes, onions, and peppers. You can also enjoy menu items of all kinds that blend traditional lunch and dinner foods with classic morning dishes.
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