Over the summer, when Minneapolis Public Schools students were receiving meal boxes, school chef and trainer Rebecca Polson, C.C., SNS, jumped on the YouTube “unboxing” trend and made videos to help families use the items in the boxes, which included things like tamales, personal pizzas, ramen and more.

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Dishes like chicken Parmesan in all its cheesy glory have been helping chefs nourish customers this year. And it’s not just chicken Parm…we are seeing comfort foods from around the world this year.

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Boxes and bags loaded up with good nutrition, convenient heat-and-eat items, fresh produce, treats and more: meal kits are a great way to serve your customers in these crazy times.

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While downtime obviously isn’t good for business, when you’re in silver-lining mode, it can be a time for chefs to stop and contemplate new menu directions. That was the case over the summer at Elon University, where the Harvest Table Culinary Group created new bowls, biscuits, Chicago beef sandwiches, bao buns and a Low Country boil. 

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Civilization’s greatest portable food invention, sandwiches have had quite a few moments in 2020, from the amazing selections of FM’s Best Sandwiches contest to a K-12 chef developing global handheld menu to keep school lunch adventurous. We also saw the extension of a trend that began last year: crispy chicken sandwiches.

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As we look for silver linings, the return of composed salads like the Caesar, niçoise and Waldorf has been a bright spot. And in terms of wellness, the “power bowl” trend with grains, greens and lean proteins has only gotten stronger this year.

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Chefs and dietitians agree—what you eat affects your overall wellness. While we all want comfort during this tumultuous year, now’s the time to take another look at healthy menu items, a true key to your customers’ wellness.

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Food truck cuisine (fun, funky, gourmet, global, regional and portable) first caught on about a decade ago, and then like anything, the novelty wore off a bit. The pandemic has brought a resurgence, plus the use of new tech like we’ve never seen before, such as the robots on campus at Bowling Green State University and projects like Sodexo’s The Stache electric cart at New Mexico State University. The Stache pops up on campus to give students socially distanced ways to get breakfast burritos (with the famous Hatch chiles, naturally!), salads, hummus plates, sandwiches and agua fresca.

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Streamlining, not downsizing. That’s how we’ve viewed pared down menus that save time and labor. Narrowing down a menu to top favorites allows you and your crew to execute those items better. And a perfectly done cheeseburger (animal- or plant-based) is always in fashion. A pop-up cookout by senior dining chef Eileen Goos, CDM, CFPP, director of dining at Presbyterian Communities. Through the in-house TV channel, residents followed the chef then got the burgers safely delivered.

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