NAVIGATING 2026: THE ESSENTIAL TRENDS REPORT
The future is knocking. Are you ready?
Forget business as usual. 2026 demands a new playbook as a shifting economy, demographic changes, digital revolution and sustainability pressures reshape the global landscape. Businesses ready to win will confront operational challenges head-on, embrace technological innovation and pivot to meet evolving consumer desires.
From global flavours to wellness to the GLP-1 effect on dining, smart operators are tracking these trends and embracing them. And make no mistake: Strong, adaptable supply chains won’t just be an advantage, they’ll be essential.
1 Comfort foods with international flair
Crafting menus that blend global adventure with comforting familiarity appeals to different generational palates. Cater to Gen Z’s TikTok- fuelled craving for bold international flavours and millennials’ desire for elevated comfort food by integrating innovative cross-cultural ingredient combinations, moving beyond traditional dishes to create truly resonant culinary experiences . Think of pasta with an umami punch from miso or swapping out chilli powder with fiery Korean gochugaru, for instance.
Entegra Solution
Entegra’s MenuSmart Advisory Service provides insights and culinary expertise to help you innovate at scale and within budget to capture diverse guest preferences and optimise ingredient sourcing for new creations.
The experiential evolution
curating unforgettable moments
In hospitality, simply providing a bed and a meal isn’t enough. Guests are seeking deeper connections, personalised journeys and memorable moments that resonate long after they’ve left your property.
In the following experiential trends, we’ll explore how to move beyond basic amenities and into the realm of curated experiences that tap into emotions, ignite the senses and create lasting impressions.
Master accessible indulgence by delivering premium casual experiences with a focus on high-quality core ingredients and luxurious add-ons. This creates a sense of upscale quality without the prohibitive price tag . 2 We see this in some Select Service hotels, where guests stay in smaller rooms, maximising the revenue per square foot, while premium touches in decor, bedding and bathroom amenities continue to give guests a sense of value.
As operators weigh profitability, customers aren’t sacrificing desires for luxury; they’re redefining it. The rise of “premium casual” means delivering thoughtful touches of elegance and elevated experiences at approachable price points, turning everyday moments into mini-splurges.
Entegra Solution
Discover unique products with Entegra’s custom contracting. Do you have a niche requirement to complete your luxury experience but can’t find the right solution in our supplier list? Our procurement experts can source exactly what your business needs through tailored contracting – ensuring you get the perfect fit, every time.
2 Upscale premium casual
3 GLP1’s impact
Reconfigure menus and service models for mindful, quality-overquantity dining experiences. The rise of weight-loss drugs is leading to a growing demand for smaller, more nutrient-dense portions and a de-emphasis on volume-based concepts like all-you-can-eat buffets. Moving traditional appetisers to sharable tapas, creating more social experiences and giving diners a greater variety to sample from meets the moment for diners and your budget.3
Entegra Solution
Entegra’s Beagle platform is a comprehensive system that collates dashboards, Eprocurement, flash reporting, and allergen management all in once place. With data at your fingertips throughout the ordering process you can easily identify the products you need to meet the demands of your menu.
4 Immersive guest experiences
Generic experiences fail to stand out in a crowded market. Create 360degree immersive experiences that transport guests through authentic storytelling. Think of menus with ingredients sourced from local purveyors, smallwares created by local artisans, even decor that speaks to local specialties, to create immersive, curated experiences. From hyper-local sourcing to strategic scent marketing and partnerships with local artists, every detail will engage all five senses. This creates a truly enveloping and emotionally resonant guest journey.4
Create deeper connections with guests
Entegra Solution
We can help you source unique local ingredients and artisanal products through our saving and purchasing solutions that support your authentic storytelling, along with design elements that enhance immersive experiences.
Drive social sharing Foster powerful brand loyalty
“ Focus on shifting to emotionally resonant experiences, staff empowerment and balancing high-touch/low-touch options.”
Natalie Lovegrove Business Development Manager, Entegra
Explore adaptogen integration to tap into emerging consumer demand for natural remedies. This means embracing opportunities for sophisticated gourmet production and adaptogen-enhanced mindful health offerings to unlock new revenue streams. In hospitality, we’ve seen this with adaptogen-infused drinks, or even the option of spa products with adaptogen ingredients.
The integration of adaptogens goes beyond simple product inclusion; it’s about curating a holistic and restorative guest experience. By incorporating these natural substances, hospitality brands can create a unique selling proposition, catering to guests seeking not just a meal or a stay, but a chance to de-stress and rejuvenate.
With Entegra’s MenuSmart service, our seasoned culinary team supports you in menu development. Stay on top of the latest ingredient trends and develop innovative new recipes all while implementing cost, time and labour-saving strategies to make your business more efficient, profitable and memorable.
5 Adaptogen infusions
6 Move over matcha: It’s magnesium’s moment
Embed holistic wellness as a core offering, catering to the health-conscious guest through advanced functional beverages with ingredients like herbs, mushrooms, electrolytes, vitamins, minerals and probiotics. Matcha has had its moment in the spotlight but now, magnesium-infused drinks that offer deep hydration, energy and focus are the next “it” drink.
5
The pursuit of health has moved beyond fleeting fads to become fundamental driver of consumer choice, particularly for Gen Z and healthconscious millennials. Hospitality businesses are pivoting — offering everything from functional foods to immersive wellness experiences and tapping into a booming market.
Entegra Solution
While Entegra advisory services can help design and implement health conscious menus, our saving and purchasing solutions can give you access to a wide array of wellness-focused products and ingredients such alcohol alternative drinks and plant-forward meals.
Sushi to go? Innovate with packaging
Optimise every aspect of the off-premise dining experience for delivery dominance with ventilated and insulated packaging for consistent food quality, designing travel-tested menus with deconstructed dishes for athome assembly and mastering advanced search engine optimisation (SEO) for delivery apps to ensure digital visibility.6
Winning this competitive space requires more than just good food; work with your packaging manufacturers and culinary consultants to create delivery-oriented menus that maintain the right temperature and transport well. Think sushi to go! Getting that delicate dish delivered just right will make or break the experience.
We can help you source innovative packaging and ingredients with our saving and purchasing solutions to help you optimise your offerings for delivery.
TikTok is a true tastemaker. The platform has revolutionised what we crave and eat, and foodservice operators who discern the hottest trends can capture interest and keep guests satisfied.
From Dubai chocolate to fancy beef franks (hot dogs!), you’ll have to leverage social listening for real-time insights. Keeping an eye toward social trends, and shaping the trend to your business, helps innovate and personalise the guest experience.7
Be sure to respond to customer discussions on social media and use crowdsourcing to gather ideas for new menu items and offerings.
Add exciting, appealing dishes to your menu
Create guest loyalty and trust
Entegra Solution
On-trend ingredient selection, strategic menu design, and presentation advice so that your offerings are as photogenic as possible. When you work with Entegra’s culinary team, you’ll nail the trends that matter for your business and bypass the ones that don’t.
8 Cashing in on TikTok trends
9 The AI revolution
From automating mundane tasks to providing predictive insights, AI is reshaping how hospitality businesses buy, manage and optimise their supply chains, making operations smarter and faster. AI is set to revolutionise how we strategise, but as adoption becomes more widespread, hospitality operators will need creativity and new skills to develop unique options.8
Cost savings Improve decisionmaking speed Run a more strategic procurement function
“ It’s important to highlight AI as a decision-making partner yet always remember that human oversight is necessary. This prevents normalisation bias and helps ensure AI contributes to the organisation’s overarching objectives like DEI and innovation. In short, AI has the potential to help us anticipate global disruptions, improve how we find and manage suppliers and make better decisions proactively.”
Adam Sarbudeen Vice President, Entegra Digital Solutions
Entegra Solution
By using our advanced data and digital tools, you can leverage analytics to streamline your procurement processes. This will help you predict needs and automate tasks for maximum efficiency.
1 0 Outsmart inflation
Hospitality operators need to deeply analyse the forces driving up expenses, including elevated energy costs. By applying tactics like innovative sourcing and negotiation, using advanced food waste reduction technologies, businesses can transform savings into significant bottom-line gains.9
Control costs Strategic pricing
Entegra Solution
Resilient supplier network
Our saving and purchasing solutions are designed to maximise your savings across products, supplies, services and equipment, directly combating inflationary pressures. Entegra solutions also broaden your access to an inclusive network of trusted suppliers. This commitment not only helps us de-risk operations and enhance supply chain resilience, but it also directly supports local economies.
Given today’s unpredictable disruptions, an over-reliance on a single supplier is a significant risk. Expanding your sourcing portfolio across national, regional and local channels isn’t just a smart way to manage risk; it’s a strategy for building resilient operations.
Embrace advanced analytics and automation for informed decisionmaking. Leverage sophisticated predictive analytics for demand forecasting, utilise data-driven supplier performance evaluations and integrate robotic process automation (RPA) in back-office functions to move beyond manual processes and unlock hidden efficiencies.10
Our operations team have expertise using a number of common P2P systems and are equipped to seamlessly support your business regardless of what digital tools you may already be using.
Entegra Solution
11 Data-driven operations
12 Clean sourcing
Incorporate comprehensive traceability in your supply chain. Since some purchasing decisions by specific generational groups are increasingly driven by a focus on ethical practices, businesses need to implement systems like B Corp certification and clearly communicate their commitments to build trust and meet public expectations.
11 A B Corporation, also known as a Certified B Corp, is a for-profit company that has been certified by B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency
12 NielsenIQ, The Sustainability Imperative: Consumer Demand for Sustainable Products (2025 Update).
13 EcoVadis is a purpose-led company whose mission is to provide the world’s most trusted business sustainability ratings Businesses of all sizes rely on EcoVadis’ expert intelligence and evidence-based ratings to monitor and improve the sustainability performance of their business and trading partners. Its actionable scorecards, benchmarks, carbon action tools, and insights guide an improvement journey for environmental, social and ethical practices across 200 industry categories and 175 countries. Industry leaders such as Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal, Unilever, LVMH, Bridgestone, BASF and JPMorgan are among the 100,000 businesses that collaborate with EcoVadis to drive resilience, sustainable growth and positive impact worldwide
Entegra Solution
Entegra can work with you to align your specific sustainability goals, from direct operations to your broader supply chain. We can also help you source materials responsibly through our parent company, Sodexo, advancing your corporate social responsibility and inclusivity goals. Using a resource like EcoVadis and a committee 13 like Hospitality Alliance for Responsible Procurement (HARP), which Entegra is a founding member of, we can provide complete transparency into your lodging suppliers, helping you confidently manage risk and share your progress.
You can count on Entegra to consistently stay one step ahead of emerging trends, anticipating shifts and innovations so you don’t have to. We’re dedicated to ensuring you’re always prepared for what’s next, allowing you to focus on your core business with confidence.
Let’s talk. Contact us to learn