Inspiration and Information for your Tabletop

When we think about dinner service in Western culture, it typically involves sitting down to rolled cutlery, maybe a bread plate, a water glass, possibly a candle, or even a salt and pepper shaker. What you typically don’t see is an empty plate, as plates are most often brought from the back-of-the-house with food on them.

Coffee continues to hold its place as one of the most popular — and most profitable — beverages in America. In fact, coffee's popularity is so consistent that the overall numbers of coffee drinkers remains fairly static from one year to the next. But that doesn't mean everything in the world of coffee stays the same.

If you grew up in rural America or had grandparents who did, you might remember summers out in the garden picking beans or cucumbers or tomatoes. Those fresh, vine ripe vegetables weren't going to last forever, though, so after the best were set aside for an evening salad, you might remember what happened next.

According to the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), 48% of all cups of coffee ordered in the United States are perceived as being "specialty" in nature, and this figure totals nearly 55% of the overall coffee market share, which is estimated to be at $48 billion.

As food and beverage consumers become increasingly sophisticated, flavor trends continue to get more exciting. Diners are looking for new and notable experiences when they dine out, and they are choosing complex flavors in all kinds of settings, from fast casual to fine dining.

Color plays a huge role in our dining experiences.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Restaurant Association Show, where top brands showcase their innovations for the restaurant industry. As always, the show will highlight some of the most exciting chef-driven trends that diners can expect to find in the coming year. The National Restaurant Association surveys chefs leading up to the show to learn first-hand about the trends they are popularizing in their kitchens. Here are a few of the hottest developments for 2019:

There's little in life more stunning than sitting in a tiny café on the island of Santorini, or along Portugal's Algarve coast, or the ancient shorelines of Israel.

Guacamole. Caesar salad. Baked Alaska. Brazilian meat carving. If this were a game show, we'd be talking about the category of tableside foodservice, and though these things will never go out of fashion, today's operators are much more creative with what they bring to the guest.