Seven Game-Changing Trends in Restaurant Design

For more than three decades, we have helped foodservice operators transform their customer experience to ensure relevance. Most recently, I had the privilege of speaking with and listening to industry leaders about the challenges and opportunities facing the industry. On top of the conventional debates surrounding labor shortages and increased costs, the following five more profound changes are altering restaurants' operations. I have grouped the trends into immediate and long-term factors impacting the industry.

Five Short-Term Trends Impacting Foodservice Now

The following five trends are currently occurring worldwide, with varying degrees of implementation and sophistication. Food service operators must consider how their brands are stacking up against these trends and develop strategies to ensure continued relevance.

Designing Spaces That Could Do a Lot at Once

Do you remember that restaurants used to have a front door and possibly a drive-up? Those days are gone. Previously, 12 percent shifted to 80 percent practically overnight, and currently, guests demand to dine in, pick up mobile orders, drive through, grab deliveries, and place orders at the kiosks simultaneously, all under the same roof.

The brands that are calculating this are realizing actual outcomes. Qdoba now has specific pickup lanes and experienced a 20 percent increase in sales. However, there is a twist to this: Starbucks realized that 30 percent of orders are made via mobile, whereas the remaining 70 percent of clients desire that coffeehouse feel. Indeed, they had converted some pickup shops into full cafes with registers and pastry cases since people were missing the experience. The shift has had a significant impact, stopping their sales declines.

The key opportunity is to not compel customers to choose between convenience and experience. Space designs that are flexible to provide both. 

Creating Restaurants that People Will Remember

Our ThinkBlink assessment found that most restaurant brands are technically adequate but emotionally empty. They are crammed into what the industry pundits refer to as the mass middle, and slender fractions of a point separate them, yet they are all capable of it, and none of them is memorable. A memorable experience counts, as it is a key driver of growth, while things like service, offerings, and convenience become table stakes.

The emotion you bring about is your competitive advantage in a world of commoditized menus.

The successful ones, such as In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A, have broken another code. They are emotionally connected leaders who do not necessarily innovate on a menu basis. How? They are interested in design features that generate engagement, rather than functionality.

Pizza Hut brought the kitchens to the front and installed floor-to-ceiling glass walls so customers could see their pizzas being prepared. The Cava project Soul, which introduced natural light, plants, and red oak tables, and quantified actual rises in customer satisfaction and staff pride. Shake Shack plays regional music playlists, which they shake and replace harsh lights with warm, layered environments.

This is supported by the statistics: 68 percent of diners revisit the restaurant when they have an emotional attachment to it. The emotion you bring about is your competitive advantage in a world of commoditized menus.

In a Bid to Make Work Human, AI Is Used

This is the contradiction: Gen Z wants less technology and more human contact during restaurant visits. The smart move? AI must not be used to put people out of business, but to liberate them to focus on the human aspects that are important.

Ultimately, technology must enhance human abilities, not human relationships.

The kiosks at Shake Shack currently process 40-70 percent of orders, yet they did not reduce staff; instead, they shifted them to table service positions, which employees find more fulfilling, as customers appreciate the efforts. Cava leverages AI to reduce months of data analysis to hours, allowing their teams to be creative in solving problems rather than wasting time in spreadsheet hell.

In 2024, some 30 percent of operators began using AI, and another 48 percent intend to do so this year. Behind-the-scenes tasks are being used by the winners, such as inventory predictions, labor scheduling, and maintenance optimization, but humans should remain in the spotlight of hospitality. Ultimately, technology must enhance human abilities, not human relationships.

Going Global and Yet Remaining Local

With offices in Canada, China and Oman in addition to our global assignments, we noted the dilemma global brands face is stern. How do ensure consistency while also being sensitive to local culture? Wagamama learned the same lesson when it ventured into the US market. Their UK concept—community seating, fast service, bar-oriented design—flopped. Americans wanted personal space in their booths, larger bar programs, and slower service, since rush service does not translate to hospitality in this country.

Pizza Hut nailed this with 3,000+ transformations in 100+ countries. Their Dubai outlet upholds Arabic architecture and offers views of the Burj Khalifa fountains. Their restaurant in Pakistan is rooted in local culture while also meeting world-class standards. The key is standardizing everything behind the scenes (kitchens, equipment, prep) and leave local teams with the freedom to create their own customer experience.

Starbucks does this excellently through its small-humor strategy —such as drugs, plants, local art, etc. —that make each store feel like a member of its neighborhood, not a corporate drop shop. The result? International coverage, national interest.

Doing It with Franchisees like a Cog, not a Barrier

Historical, relationships between franchisor and franchisee have been frosty at best. However, we are noticing a significant shift. Leading brands no longer view franchisees as sources of capital; they now see them as innovation partners. Qdoba collects 60-70 data points to evaluate each possible site and will, in fact, filter out those that would put franchisees in a failed position, even though it costs them franchise fees.

Burger King developed a 40,000-square-foot innovation facility where franchisees, crew members, and corporate teams work together on the floor —no hierarchy, only common-sense problem-solving. They experiment with full-scale models before rolling out, so everyone is aware of what really works in real operational conditions.

Pizza shows that cultural alignment is significant. They receive 3,000 applications for 50 spots in their tattoo program (one year of free Pizza if they have the brand tattooed on themselves). Such passion demands franchisees who really embrace the mission. They have even sold out places that failed to live up to the brand's promise, since integrity is more important than speedy growth.

The franchise business is on the brink of reaching 900 billion in economic contribution. The brands experiencing such growth realize that franchisees' success defines the system's strength.

Two Long-Term Trends that Are Going to Transform Foodservice

Based on our yearly trends analysis on future focused industry indicators, two early-stage trends are slowly developing and will radically transform the foodservice industry within three to five years.

Deliberately Sensory Design: Designing Emotions

It is not about projection-mapping tricks or VR headsets. What is up and coming is the scientific application of sensory design to induce specific emotional and physiological reactions that lead to loyalty. Our firm pioneered the combination of neuroscience and vertual reality concept testing more than a decade ago and the technology is getting smarter and smaller.

Within a few years, restaurants will start adjusting sensory information in real time, dimming lights when needed, slowing or speeding music to affect how long people spend in the restaurant, and launching scents to encourage people to buy something.

Sensory features are changing the way entertainment is delivered into evidence-based tools. We have noted customers have returned to restaurants where they were emotionally engaged, and specific inputs are necessary: warm lighting triggers appetite, lavender smells help reduce stress, and classical music enhances the taste of chocolate. This is entirely consistent with our NPS/BlinkFactor tenet studies, which show that emotional equity rather than functional competence is the determinant of competitive advantage.

This is the solution to the mass middle problem, where dozens of brands are matched functionally. Leading establishments will match each meal with a specific light, sound, and smell to enhance the perception of the flavor. The result? The differentiation that commands high pricing and gives the Instagram moments desired by 87 percent of diners.

Shake Shack speakers curate the area's music and eliminate glare lights to create a hot environment. Starbucks overlays local art with sensuousness. The Taco Bell cantina in downtown LA also offers immersive experiences. The facilities are available- personalized audio, targeted lighting, AR menus, and temperature-controllable serving vessels. The purposefulness of it is changing.

This is inevitable because of the convergence with AI. Within a few years, restaurants will start adjusting sensory information in real time, dimming lights when needed, slowing or speeding music to affect how long people spend in the restaurant, and launching scents to encourage people to buy something.

Retro Rejuvenation: Growing into Cultural Custodians

We are witnessing the emergence of restaurants positioned as guardians of culture rather than mere food vendors. This forms emotional moats that competitors are unable to traverse in an age of generic globalization. In our work with Pizza Hut, we call these, moments of family therapy, the only time families get together is when they eat out in a restaurant.

Our research showed that generic corporate conditions are rebuffed, and that a localized brand, such as Starbucks' community-oriented touches, or Pizza Hut's culturally celebratory designs, creates superior emotional equity. Consumers are seeking food experiences that help them feel connected to the tradition, place, and a common history.

The concept of cultural custodianship provides a strong sense of belonging for patrons and employees.

The concept of cultural custodianship provides a strong sense of belonging for patrons and employees. In-N-Out has a stronger experience index despite the menu's stagnation, as experience cannot be replaced culturally. The example of Mother, Pizza in Toronto is ideal; the brand was killed, revived with the help of old recipes in the atmosphere of the 1920s, and became an immediate community anchor due to its perception as a cultural memory keeper.

The Dubai flagship of Pizza Hut features an exhibition of Arabic architecture overlooking the Burj Khalifa; the Pakistan branch of the franchise features local culture. Starbucks incorporates rugs, plants, and local art to make every location look neighborhood based. The community mission of Pizza creates 3,000 tattoo applicants for 50 positions due to a connection to cultural authenticity.

It is not nostalgia marketing; it is cultural translation. Comfort food is returning, but with a high level of execution in restaurants, there is a display of local-global fusion with local ingredients, allowing regional teams to celebrate their traditions as part of modular operational systems.

What Does This All Mean

These short and long-term trends are not independent issues, but they are related opportunities. Using technology to conduct transactions gives your team time to focus on hospitality. Meet the needs of all ordering channels without compelling customers to make sacrifices. Create emotional services that transform a first-time visitor into a regular. Design systems that are malleable for local manifestation while remaining operationally consistent. Collaborate with the franchisees as co-builders, not simply a source of financing growth and new locations. Leverage AI to empower employees to elevate the guest experience.

The restaurants that are currently successful are not surviving the disruption; they are transforming by meeting their patrons' unmet emotional needs, with design, technology, and sincere human connection colliding to create experiences worth recalling. The Bottom Line: cease competition based on functional features, so all players become equal. Begin developing emotional moats based on sensory accuracy and cultural authenticity that cannot be duplicated by competitors who lack a real connection to the community or sensory mastery.