The everlasting struggle for labor will become even more intense as policy, economic, lifestyle and demographic factors conspire to reduce the available pool for the foodservice industry and increase costs.
This prediction kicks off CSP sister research arm Technomic’s 2026 U.S. Foodservice Trends Forecast.
“Labor pool trends are not in the industry’s favor,” Technomic said, noting that the U.S. labor participation among 16- to 19-year-olds has declined from 53% in 1994 to 37% in 2024. It’s forecast to drop to 35% by 2034.
Meanwhile, the wider scrutiny on unauthorized immigration has caused an impact. “Unauthorized immigrants represent about 8% of leisure/hospitality employment,” Technomic said.
Increased labor woes has caused restaurant closures, reduced hours, more turnover and higher costs, Technomic said, citing Oxford Economics.
Weight loss drugs reshape menus, portion sizes
With more consumers using GLP-1 medication to lose weight, Technomic said retailers should “expect reimagined weight loss-friendly offerings for a growing customer base with fundamentally changing appetites and consumption patterns.”
For example, 69% of consumers who currently take or have taken GLP-1s in the past six months say they are more likely to select smaller portion sizes since they began using the medication. In addition, 46% of consumers usually skip at least one meal a day or replace it with snacks, up from 42% in 2021, Technomic said.
Seventy-nine percent of consumers are more likely to visit a specific operator if it offered high-protein fare, Technomic said.
Among the fastest-growing ingredients on menus are honeynut squash, up 160%, Jimmy Nardello pepper, up 140%, chanterelles, up 99%, and persimmons, up 83%. These are all functional ingredients, according to Technomic Ignite Menu data from 2024’s second quarter to 2025’s second quarter.
POS integration tops tech opportunities
In technology, Technomic said, “The fast-paced hype cycle promoting robotics and AI-driven solutions over the past several years has slowed down and evolved into something more practical.”
In the next year, technologies in the spotlight will be those that improve customer service, streamline operations and make day-to-day decision-making more efficient, Technomic said.
Digital ordering currently hinders customer satisfaction, Technomic added.
“Expect efforts to correct this,” said Technomic, adding that there is a 4% drop in customer satisfaction when ordering online vs. in person.
Operators are most likely to focus investment on integrating a point-of-sale (POS) system into kitchen hubs, key performance indicator (KPI) dashboarding and loyalty marketing.
The biggest tech opportunities, according to 500 surveyed operators are:
- POS system integration: 44%
- Temperature and food safety monitoring equipment: 40%
- Customer ordering and payment: 39%
- Artificial intelligence: 30%
- Cooking or grilling technology: 26%
When it comes to the percentage of restaurant operators who are somewhat or very likely to use artificial intelligence technologies in the next 12 months, the top tech answer, at 48%, was predictive analytics for customer insights.
“Staff scheduling” and “inventory tracking and prediction” tied for second, at 43%. “AI phone ordering system,” “staff training” and “food waste management” were next, tied at 40%.
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