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Revamp Summer Restaurant Menus With Seasonal and Trending Flavors
Published: April 29, 2025
Make Summer Dining Exciting with Seasonal Ingredients and Trending Flavor Combinations
The changing of the seasons marks the perfect time for restaurants to review and refresh their menus. During summer months—when the weather is perfect for enjoying a meal outside, there are longer daylight hours and consumers travel and go on vacations more—restaurants experience their annual peak traffic.1 For the 53% of consumers who associate the summer season with special flavors, dishes, beverages and LTOs from restaurants,2 it’s crucial they’re able to find something unique and exciting on the menu—and what they crave may be surprising. For the optimal summer menu refresh, be sure to include some of these trending flavors and ingredients.
Consumers Expect Seasonal Ingredients and Dishes
Each season, consumer behavior lines up with societal norms—it’s why pumpkin spice lattes are popular in the fall and why chicken wings are a big seller during football season. When seasonality and cyclical behavior intersect on menus—that is, when restaurants offer the right thing at the right time—it represents a big opportunity to please a broad range of consumers.
Featuring the summer’s most-popular produce and dishes is a surefire way to appeal to summer diners. Ingredients that are popular on summer restaurant menus include fruits such as watermelon, strawberries, guava, plum and pineapple, and vegetables such as zucchini, corn, heirloom tomatoes, summer squash and cucumbers. Dishes that are common on summer menus might include options such as elote, hot dogs, barbecue pulled pork and brisket, ceviche, cole slaw and more.
When restaurant menu planning for the summer, be sure to add new dishes that incorporate current food trends as well.
Hot Honey Chicken Elote Torta
Incorporating Trending Flavors and Global Influence
Tapping into current food trends is a great way to not only get consumers in the door during the summer but keep them coming back again and again. Sweet barbecue combinations such as honey barbecue, sweet smoke and maple barbecue give variety to a familiar flavor profile. For a more tart option, trending citrus flavors include Key lime and yuzu.
Some of the fastest-growing flavors in the past three years include lemon pepper, harissa, mango, dill pickle, sweet & spicy chili pepper and Nashville hot.3 Global cuisines and influence are also still on the rise, with the fastest-growing regional flavors including Spanish, Korean, Jamaican, Sicilian and Vietnamese.3 Don’t forget to try authentic barbecue preparations such as Indian tandoori, Brazilian and Hawaiian barbecue, too. As for specific dishes that are trending, birria has seen historic growth on U.S. menus, growing 512.7% over the past four years, and is predicted to grow even more—another 130.8% over the next four years.4
When building a summer dining menu, make sure to include at least some of these trending flavors and ingredients to maximize appeal.
The Best Restaurant Summer Menu Ideas for 2025
When drawing up summer menu ideas for restaurants, operators should consider incorporating seasonal ingredients and trends while still making sure there are familiar options available.
For example, the traditional B.L.T. sandwich can get a summertime upgrade with fried green tomatoes for a delectable Fried Green Tomato B.L.T. For chicken lovers who want something with seasonal flair, Chili-Lime Seasoned Chicken with Elote is sure to hit the mark.
Want to add in more citrus flavors and seasonal produce in summer dishes? Offer up a Mediterranean Lemon Chicken Bowl or BBQ Hoisin Breaded Wings with Pickled Watermelon. These two options give diners delicious choices that incorporate bright flavors and in-season fruits.
And for options that incorporate global cuisine trends, consider adding a Steak Birria Tortizza or Butter Chicken Pizza to the menu—two global options perfect for drawing in curious diners.
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Sources:
1: CREST, Quarterly Foodservice Traffic, 5-Year Average 2019-2024
2: Datassential, Summer Trends, March 2024
3: Kerry, 2025 Taste Charts, January 2025
4: Datassential, Birria Food Profile, March 2025
