What will the foodservice industry look like in 10 years?
Here’s what Futurist Mike Lee predicts for the decade ahead.
July 7, 2026
Mike Lee wants to predict your future.
The food futurist, founder, and author spoke at last month’s Menus of Change leadership summit at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, offering his vision for what 2035 may hold.
Lee is the founder of The Future Market and builds future scenarios and innovation strategies for foodservice companies. He also grew up in restaurants — his family started one of the first Chinese American restaurants in Detroit’s then-emerging Chinatown after his grandfather emigrated from Hong Kong.
Here are four predictions he shared.
Automation will complement, not replace, human creativity
Let’s get this out of the way: Lee believes that human creativity will remain irreplaceable.
“Think of automation as the next blender or dishwasher,” he said. “Nobody really seems to complain about a blender or a dishwasher. In fact, they probably complain when they’re broken. … The blender’s not making decisions for you.
“I frequently think about what will be boring in the future, because that’s … the mark of what succeeds.”
Like many others, Lee does think the next “boring” thing will be involve AI.
“How do we use automation and … AI and things like that to reduce the time that restaurant operators spend on kind of the inhuman tasks so they can double down on doing the human tasks?” he asked. “Have the technologies be in service to the humans, not replacing them.”
The ‘Four Ps’ will provide a framework for the future
Lee believes in his ‘Four Ps:’ People, Planet, Palate, and Profit.
“We got this far in the world addressing maybe one or two of these at the same time,” he said. “Two of these would be great, right? I think it’s a necessary condition for the future of our industry and society to do all four at the same time going forward.”
Don’t be overwhelmed. Lee suggested starting small by introducing one sustainable ingredient or dish that aligns with all four, such as a locally sourced heirloom tomato appetizer.
Speaking of sustainability…
Operators and consumers will both lean into ‘sustainable hedonism’
Lee spoke of the philosophy of “sustainable hedonism” and getting out of the mindset of considering sustainability a sacrifice — though of course operators will need to help their consumers do the same.
“There’s this lingering thing in the ether that I want to get rid of around sustainability, that [ideally] people don’t wince when they first hear about it,” he said.
Lee shared the example of omakase: “In theory, the sushi chef has a good relationship with the fishmongers and knows what’s in season, knows what’s good, knows what’s maybe overfished, and what’s not overfished. And the chef kind of meticulously gives you piece by piece these little curated jewels from the sea. And I love that idea because it’s so hedonistic. … But implicitly, it’s following the patterns of nature.”
Lee suggested focusing on biodiversity to introduce new, seasonal flavors to customers, again just one at a time to gauge response and build momentum.
“Biodiversity is the thing that turns sustainability on its head because sustainability for a lot of people is seen as a sacrifice, but biodiversity is a way to see it as abundance,” he said. “It’s more foods, more flavors.”
Post-COVID resilience will drive innovation
Lee thinks that the memories of how hard business was during COVID will continue to drive foodservice operators toward innovation for years to come.
“Sometimes in talking about the future, it’s good to start in the past — in this case, the recent past,” he said. “We had our business model really tested in the COVID era. … And we saw a lot of what maybe we should keep in the business model, and maybe some things we should change in the future.”
He gave the example of corporate cafeterias that had to learn to do business when no one was coming into the office anymore.
A future corporate cafeteria is also one of four scenarios in Lee’s Four Kitchens 2035, a document Lee wrote ahead of Menus of Change. He describes the document as “speculative fiction to guide people into what could exist.”
Nation’s Restaurant News and Foodservice Director readers can now access those scenarios here and use them to guide decision making.
“Restaurants do more than nourish people — they treat the human condition, make connections, and bring communities together,” Lee said. “… That’s a vision worth fighting for.”
About the Author
Leigh Anne Zinsmeister
Managing Editor
Leigh Anne Zinsmeister is a managing editor for Informa’s Foodservice Media, with brands including Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Business, and Foodservice Director. Leigh Anne works on all of the brands’ special reports, including Nation’s Restaurant News’ annual Technomic Top 500 report. She also manages the group’s digital engagement team.
Leigh Anne lives in New York City, but also claims Phoenix, Dallas and Cleveland as hometowns. Leigh Anne holds a bachelor’s degree in print journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, where she also studied European history.
Email Leigh Anne at [email protected]
Leigh Anne Zinsmeister’s experience:
Group Managing Editor, Foodservice Media (June 2026-present)
Group Managing Editor, Informa’s Foodservices Vertical (Aug. 2021-June 2026)
Group Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (Feb. 2020-Aug. 2021)
Digital Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (April 2018-Feb. 2020)
Digital Content Producer, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (June 2016-April 2018)
Community Moderator, Mail Online (March 2014-June 2016)
Wire Editor, Gannett’s Phoenix Design studio (The Arizona Republic, The Reno Gazette-Journal, The Statesman Journal, The Great Falls Tribune, The Visalia Times-Delta, The Tulare Advance Register, The Salinas Californian, The St. George Spectrum, The Desert Sun, The Coloradoan) (Jan. 2012-March 2014)
Group Managing Editor, Foodservice Media (June 2026-present)
Group Managing Editor, Informa’s Foodservices Vertical (Aug. 2021-June 2026)
Group Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (Feb. 2020-Aug. 2021)
Digital Content Manager, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (April 2018-Feb. 2020)
Digital Content Producer, Informa Restaurant and Food Group (June 2016-April 2018)
Community Moderator, Mail Online (March 2014-June 2016)
Wire Editor, Gannett’s Phoenix Design studio (The Arizona Republic, The Reno Gazette-Journal, The Statesman Journal, The Great Falls Tribune, The Visalia Times-Delta, The Tulare Advance Register, The Salinas Californian, The St. George Spectrum, The Desert Sun, The Coloradoan) (Jan. 2012-March 2014)
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