Use Key Ingredients Across Dayparts

Using key ingredients across all dayparts is an increasingly popular trend. Lunch and dinner items joining breakfast and brunch menus has gone well beyond the trend of breakfast tacos and burritos into pizzas, burgers, quesadillas, and more.¹  

On the flipside, fast casual chains like Dunkin’ and McDonald’s have begun offering All-Day Breakfast because patrons want to enjoy hash browns, bagels, and pancakes even during dinnertime. Choosing the right key ingredients to use across menus and dayparts can benefit operational efficiency and menu variety.   

The insights in this article come from Nestlé Professional Solutions’ “Top 2025 Food and Beverage Industry Trends” report. Create a free account to view this and all our other reports: https://www.nestleprofessional.us/dashboard/trend-reports/top-2025-food-beverage-industry-trends 

Why Use Key Ingredients Across Dayparts?

There are tremendous operational advantages to using key ingredients across dayparts. Food costs are 1/4 of overall operator expenses, who consider “managing food costs” and “managing waste” two of their businesses’ biggest challenges.² And maximizing ingredients is one of their top methods for cutting costs.²  

But even more importantly, diners want to see key ingredients, even traditional ones, used in new ways: 

• 40% of people are more willing to visit a restaurant offering new/innovative flavors.³​ 
• ​43% of Gen Z and 44% of Millennials agree with the statement “I’m ordering more beverages with unique flavors now than I was a year ago.”³ 

Global Flavors, Around the Clock

Global flavors are no longer limited to lunch and dinner. They’re making their way across dayparts to breakfast, brunch, and beverage menus. It makes sense: one of the top reasons for people to eat food away from home was “to try something new.”⁴​ 

​It’s an exciting trend that creates new opportunities for operators to cleverly use key ingredients to create exciting new dishes. ​​This approach helps reduce waste and simplify inventory. And, it meets diner demand for bold, diverse, and trendy flavors. 

• Itoko Chicago features an Asian-inspired brunch called Donatsu, which means “Donut” in Japanese. It’s topped with maple flakes, filled with warm chocolate, and served with a matcha semifreddo. 
• Zaytinya in Washington, D.C. crafts traditional American breakfast with mediterranean fare, like their Egg White Frittata. It’s made with tomato, eggplant, zucchini, herbs, and sunflower seed pesto. 

Eggs Offer Timeless Possibilities

Eggs have long been a breakfast staple, and a way to upgrade dishes later in the day. But diners aren’t satisfied. A surprising 67% of people want more egg options outside of the breakfast daypart.⁵ Nowhere is this more obvious than on Fast Casual menus, which have seen the biggest increase in Breakfast Dishes offerings per menu over the last decade.⁶  

There are many out-of-the-box ways to put this key ingredient to use. For example: California’s Breakfast Republic chain is known for its creative breakfast offerings, including its limited-time Breakfast Hot Dogs. The bacon-wrapped all-beef hot dogs are in a brioche bun, topped with sautéed onion, bell peppers, cheese sauce, two eggs, and green onions, and served with house potatoes. 

Looking for more inspiration? See our related recipes for food and beverage options that can work on your menu. 

Sources: 1. Datassential World of Breakfast (February 2024); 2. Datassential PULSE Industry Overview: Segment Detail (2024); 3. Technomic 2023 Flavor Consumer Trend Report, as cited in Technomic Journey to 2030 Forecasting the Future of Foodservice (2024); 4. Datassential Operator Omnibus (August 2024), as cited in Datassential Table Stakes Report (September 2024);​ 5. Datassential Breakfast Keynote Report, as cited in Datassential Trendspotting: Vol 103; 6. Datassential Menu Trends YE DEC'23, as cited in Datassential World of Breakfast (February 2024)