Global Flavors Are Shaking Up Healthcare Foodservice

Wood-fired pizza. House-made ramen. Ube and matcha lattes. Birria and aguas frescas. What do all of these foods have in common? Are they options at the coolest new food hall that just opened? Maybe they’re hot new products that are hitting supermarket shelves designed to attract Gen Z?

Think again—they’re all global options that can be found in healthcare foodservice today. The healthcare segment, which spans everything from hospitals to retirement and long-term care facilities, has been changing and evolving to keep up with modern needs and changing demographics. Gone are the days when “hospital food” automatically means bland, uninspired trays of canned peas and mystery meat; modern healthcare offerings are globally-inspired and flavor-forward. Patrons are noticing the changes, as 49% of healthcare consumers say that healthcare food quality is improving.¹

Today’s healthcare operators must reflect the patients, residents, and visitors they serve, which means offering dining options that span the globe. Modern consumers who are experiencing global flavors, dishes, and trends outside the hospital or healthcare facility are often looking for those exciting foods inside, as well. Indeed, one out of every two patrons who enters a healthcare facility considers themselves to be a “foodie.”¹ Additionally, 32% of senior consumers categorize themselves as “food explorers,” meaning they are adventurous in their tastes and flavors, with 68% saying they want variety and 57% saying they want flavorful options in senior living, respectively.²

A well-rounded dining program that resonates with these food-forward patients, residents, and visitors alike is also increasingly key to an operators’ overall goals, with 54% of healthcare operators saying they are looking to improve patient and resident satisfaction scores specifically through foodservice offerings.³

So what are the global trends that are making their mark in healthcare? Here are just a few of the ways international cuisines are inspiring healthcare operators across the country:

A World of Trends for a Wide-Ranging Category

The healthcare segment is not a monolith. It spans a wide range of operations, from hospitals to senior living and long-term care, across a spectrum of sizes, from the largest facilities feeding thousands to smaller clinics and facilities with head counts of less than a hundred. Across these segments, there are nuances in the global trends featured on the menu. In hospitals, options like functional ingredients (many from global cuisines), dipping sauces (including globally-inspired options), breakfast potatoes (sometimes served with or alongside global dishes), and plant-based milks (often showing up in globally-inspired coffee drinks) are trending, while in long-term care facilities options like caprese salads, hummus, coconut shrimp, mango, and tofu are trending.¹

Across these operations, a range of services are offered such as large-scale cafeterias with serving stations, small cafes, in-room dining programs, on-demand delivery, staff feeding, etc. These span every daypart, from breakfast to lunch to dinner to snacks and everything in between.

Global flavors are increasingly keeping the healthcare breakfast menu fresh and exciting. Breakfast burritos, chilaquiles, shakshuka, Japanese cold brew, and Asian-inspired breakfast bowls can all be found on healthcare breakfast menus today.

Put It Into Action: Station-style dining options allow you to give customers a world of tastes, letting them start their day with adventurous, flavorful dishes. A Global Breakfast Food Station can include options like Simplot® Harvest Fresh® Everything Bagel Flavored Avocado Spread, Maple City® Waffle Flavored Waffle Fries and Bites, and a range of Simplot® Good Grains™ products, to name a few.

Taking Global Favorites to the Next Level

American and Italian cuisines are the most appealing options in healthcare across consumer groups, but these cuisines are also evolving.³ Italian cuisine, for instance, looks very different than it did just a few decades ago. In healthcare, that means artisan pizzas with more regional or unique flavors (like burrata, hot honey, or giardiniera), upscale pastas, and healthy ingredients from the Mediterranean Diet. At Central Table Eatery, a food hall-style concept at Lancaster General Hospital in Pennsylvania, the Hearth & Co. station features options like a plant-based cashew Alfredo with oven-roasted chicken over rotini and a “Spanakopizza” mash-up of spanakopita and pizza.⁴

Global mash-ups can be a winner in healthcare foodservice. While patients, staff, and visitors are looking for the global foods and flavors they love, they also want them in the comforting, crowd-pleasing formats they’re familiar with. A pizza, pasta, sandwich, or loaded potato dish with a unique twist can give them the best of both worlds.

Put It Into Action: Plant-based options are key in healthcare, where healthy offerings are often part of the mission. An option like a Cauliflower Pizza Italiano, topping a house-made cauliflower crust with fresh mozzarella, grape tomatoes, plant-based sausage, roasted peppers and onions, torn basil, and hot honey, can give patients and visitors a healthy-yet-flavor-packed meal.

Pushing the Global Envelope

This year the winner of the Healthy Hospital Chef Challenge, sponsored by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and the Institute of Culinary Education, took inspiration from Persian cuisine, ultimately creating a Jeweled Rice and Sautéed Vegetables recipe featuring a mint-harissa sauce.⁵ At Lancaster’s Central Table Eatery, flavors, dishes, and ingredients like coconut curry cauliflower soup, a sweet heat chicken banh mi, Thai peanut lime chicken thighs, and prawn dumpling ramen with chashu pork and karaage chicken can be found on the menu.⁴

Put It Into Action: Keep your dining options interesting, colorful, and packed with healthy ingredients. Find useful products from our Ready-to-Eat portfolio, Simplot® Harvest Fresh® offerings, and Good Grains™ line.

Looking for more ingredients, recipes, and inspiration that can add global flair to the healthcare menu? Check out Simplot’s healthcare solutions and ideas here.

¹ Datassential Healthcare Segment Guide, August 2024
² Age of Majority, Great Expectations Survey, October 2024
³ Technomic Healthcare Multi-Client Study, August 2024
⁴ Lancaster General Hospital, Central Table Eatery Menu, November 2024
⁵ Foodservice Director, “Healthy Hospital Chef Challenge winners and their prize-winning plant-based recipes,” September 2024